I didn't really get to blog much last week because Scott was in Colorado fishing with his dad and brother. They had a great time and maybe he will post some pictures. It sounds like they did a lot of fishing, driving around taking pictures, and eating. At least this is what I gathered from my brief phone conversations with Scott. We on the other hand were out and about. We were very, very busy. As I had mentioned in my last post, I have too many wonderful friends to count and last week turned out to be one of our best weeks ever. We spent time with Gigi, Ma, Kari, Little, and Kelly!

For example, this is a picture of Charlie after he passed out in our bed. He had a particularly exhausting day after he realized there was a hole in his penis. He was sure it was broken and was so distraught about it. He begged me to fix it over and over. Ben was the only one who could get through to him! Finally after Ben showed Chars his, he realized it was totally normal and calmed down. Of course this all happened in the shower and here he is passed out in bed all worn out!



On Friday we did the typical trip to the Y and then we headed over to Kari's apartments to swim. The pool there is awesome and the guys did great. Ben didn't use his floaties at all and is really doing great. Chars is convinced he can swim. He refuses to wear floaties because Ben doesn't. He kept running down the edge of the pool toward the deep end and jumping in. I would swim as fast as I could to get to him and be yelling the whole time to come back toward me! He said I can do it, I don't need help and would just go for it! I really wish I had some more pictures of this day because we had so much fun. We went to Kari's apartment and she had all these "texadelphia" cups. She gave the boys a drink of water in the cups and then I ended up taking one home. Well, now every time Charlie sees that cup he gets very possessive saying that this is the cup that Kari gave him and I cannot use it. Poor Scott got home and had no idea, Charlie nearly assaulted him when he caught him using it. That is "me" cup that Kari gave me! Here are the boys at the pool.

This is Charlie the next morning eating cereal. I typically don't buy this stuff and this is why.....both he and Ben eat it like freakin animals! They won't use spoons nor do they want milk in it! They just eat it out of the bowl like little dogs!

Aaaaaand the fun continues.......after breakfast is cleaned up, which took a while, Hays, Kelly, Mattie, and Little came over Saturday morning to play. Mattie is just too sweet to be running around with these guys. She is so cute trying to sit at the table with us girls and talk! Meanwhile........

Well, it is really no wonder that she would rather sit and chat with us! Otherwise she is going to get karate chopped in the head! Here is Hayes, Ben, and me too dressed as iron man, spider man, and captain american girl (this is what chars calls him). Of course the dressing up is nothing new. They just love it but their new thing is talking about the super hero's duties. I cannot remember how it started but I said something about Ironman's duties and I thought Ben was going to pee his pants. Apparently I say doodies instead of duties and they absolutely love it. They don't get it at all! They keep asking me about what doodies they have to do today and laughing hysterically. Ben said, Ironman is really busy, he has two jobs, one with the super-hero squad and one with the avengers, He must have a lot of doodie and then he cracks up! OK, I digress, It was a great morning and the kids were great! Kelly looks beautiful as always! She is pregnant with another boy and I am so excited for her. Little is just Little, the best friend any one could ask for! She even came back over later that afternoon so I could go to the grocery without the kiddos.

Hmmmmm, what else did we do while Scott was gone????? Not much really! We just went to bed late and all slept in the same bed and watched too much TV and ate dessert every day!

Scott got home and we were so happy cause we were getting out of control with all of our rule breaking! We were in need of discipline! and a schedule! You gotta love my list makin, rule followin, budget creatin husband! He brought the boys home dream catchers for their rooms which was very sweet and Ben really took an interest in how it actually catches bad dreams and burns them up with fire! Very, very cool!

I ended up working this whole week so there wasn't much too exciting to share. Scott and I went on a date night which was so fun, I really love just hanging out with my husband. Today is Saturday and it was a relaxing one. We got up and Scott rushed off to give a talk to the "cast tech society" or something like that. I decided to knit Ellodie a hat for this winter. The boys wanted to help so I gave them their own needles and yarn. They did well I would say!

It's kind of like a big bowl of chinese noodles huh? They just kept tossing the yarn around.

I finished her hat tonight but she was already asleep, so I will have to post a picture next time.

After knitting we decided to bake Dad's birthday cake for his party tomorrow. It was really hilarious because I had Ellie on my chest in the baby carrier and the boys were cracking eggs left and right before I could stop them! Sometimes I am laughing so hard at them that I can't say "stop, stop"! So Charlie was trying to crack and egg and just kept smashing it as hard as he could on the counter! So funny. I am sure we used 6 eggs to make this cake. OK, well here they are making the cake and then of course afterward eating the batter out of the bowl.

It was pretty obvious as the day went on that the boys were exhausted. It was also pretty obvious that they were not going to take a nap! By dinner time Charlie was a disaster! I can honestly say that I have never seen him quite like he was tonight. Even Ellodie was laughing at him.....

His laughter soon turned to crying for no apparent reason. He was just so tired that he could not control his emotions! We were all just looking at him at dinner, like what chars, what, what can we do? He kept trying to tell me something but I just couldn't make out what he was saying because he was crying so hard. Blah, blag, glablah, goodoglab... What chars, what was that, I don't understand....FINALLY I understood....after 10 minutes.....wait for it....something was wrong with his sandwich I made him.....oh, what charlie....you want the mayonnaise on the outside of the sandwich? Oh, ok, I can do that. Yes, indeed, that was all he wanted. So I spread the mayo thick like icing all over the top and he was content. He ate it like a piece of pizza. Here it is.

And then he exploded again, freaking out....Oh NO, he had mayo on his hands...911 emergency...Help! He was so upset by this he threw himself back in his chair and completely flipped over. Well you know Sophie the vulture swooped in and ate that stupid sandwich! The whole family was laughing so hard at him that we couldn't swish her away. He literally stopped breathing when he saw she got the sandwich....

So Scott made him a new sandwich with the mayo on the outside and he sort of recovered before a VERY early bed time! Oh gosh, they are so funny! I never knew that you would laugh so much as a parent.

Today was a nice day! We were at Grandpa Buddy's swimming when Ben and Charlie saw Buddy's office supplies and were curious. Buddy is as sweet as pie and taught them how to use the stapler. He just smiled while Ben stapled shut the news paper as well as stapling all of his mail together.



While I was watching this it reminded me of when I was little and I loved to do the same. I started telling Ben about how when I was his age my Grandma Barbara had a store and she would let me run around with her. She was not an ordinary grandma, she taught me so much! I told him about how she let me count all the money in the cash register at the end of the day and even how to make change for someone. She let me go to the office she kept upstairs above the store and while she did the books she let me type and staple and paper clip things together. She had a desk and I had a desk right behind her. I really did want to be just like her! I loved the calculator just because I saw her using it all the time and wanted to do it too. Maybe this is why I love to drink coke so much too, oh and eat popcorn. I remember she always had a coke and that we at microwave popcorn and peanut butter crackers in the back of the store all the time. I don't ever remember her getting mad at me or being short with me, she just let me be with her.
I really love my Grandma Barbara! No one has ever been so proud of me and because of that, I have confidence. I really should thank her more. Everyone always says how beautiful she is but that is not really what impresses me about her, it is how smart she is. She is the smartest person I know and I know a lot of people who think they are smart. She has read so many books, in fact, this is one of the pictures of her I have in my head......My grandma in the bathtub reading....for hours!!! She really always knows what to say to me to make me feel better about anything and that is because I trust her opinion so much. I LOVE YOU GRANDMA!

P.S. I am so frustrated that I cannot find a picture of her and me ( or is it her and I, have to make sure I get that right because she is the grammar nazi) to put up. I will keep looking and post it.

And on that sentimental note, another sweet Grandma story about Gigi...I have to say that I often feel unworthy to have so many wonderful people in my life. I try not to feel guilty about it but to just be grateful instead. Scott is on a 5 day fishing trip with his dad and brother. He just left last night and already I have had my mother offer to keep the boys on Saturday day, Elizabeth offer to keep them on Friday night, Kari offer to keep them on Saturday night, and Gigi offer to have us just stay with her for all 5 days. Gigi even came over at dinner time and picked up the boys. She wanted to keep them tonight. I promise I kept asking her if she was sure she wanted to and that we were fine it was not necessary, etc. You see she just had a procedure today at the doctor and she really wasn't suppose to be doing much. Well, she took the boys and I really can't believe how generous she is. Here she is feeling like crap and she is worried about me being alone! I love you GIGI! Really, why am I so blessed! If I had taken everyone up on their offers I could have been on a 5 day vacation myself. I really have to stop myself now because I could go on and on and on about how much I love my friends and family so......Good Night!

The week started off with a bang after Dad got a DVD player installed in the new car! Like any good mother, I insisted we do this ASAP! Here we are giving it a test run in the driveway while Scott cleaned out the BMW to have it detailed. I guess the sticky juice stains and old french fries bother him, what a priss! We are watching Madagascar and the air conditioning is blowing on high cause it is soooooo dang hot this summer.



Now we skip to Wednesday where Chars is ready to go to school in his "cowboy" attire.

Of course when we got to school we both realize he was the only one dressed up. Naturally "cowboy day" is next week, which is too bad because he was really excited. I figure he should just deal with the disappointment now of having a mother that never knows exactly what is going on. This will seem like small fries compared to when I miss his wedding! At least he won't be surprised after a lifetime of confusion!


Later that day after I picked up the gang we went to GIGI's to swim with Carter. Maggie decided to leave Carter behind for a few days with Gigi. I tried to warn her but she didn't listen and by the time I got to gigi's Carter was already spoiled! I will say that Carter is pretty much hilarious! I put a video at the end of the blog of her running in place. Maggie calls this "dancing", which maybe it is, who am I to judge? No matter what it is, I love it. I seriously was laughing so hard at her that I kept forgetting to push the record button on my phone and missed the best part of her running in place really hard. Gigi was singing "she's a maniac, maniac on the floor and she's dancing like she's never danced before"!

The next night Scott and I got home from work to find Charlie cleaning the furniture with wipes. I have a feeling he picked this up from Carter as she has a sort of "cleaning" obsession!!

It was Ben's last day of Aquatic camp and he made a very tasteful seashell necklace. I was so excited and made such a big deal about how talented he was and everything only to have him stop me and say that it was for his DAD! Really this has never happened before and I was a little sad that I wasn't his favorite that day! I got over it fairly quickly when I saw Scott wearing it....seriously could not get enough of how good he looked in it!

.....and......meanwhile.....totally oblivious....STILL cleaning, Charlie!!

We had a good start to the night. The kids went to sleep and we watched "The Lincoln Lawyer" with Chris and Gena. We had all listened to the book on tape when we went to San Antonio and finally got together to watch it. After the movie, and I am happy he waited until it was over, Charlie started crying from his bed upstairs. Scott went up and then hollered for me to "hurry up". Chars was really sick with stomach something because he threw up lots! I mean LOTS!!! Here he is after we cleaned him up and put him in our bed.

He kept telling me a funny story that night about how he and pops and C.W. (uncle chris) were going to visit the moon in 30 minutes (everything is 30 minutes with him right now). He said they were taking red balloons to the moon but Ben wasn't coming because he was an attitude. "I'm not an attitude mom but Ben is an attitude".

Poor Charlie, he threw up all night every 15 minutes! Finally at 5 am he fell asleep on our floor and made it until 7:30 before he threw up again! This picture is after I washed his hair for the 100th time in the sink!

Fortunately for everyone he made a swift recovery and was all better by Friday night! I am happy to say that no one else has gotten sick....Well, I take that back Pops got it!!

Saturday morning was great. Ellodie and I got up and went down for coffee. I was on the ipad and she was playing with her computer.

Ben joined us shortly and for whatever reason decided to peruse the "Birds of Oklahoma" book that Scott had left out the night before. He LOVES looking at this book and tries to grill me on the type of bird he is pointing to. Of course my Dad is grinning from ear to ear about this! My Dad would have gone on and on with Ben telling him everything about all those birds and he even would have whistled the call for him. I on the other hand am not my father and have no earthly idea what bird he is pointing to. I felt it was too early for this intensity and just needed to finish at least one cup of coffee!

Ellie continued peacefully on her computer while I discussed birds with Ben.

Ben now getting frustrated with my lack of enthusiasm makes one final attempt to get me excited about the European Warbler, when he tries to turn the book around to show me the picture he looses his place in the book and gets upset!

Ellie gives me a big kiss at the end of breakfast!

Later that day it was quite time. They decided to watch the "avengers" cartoon. Ben insisted on laying across the couch cushion which was turned up on it's side. Somehow he got balanced up there and stayed perfectly still so he wouldn't fall off. At least I knew he was going to have to be still for an hour!

Later that afternoon we went up to gigi's to swim. I am really proud of the boys. Ben is seriously swimming like a fish. He is so amazing to go from floaties to swimming all by himself in an hour! He dives to the bottom to get things and jumps off the diving board by himself. Chars is not far behind him either! He is practicing with out floaties and nearly has it! On the way up to the grands I was lecturing the boys about something, like I usually do. I was not paying attention to what they were doing in the back but I was going on and on about not doing this or that or we would just go home instead of swim, blah, blah, blah. I finally stopped and turned around to look at them and Charlie was making the funniest face I have ever seen. I tried to get it in a picture but it was hard. It was like he was trying so hard to look really mad at me. It was sooooo over exaggerated and was a face you would nor could never make naturally. I knew he was working really hard at it!

You probably had to be there for that story but I tell you I will never forget that look!

Ben had eggs for lunch today and somehow he launched the plate off the table by pushing down on the opposite side of the place mat which was hanging just off the table, like a catapult! Here is the aftermath. Man, Sophie was thrilled!

Here is Carter doing her thang!

The Osteology Museum

This weekend was Aunt Maggie's baby shower for Grey. They came in to town on Friday and the we all went up to swim and eat dinner on Saturday night. As usual, Gena and Chris were at a wedding. Actually they were both in this wedding. We all laugh because they are literally always either in/at a wedding or preparing for a baby and/or wedding shower at their house. No matter how funny it is, the truth is they are just great friends to everyone and it really is no surprise that they are "the couple" to have at your event! I over heard someone in target just the other day saying "well, did you get Chris and Gena Waugh for your wedding?". In fact, I am officially booking them for Ben's high school graduation now because I know that will be a busy hosting weekend for them! OK, enough teasing the most popular couple in town.

Because I only had one shower to attend this weekend, I had time to let the boys help with some of the decorating....Not really, I was painting something for the shower and so I let them paint on some paper. Non-the-less, I got busy and forgot to pay attention to them. When I did finally look up, Charlie had been eating is water color paint and chasing it down with the water cup he cleaned his paint brush in. Here he is, HONESTLY!



As I was showering and getting beautiful for the party, Scott made the boys "webs" out of rope to throw at each other.

Oops, this is kind of out of order! This is Gigi at her house on Saturday night with Grey and Ellodie. Grey is growing like a weed!

Here Miss Ellodie is getting ready for the baby shower in her new headband that Wendy and I got at our market extravaganza.

While Ellie and I were hosting the party, the boys went to the Museum of Osteology. This is a fancy way of saying a Museum full of every kind of animal skeleton ever! Scott said they had over 300 different kinds of animal skeletons there. Obviously this was right up the boy's alley and they LOVED it.