Creative Bargain

Eli & i were in Michael's a couple of weeks ago & i stumbled upon a great bargain i couldn't pass up! They had marked down all the large valentine boxes of foam stickers. Not only do my kids wreak havoc on the "craft cabinet" on a daily basis, but i use these all the time with my kids at work. So i bought 4 boxes! I couldn't help myself- they were .79 a box! Well, except for the sparkly ones, which were a little over a buck! The kids have been stickerin' it up around here! I even took a box to Mema's for them to use there with Kaleb too......

Oh, that Eli!

Do you think he meant to fall asleep like this?? One leg up, one leg down... he was even snoring!

Our Quirky Lola!

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Boy do we love her......... and she loves us too! She sits in my lap & loves all over me & has begun to do this to Jackson too. She will let Eli kiss her & pet her & love on her, but doesn't hop in his lap! And if Randy even moves across the room, she is a goner! She darts off quicker than a blink!

BUT, she is a quirky little thing. I am convinced that she thinks she is a dog. Here are her dog attributes:
~ chases her tail
~carries toys around in her mouth to hide for later
~chews unneccesarily (like corners of books & spiral bound sections of notebooks)
~she can find anything- if you leave something hanging around- just wait & listen & in no time she will have it & be chewing it or batting it around
~meows incessantly (i am telling you it is in a bark like manner- it is constant when she wants to "talk" not because she needs anything- she does it for attention)
~jumps up on the door frame to try to get the door open

She is really cute though & very loving. She isn't a fan of Randy but then again, that doesn't hurt his feelings. He isn't a cat fan, so he let's us have one to keep the rest of us happy! She has done a few things lately that are cat-like though. She hopped right in my suitcase when i came home a few weeks ago before i could even empty the thing out!
And then last night she thought she was hiding when she did this..... so very cat-like!! Ha!
She is beginning a tutorial on becoming an indoor/outdoor kitty, so we will keep you updated on her progress! Ha Ha!

The Unlucky Neighbors

Okay, so we are the UNLUCKIEST neighbors. We have YET to have a good neighbor to one side of our house. (Although, we do love the neighbors on the other side!) When we first moved to this house, the neighbors to the left of us had bull dogs that got into our fenced back yard somehow & attacked our sweet Gracie Mae. We had no choice but to call the animal control because they weren't even home. When they were told to pay the extravagant vet bills, things went south. They actually despised us i think. They never paid the bills & then when domestic disputes came along & we had to call the sheriff because their own daughter in law came over for help... so things got even worse. Needless to say, the house became foreclosed on & on their way out, they stole all kinds of things from our yard! (power washer, weed eater, dumped dirt in the gas tank of the lawn mower) FUN TIMES! So we were ecstatic to get new neighbors. Hmmm......
The joy didn't last long! They ALSO have 4 dogs that they let run loose & they come over & stand us down in OUR OWN YARD! Randy has shot pellets at them with his sling shot (bought specifically for this purpose!) but they keep coming back for more. The neighbors stay on their property & holler at the dog to come (to which it promptly ignores them). Ummmm... COME GET YOUR STINKIN' DOG! We haven't even told them that their dogs got ahold of our previous cat, Opie several years ago which killed him! I was over it a few weeks ago & i marched my hiney over there (i guess courage came out of nowhere!) & told her that i had a (new) cat & i needed her to keep her dogs in her yard.... ummm.. please! So, she apologized & i went back to my merry little ways. Until the next day...... when we walked outside & found this.......Oh, yes! They had started a fire in their yard to burn brush & left it unattended. BRILLIANT. It was a warm & windy day, so it spread! We were actually pulling out of the driveway to head to Wilmington, when we drove over to check things out. A random person who doesn't even live on this street was patting out fire! Randy got out & helped, but about this time, the neighbors came home. Randy asked them if they did this on purpose & they said they didn't know. Umm, what do you mean you don't know? Did you start the fire & leave it??? The night before they were also burning brush, so there is no doubt that they started it. They ended up calling the fire dept to come out with a brush truck & wet down what Randy & the random man got put out to keep it from flaring back up & taking out their other neighbors whole back yard. Again... BRILLIANT! When the cop arrived, the neighbor lady said to him, "do you think someone did this on purpose?" I made sure i let the cop know exactly who did this "on purpose." Ughhhhhh.....

Check out all the black sections where it was burnt! It was even down in those trees.
And this is the side of the neighbors yard, where i barely missed catching the wood log they were burning the day before (we were driving off at this point & i didn't want to be obvious! HA!)

Happy Birthday, Randy!

Well, in all this blogging absence, i missed Randy's birthday on Feb 26th! But not in real life, i assure you! He is not big on celebrations, but since i am, he had to endure it! We had planned to go to Wilmington the weekend following his birthday & were going to have a date night while we were there. But then on his actual birthday we both had long days at work & i was out of the mood for cooking. Sooooo, we asked Mema & Grandad if they wanted to join us for dinner & they did! So we went to Logan's Steakhouse & had a yummy meal out. Randy even endured the people hooping & hollering that it was his birthday (which for some reason i forgot to take a picture of!) It was a great evening & not only did he enjoy his steak, but i enjoyed not having to cook it! We love you, Randy! Happy 34th!!!

Ms. Leigh

You all know that Eli gets speech therapy like Jackson does. His talking is really coming along! It has taken us awhile to get him to comply with Ms. Leigh & do the sit down structured tasks that she brings, but only because Eli wants things his way or the highway! He gets SOOOO excited though when she pulls up in the driveway every week. He runs to me saying, "ith eeeeee" (ms. leigh minus the beginning sounds!) So one day, i finally just asked her if i could take her picture with him because i HAVE to scrapbook her right??? She is an important part of his childhood for heavens sake- she is helping him learn to talk. So she wil definitely go in the book!

Nanny... look away....

If your name is "nanny" then you better not read this post! She gets upset with me when i post things about the boys that make her sad. So don't read any further, mom!

Lately.... Jackson has been acting a bit "big for his britches" so to speak & no matter what discipline technique we have implemented, he doesn't really care. So after lots of consulting & contemplating- i decided to try what a friend from church does with her boys. We began putting Jackson "on the wall" for 1 minute at a time when he smart mouths us or blatantly disobeys us. I have to admit, it is hard to watch, BUT it works! He hates it & is immediately apologetic when he gets done. So once, i snuck a picture zooming in from the bedroom doorway so he wouldn't see that i was taking it! Yes, he is crying, so that is hard to see, but let me tell you- if you had heard what came out of his mouth before, you wouldn't be just so sad! Every kid needs discipline & with Jackson we have to get creative sometimes!
Randy said to me one day when he Jackson was on the wall, "Ya know, this will actually make his legs stronger!" Yeah, Yeah- Jackson will thank us one day when he is a basketball superstar, right? I'll remind him of that the next time he is telling us that it burns! Maybe he'll begin to think of that BEFORE he disobeys! Oh, I pray so!!!

The Incredible Hulk (aka Eli)!

Okay, so this shows just how on top of things we are around here sometimes! I was on the phone one night with Grandaddy & i knew that Eli & Jackson were having a special surprise in the kitchen from the valentine candy that Jackson had. Well.... nothing prepared me for what i walked out to find!
Not only had Eli thoroughly enjoyed his "Lik-a-Stick" but apparently it turns GREEN when it gets wet... and he decided to use his fingers instead of the actual stick! I guess the stick wasn't getting it in fast enough?
Really though, who thinks of this mess? Who thinks it is a great idea to have candy & swap it for every occasion under the sun? I hate this aspect of valentines & halloween. I seriously hide the candy as soon as it comes into the house because it automatically begins a constant beg for sugar- which you all know i despise giving to my kids. So anyway, i do occasionally & this is the proof (not only that they do in fact get sugar, but also the proof of one of the MANY reasons of why i don't like it! ha!) For the record, when Jackson was 2, he didn't get this stuff, but when your second one comes along & sees that the older one is getting it from everywhere, he insists on it too. Let's face it, he didn't fall off the potato wagon yesterday!
But i digress..... back to the story. I immediately insisted that we go wash his hands & so i walk into the bathroom & find this.....
Apparently we had not been checking behind Jackson when he brushed his teeth & this is what the sink looks like afterwards! He recently has been let loose with putting the toothpaste on the brush himself (which after this, i am reconsidering!) So i had to clean the sink & THEN wash Eli's hands. Do you think all that GREEN came off??? Well, some did. But the finger he apparently used the most looked like this after i washed & scrubbed & washed & scrubbed again...
So i gave up.... and let Jackson finish up helping him get more off.... I think maybe he thought if he didn't try to help that it might be the end of the Lik-a-sticks...... And guess what - he was right!!

Clowning Around

Back in February, the boys cousin, Kaleb went to the circus & brought back clown noses for the boys. They don't make them the same as they used to! Now they curl into themselves & you have to open it up to get it to "clip" to your nose. That presents a problem when your nose is as tiny as a toddler! The boys love them, but quickly get frustrated with them when they fall off. We have to practice getting them to stay on & sometimes it will & sometimes it won't! And if they leave them lying around, Lola LOVES to bat them around too!
Of course, Jackson insisted on taking a picture of me with the camera too!

Stay Tuned.....

Okay, so obviously i have fallen off the blogging bandwagon for the last month. It is my goal to hop back on this week! I will be working on getting the blog updated (no more snowflakes in the background hopefully) & getting some new posts going. So stay tuned......