Birthday Pool

The boys were desperate for some outside action, and the pool seemed a perfect way to let them have fun and enjoy the sunshine! Jason was thrilled to get to use his new birthday present (From Patrick, Kim, and Sam) :)

Tyler's Chubby Finger

Well, Tyler got stuck today, in our dishwasher tray.

I was doing dishes, when he started crying, and I realized his two fingers (pointer and middle) were stuck in the small plastic squares of the nipple/cap holder of the dishwasher. I applied soap, thinking that would lube them up enough to come out, and the pointer finger was able to come out.

Unfortunately, his middle finger wouldn't budge, was turning purple, and getting more swollen by the second, as he kept yanking and yanking on his finger to try and get it loose :(

Then, the plastic started cutting into his swollen knuckle, and with the soap getting into the wound, that just made him scream all the more!

I really couldn't see any way out of this one (literally), so I got out a knife, thinking I might be able to saw through the white plastic. Yeah, that didn't work, and I ended up knicking his little finger with the knife...(way to go, supermom...) that poor little boy!

So, I told Jason to go get my cellphone, and I called 911, and told them the situation. They got all the info, were SUPER nice, and said they would be out in a couple minutes. At that point, I realized my surroundings...there was 6-foot-tall pile of laundry on the couch, the dishes were a mess, I had dangerous items all over it seemed, and to top it all, Tyler's diaper was stinking (not poopy...just wet), and Jason was naked waist-down because he had had an accident, and stripped!! AH!

Thank goodness it took them a good 5 minutes to get here, as I was able to dress Jason, put a movie on for the boys to calm them down, get Tyler his bottle to make him stop screaming (all with this big long white thing stuck to his little finger), close the dishwasher, throw the laundry into my room, and close all doors to the dirtier rooms in my house, before they arrived :)

Jason was THRILLED when the firetruck and police cars drove up with their lights flashing!! Sometimes, its not that bad for little boys when their brothers have an emergency situation, I guess ;)

SO...about 6 guys were all standing in my living room...and Tyler was SO well behaved! He just sat there staring at the man who was working to get him free. That poor man....he had a bunch of tools around him, trying to figure out which one to use on this thing, to get Tyler free. He finally was able to clip away some of the plastic pieces around Tyler's finger, to get a better view of the actual square he needed to "operate" on :) Another fireman helped push Tyler's finger out of one corner, as they clipped it 3/4 of it off, and then were finally able to clip it all the way, knowing for sure that it wouldn't knick Tyler from that angle...

And he was free!!!

Fishing at the Park

We sure had fun at the lake on Monday! It was cold and chilly, so me and Allyson sat on the park bench swing while the little boys were sleeping, and the big boys were fishing (Benjamin, Alex, and Jonathan). When Jason & Tyler woke up, we realized that the ground was covered in chipped wood, and so we decided to make a fire in one of the grills (by the way...one of the ranger assistants came by and said it was totally fine, and the wood wasn't treated). It was So much fun to roast a couple marshmallows (Burn...in Jason's case).

Jason's First Friend-Sleepover

Well, Ethan spent the night on Sunday night, and since our landlord had the ceiling repaired on Saturday, the boys' room was empty (we had moved all their stuff into the spare bedroom). So, we pitched the big huge tent, cracked out the sleeping bags, and they slept in their with their guns next to them "incase a bad guy comes" :)

I think they fell asleep around 1AM, and we woke them up at 7:30AM to play before we left for Chic-Fil-A for breakfast. Here's some pictures of that morning!

Birthday Excitement

Happy 3rd Birthday, Jason!

Should I be worried about this??

Someone is reverting...

More on the puppy story....

Just to give everyone some details, here they are :)

We brought the puppy and kids into the church, and immediately a flock formed to see it, and ask questions. A man who has recently moved here to NC came over and asked if he could check it out after learning we found it on the side of the interstate (someone obviously dropped it , or threw it out of the car, or something). I asked if he knew about dogs (assuming he might be a vet), and he told us that he worked in El Paso, TX, in a rescue organization! How amazing is that?

He said that in his opinion, the puppy is a mix of german shepherd, and some sort of boxer/bull dog, and is probably about 6 weeks old. He was severely dehydrated and deathly skinny, so we got him some water, and Bonita (the pastors wife) said we could use a box from the kitchen for him, so Jonny cut a hole in it, closed up both ends, and we placed the puppy in the truck bed of the man who worked at the rescue place.

During church, I felt really guilty about pushing Jonathan to let me pick it up, so I prayed that the Lord would cover my mistake, and let everything work out according to his will. If He wanted us to keep it, I asked that he give Jonathan a peace...and if not, that I would go ahead and call the rescue place here, and turn him in to get taken care of (he has lots of fleas, a few ticks, and probably has worms/parasites of some sort).

So, I apologized to Jonathan for not submitting to his authority and wisdom, and if he would forgive me, and that I would do whatever he thought was best. He said that we probably shouldn't keep it right now, so I resolved in my heart to not get attached.

He goes out to the man's (Larry) truck, while I talked to Jason's teacher a little, and some other moms, on my way to get some more water for the puppy from the kitchen. By the time I get outside, a crowd has formed, and Larry is giving Jon his phone #, and talking about what our next steps should be. Huh?? I looked at Jonathan, and realized how everyone was acting, and realized that this puppy somehow has found his way to Jonathan's heart :)

Well...not really. More like, Jonathan is a pushover dad sometimes, and Jason and Tyler were in love with the little thing, and he realized that maybe God DID just put this puppy in our lives for a reason.

So, now we are home. With a little boy puppy! Tyler played with him for about an hour, and now is napping...and Jonathan and Jason are out getting "emergency supplies" for the puppy, and I am here, writing this as "Sebastian" is out in our yard, tied to my makeshift clothesline "dog run" in the yard. Who knows what's next :)

"You found a WHAT!?!?!?!?"

Ok, first lets try to justify ourselves here for a second...

The other day, Allyson and Alex asked Jason what he wanted for his birthday (which is this coming Tuesday). He promptly responded with, "A puppy."

"A puppy, Jason? Like...a stuffed animal puppy?"

"No. I mean a REAL puppy."

He had been toting around Tyler's plastic pull-toy puppy for the past week, but other than that, we had no reason to think a puppy had been on his mind. AT all. We don't talk about getting a puppy, we don't read about puppies, just...nada. Where in the world did this come from? Well, we don't really know. We told Allyson that she couldn't get him one though :)

Then, this morning comes. As we are almost to church, I was thinking about the words of wisdom from cousin Becki through an e-mail she sent out...about expecting God to be at work (I posted it on my blog, as you can see). I really was anticipating something good at church today, and had a good feeling. As we are driving along the road to our church (which parallels the interstate), we see something on the side of the interstate...Jonathan slows down, and we realize it is a dog or puppy of some sort.

Long story short, it is a BLAZING hot day (in the 80's), and I wanted to see what exactly it was, and if it was ok. Jonathan didn't want to, and said, "If we go over there, I know what's gonna happen."

As much as I would like to deny it (and tried to in the car), Jonathan is almost ALWAYS right. This is no exception. He finally said I could bring it in the car, and we would figure out what to do with it when we got to church. As we park the car, he smiles, looks back at Jason and says,

"Well, I guess God got Jason a puppy for his birthday"

The boys eating it...

Groundhog Video

Jonathan's Moment of true "MANHOOD"

This is Jonathan. Eating his groundhog.

Incase anyone is interested in the details, here they are: Jonathan stated to a friend of ours that he wanted to sample all those "animals" that everyone says they would never eat (Coyote, groundhog, beaver, squirrel, etc.). Well, Jonathan had talked to the right person, that could grant his wish! Our friend trapped a groundhog for Jonathan, and last Sunday brought the whole thing to church in his trunk! :) Joy.

So, as we are driving home, Jonathan informs me that we have a dead groundhog in the back of our car, and we have to get home so he can butcher it, and eat it. "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Ok. I kinda got mad, I have to admit. Nobody really wants a dead animal in their trunk.

We got home, and Jonathan proceeds to butcher it in the backyard. After I cooled down a little, I went outside with Jason, and we helped him butcher it (If holding a paw so he can skin it better is considered helping....). Tyler was napping, so I left to go make sure he was ok. Next thing I know, Jonathan is in the kitchen with this.......meat. He froze some of it in baggies, and then proceeded to cook the rest.

This is the end product! By the way, the boys probably together ate more than Jonathan...and Jason wouldn't eat the dinner I made for them until he finished his "groundhog".

(This is what I have to look forward to for the rest of my life....living with boys)