Rain Rain Go Away!....Come Back Next Week Though!

So I am once again spending the few days before Hunter's birthday party scrambling to find an indoor venue in which to hold it! Stupid tropical weather ~ last year it was this pesky little storm named Ike, and this year there is some tropical moisture hanging out ~ the weather people have advised that we pay attention to the weather over the next couple of days since this is the time of year that little things like this "spin up" overnight ~ oh goody! The lesson learned here is that I am DONE with outdoor parties! This is going to be his last big who rah anyway, but I am keeping this in mind for Maisie's! This years party is supposed to be a wild west theme ~ complete with mechanical bull and all ~ this wasn't my redneck idea either by the way, Hunter came up with this one all on his own! Although it is our second time to rent a mechanical bull for our own private party, not real sure what that says about us! I have ordered, yes ordered, the party favors which are on their way ~ 30 cowboy hats, 30 bandannas, and 30 cap guns (each with 864 spare caps) ~ these party favors just aren't going to have affect without the bull! The bull of course can't be set up in the rain, and it requires a 20x20 area in which to set it up ~ do you know how much it costs to rent a 20x20 tent? $235!!!! That would be $235 more dollars than I am willing to part with! When Scott gets home we are going to go peruse the 3 covered pavilions here in the neighborhood and see if possibly any of them will work ~ they all have tables in them, that I am fairly confident are bolted into the concrete so I don't know that there is an open space big enough to accommodate said bull and all 62 party guests, yes, I did just say 62! This is the first year that there wasn't a single decline of the invite ~ usually we only have 18-20 kids, but this year all 30 ~ YIKES! I fear that our best bet of a large enough pavilion is the one at the elementary school ~ guess this scenario rules out the kegerator! Notice I just said the kegerator ~ doesn't mean we will be ruling out the hooch all together, now it will just involve canned beer in coolers that we will have to act like 15 year olds hiding it in plastic cups so we don't get busted by the fuzz! Now if this pavilion things ends up not working out then I will be cancelling the bull and moving on to plan B ~ and no, I don't mean the morning after pill ~ plan B is to have the party at the skating rink ~ best option I can come up with on 3 days notice! The party times are only 30 minutes different than what the current party is scheduled for which works out well. Hunter likes to go roller skating, so that should make his party not totally ruined ~ keeping my fingers crossed!

First Day of School

Last Monday was Hunter's first day in "real" school ~ although he has been preparing for it since he was 21 months old (he started the day after I left Target sweating one day)! He was sooooo excited to get to go to Kindergarten ~ we had been to "KinderCamp" the week before so he knew where his class was, who the teacher was, and where he sat already. Scott took the morning off so that he could be a part of this monumental event ~ Maisie wasn't sure what the hell had happened to her! Normally our mornings around here don't start until 7:30, and then she gets to sit around in her jammies until about 8:30 ~ this morning though she was jerked out of bed about 7:15, dressed, and thrown into the stroller! Scott said she probably thought the house was on fire or something! Hunter, the kids next door and their mom, and Scott all rode their bikes while Maisie and I walked ~ we took Hunter into the class (this was the only day you were allowed to walk then to class ~ what is this, boot camp?), got him all situated, and then took a couple of pictures. Hunter could have cared less that we were leaving him ~ he was just kinda looking at us like "hello? What are you people still doing here"? I didn't shed a tear, my eyes didn't even water ~ this I was very surprised by, but I guess since he wasn't having an issue with me leaving him, why should I have an issue? Maisie was a little less than impressed that she didn't get to stay and sit in those tiny little chairs next to Hunter! My mom says that before I started school, but Bryan had started, I would throw a fit every morning because I didn't get to go! We would be waiting out at the street for the bus to come while Bryan moaned that he didn't want to go and as soon as he would get on the bus mom says I would throw myself into the ditch and roll around throwing a fit ~ can you picture this, I sooooo can! I tell you it's a wonder she didn't smother me at a young age! I feel fairly confident that if humans ate their young I would not be here today! Thank you mommy! The rest of his week went just as well ~ he was so excited about going to school that one morning he was up AND dressed by 5:48 ~ this kids eyes have never cracked open before 7:30! I only had to wake him Monday and Friday morning ~ he got himself up the others and was dressed before ever coming out of his room ~ unheard of! All I can say is I hope that this enthusiasm and love of school keeps up ~ it will certainly make my life easier! He thinks that riding his bike to school is just about the coolest thing ever ~ this morning the neighbors weren't riding so I told Hunter I would drive him if he wanted and he said no way! He was going to ride his bike! Good thing we live close enough to the school for that to happen! After I had him all dropped off a few other mom's and I go together and went to lunch to celebrate our new found financial freedom of free school! Hallelujah!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Literal Videos

So last night as I was laying in bed watching Nightline they did a story on literal videos ~ I have never heard of these until now, but they are really funny! They showed a few clips of them which has since forced me to get on YouTube and find more! The idea is they take old videos and change the lyrics so they are literal to what is happening in the video ~ Total Eclipse of the Heart is an exceptionally good one, as is Penny Lane and Take on Me. Now if you know the real words to the song it makes it all the funnier ~ when you have some time to kill on your hands and are looking for a good laugh go check some out!

My Summer Hiatus

So my summer hiatus is over and I will now attempt to get back on the blogging band wagon! Man, once you take an extended break from the old blog it's really hard to motivate yourself and make the time to get back to it! I will post all about the Colorado trip with pictures soon! I must first go through all of them and pick out the best ones ~ hate to disappoint my audience! It has been a real whirlwind summer and it's really hard to believe it is already over and time for school to start! Hunter's first day is on the 24th and I feel confident that I will be a blubbering idiot ~ can't believe he is going off to school ~ where has the time gone? Scott so kindly pointed out to me the other day that next month Hunter will be 1/3 of the way gone ~ yikes!

Scott's New Calling

If the day should ever come that Scott gets laid off I think he may have possibly found his new calling ~ nail technician! Maisie is such a girly girl ~ with no coaching by anyone I might add, it's just her nature ~ she LOVES LOVES LOVES to have her little piggies painted ~ every time she sees her bottle of polish she grabs it and asks to have her toes done ~ I guess she will start going to the nail joint with me for a mini-pedi about the time she is 3! Anyway, today she grabbed her polish and took off to go find Daddy to tend to her little piggies ~ the next thing I knew they were sitting out on the back porch and she was propped up in a chair like the princess that she is while Scott sat across from her painting those tiny little toes ~ it had to be just about one of the cutest things I have seen! Maisie has teeny tiny little feet too ~ she is just now moving into a size 5 shoe ~ Hunter was in a 5 probably when he turned one, and he to this day still has skis at the end of his legs ~ so with those tiny little feet come tiny little toes ~ I have a difficult time painting them so I can only imagine how difficult it was for Scott. While he was in the process of painting them she definitely had a lot of polish on her skin, but by the time he was done they looked remarkably good ~ she was pleased which is all that matters! When I was pregnant with Hunter ~ like HUGE pregnant ~ and couldn't reach my toes to paint them anymore he painted them for me one day ~ when he was finished he looked at his work and informed me that he hoped I wouldn't pay somebody money to make them look like that, and then suggested that I go have a professional take care of that ~ and that I did! It was the thought that counted and he did try ~ and even with that experience he did as Maisie asked today instead of telling her he didn't know how ~ you did good today Daddy!

Bear! Really!

So last night Scott was up putting Hunter to bed when he came down to announce that something was in the trash ~ remember that you leave the windows open since there is no A/C. Mom thought he was talking about something in the trash upstairs in the bathroom and said it was probably one of the tiny little mice that we have seen ~ Scott said no, this is something big in the trash outside! I told him to get a gun and go outside and look ~ figured he is a better sacrificial lamb than I am! He went into the mud room with a flashlight and looked out the window to discover a big bear helping himself to our trash! I also witnessed said bear so I cqn confirm that the great white hunter made a proper bear ID this time! Just about the time I looked out the window he was making his escape up the hill with a sack of trash in his mouth ~ hope there weren't any of Maisie's poopy diapers in that bag ~ ewwwww! This morning there was trash strewn everywhere and bear tracks to go along with it ~ Chuck came up and said by the size of the tracks it appears that it was a nearly full grown 300 pounder! There was also some bear poop in the road this morning ~ Scott said that answers the age old question of "does a bear shit in the woods?"! Chuck also said that since he has discovered we have trash he will be back ~ glad my windows are on the second floor!
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Bear!......maybe

So yesterday morning I woke up and Scott, mom, and Hunter were down feeding the horses and looking at something in the distance ~ then I heard mom yell at Chuck that the bear was out ~ said bear had been identified by my husband, the great white hunter! So I started looking from my vantage point which was the upstairs window and figured if the bear was out there it must be up the mountain somewhere ~ I looked but didn't see said bear anywhere. They were looking down the street so I looked down there and low and behold there in the middle of the street stood a flock of turkeys ~ easily mistaken for a bear I know! I gave the great white hunter plenty of grief for the rest of the day ~ the kids were out later in the day with the horses and Scott went out and hollered at them to watch out for the "bearkeys"!
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