Wee Little Wardens

The boys got new guns and holsters as door prizes for the 4-H banquet we went to this past weekend.

Daddy added the "mini-me" game warden badges to the uniform and told the twins to give their best game warden face.

Come on boys...you can do better than that.

This was the meanest face that Heath could muster.  Looks more like a state of confusion.  Exactly like a Game Warden.  Just Kidding sweetheart! 

Hunter looks like the blow fish version of a mean game warden...

...but he couldn't be mean long without cracking a smile.

Either way, you better watch out and be ready for these Wee Wardens...Dove season starts Saturday.

Sauerkraut

Tonight's menu consisted of Sauerkraut and Sausage, pinto beans, Mac and cheese, and tomatoes.

We try to always make our boys try at least a bite of all the food on their plate and tonight was no exception. We knew the sauerkraut would be a problem, but all we ask is for one, "no thank you, Ma'am" bite.

You know the one: you're a guest in someone's home and they serve the one food your Mother always tortured you with. The food she only served when you were in trouble. The food that made you wish you were an "inside dog family" so you could feed Fido under the table. Mine was liver and onions, complete with boiled okra and carrot salad. Even though it repulses you, you take a bite and when the hostess ask if you would like seconds, you smile politely and say, "No thank you Ma'am."

So tonight we decided to start with the easy one first, Hunter. He will eat almost anything you put in front of him. He willingly took a bite and smiled while he chewed. Swallowed. Then said,"That's not good." Chris and I silently giggled and allowed Hunter to move on to his favorite, the Mac and cheese.

Heath doesn't like to try new foods. At. All. So when he got his plate he immediately spotted the Mac and cheese and dove in. It wasn't until Chris took his plate away and placed a fork full of sauerkraut instead did he even notice it was an option. He began to grumble and cry and complain and grumble some more.

Then, the sweetest thing happened. Hunter told Heath, " Look Heathy, I'll eat it.". With a very fake smile on his lips he picked up another fork full of his own sauerkraut and ate it. He smiled the whole time he chewed and swallowed but it was obvious to the parents in the room that it was very forced and inside he was choking it down. What a sweet brother. Hunter repeated that a few more times, too.

Heath finally did eat a bite, just so he could get back to the Mac and cheese, and he didn't even gag like he does with scrambled eggs. Ornery little toot.

Where did you go...where did you go, now?

I've had a hard time getting back into the swing of things.  School started for the teachers this week and the kiddos start back next week.  Meeting after meeting plus tons of things I need to get done in my classroom leave NO/Zero/Zilch free time.  I'm exhausted in the evenings.

The boys have been staying with a new baby sitter for the week because my other baby sitter (Mom) is living it up in Alaska right now.  She will get the boys back next week.  To say that I am super jealous is a complete understatement!  It has been nice having the boys here in town instead of having to drive to and from the ranch every day.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite photos from our Keva Dawn photo session.  I'll show you more here in a few days when things have calmed down.  I love Keva Dawn Photography!

When Life Hands You Lemons...

I just recently read a Face Book post in which a woman (I don't know the person) was complaining about reading blogs because people tried to portray their lives as perfect on their blogs when she knew very clearly that this was not the case.

For the sake of assuring all of my faithful blog readers (both of them) that I do not have a perfect life, I'm going to give you a small glimpse into the catastrophes of my summer.

1. My washing machine broke.
2. My sweet children turned off my outside freezer without my knowledge just as we were leaving for vacation.  We returned 8 days later to a terrible stench and 8 ft trail of blood and rotty meat juices running out of my freezer into my garage.  All of our stock pile of meat was ruined.
3. My steam mop broke. (If someone is looking for a Christmas/Birthday/Back to School Gift this would be Great!)
4. My dishwasher broke.
5. The toilet in the master bathroom broke.
6. Today was the last official day of my summer vacation.  I have to go back to school on Monday.

So why are you just now hearing about all of this?  Because I'm a happy person.  I choose to be happy and I don't like to dwell on the negatives in my life.  I don't want people to come to my blog and feel depressed and go away and post on Face Book about how blogs are such a "Debbie Downer".  Instead, this is what my list looks like:

1. My husband is smart enough to do some research on the Internet and figure out what was wrong with my washing machine and it only cost us $30 to replace the part needed instead of having to hire someone to come look at it, or worse, buy a new washer.
2. Because my children turned off my freezer, I now have a new appreciation for deer and elk meat and my husbands hunting habits.  I have come to realize how expensive beef is, and that I would rather eat deer or elk anyway.  I have also realized how sweet some of our friends are for giving us some of their elk so we don't have to buy as much beef.
3. Since my fabulous steam mop broke, my family and friends now have a great idea of what they can get me for Christmas/Birthday/Back to School Gift.  :) (OK, so this one is a stretch)
4. I didn't like my old dishwasher anyway, and my new one has 2 really handy little filters that I can clean out and they make me feel better about washing dishes in it.
5. My hubby is smart enough to fix the valve in the master bathroom toilet, and he doesn't get grossed out by lifting the lid off the back of the toilet like I do.
6. Along with a new school year starting, comes football season, followed by pumpkin season.  My two favorite seasons of the year.  There are only 185 more days of school left until next summer vacation.

So there you have it. My home is far from perfect, but whose isn't.  The only perfect home I know of is Heaven.  I love reading other people's blogs.  When they hurt, I hurt.  When they cry, I cry.  When they need prayers, I pray. I know that you would do the same for me.  I'm not always "Susie Sunshine" but I try to be happy.  I'll try to be better about posting the not-so-perfect parts of my life, but I still choose to be a positive person.  Life is too short to dwell on negatives.

Pretending

To any normal person, this picture would look like two little boys playing on top of the table.  When I walked into the room, that is exactly what I thought and I was about to tell them to get down when I heard what they were pretending was happening.

Heath is concentrating very hard on making a humming sound.  I later realized that this was the motor boat sound.  He is in the back of the boat driving while they are checking their lines.  Hunter has a play rifle in his hands that is acting as a boat paddle and he is alternating between pushing off of the rocks and trees and grabbing the drop lines.  The socks are the fish they have caught.

  True, they are acting a lot like their daddy and I know he is so proud that they are "practicing" for their future fishing trips.  It may be a little redneck, but in today's world, fishing is alright with me.  I love how innocent and creative they are.  I pray this never changes.  I want to preserve this innocence for as long as possible. 

My Helper

This morning I was walking through the kitchen with my hands full of laundry. Being the time saving/ lazy person I am I stopped in the kitchen to shake out the towels and dish rags from the sheets so I could continue on to the bedroom and quickly make the bed. As I walked out of the kitchen, I randomly told Hunter to fold those towels while I made the bed. Never in a million years did I really think he would do it. I really thought he would return to the living room and find a toy and pretend he never heard me. To my surprise, that sweet 3 year old boy almost had them all folded when I finished putting the sheets back on the bed. Such a good little helper!

Varmints

We've been doing a little pest control around here.