You Might Be A Redneck

Everyone knows Jeff Foxworthy and his You Might Be A Redneck jokes. And if you haven't heard of them, then I really don't know what planet you live on. Anyways, as I was looking out my backdoor this morning, while my boys and two dogs we running around barking, yelling, and screaming like banshees (and trust me, you couldn't guess which was doing what) I realized my family totally belongs in the redneck category. Yep, I admit it.

For example, you might be a redneck if you let you kids play outside in their pajama tops and underwear (or diaper).



Yep, that's me. Infact during the summer, I don't get my kiddos dressed until we go somewhere or it's the afternoon.

You might be a redneck if you let your kids run around in dirty, filthy, stained clothes that belong in the garbage.


Doesn't he make such cute faces?

Yep, that's me again. Infact, that is why I don't get my kiddos dressed in the morning. They stain all of their clothes. This shirt used to be white, long long ago. All of their yucky clothes become pjs and then I let them play in the back in their pjs.

You might be a redneck if it looks like a crayola factory exploded in your back yard.



You got it, that's us again. This is just a small example of what my backyard looks like. We have colored sand EVERYWHERE! On the back of the house, the side of the garage, and spread all over the lawn. Yep, my kiddos like to fling sand, what can I do.

You might be a redneck if your backyard is overgrown, filled with toys, and permanently has a hose running through the middle of the yard. Oh yeah, and two crazy boys and two crazy dogs running around like maniacs at eight something in the morning.


There's my Domykins in his "pjs" again.

Okay, this picture doesn't do my yard justice. This is a picture of a cleaned up back yard. Yep, I said it - cleaned up backyard. There are toys and shovels and more toys everywhere. Not to mention weeds. Those suckers just keep on coming back. I was picking up the toys several times a day, then once a day, now just when it rains and when Paul cuts the grass. They just go right back out after I've cleaned it up. So I gave up. It would be so much better if we had a privacy fence!

You might be a redneck if you have giant holes in your backyard.



Yep, that's us again. This is just one of many holes in our yard. Monty loves to dig. He started it. Then Ashton thought it would be great to get in on all the fun. Now both of the boys dig in the dirt. Then move it to the sandbox (which becomes a mixture of colored sand, water, and mud). Then they put water in the hole and make mud. Then they play in it. Hence only letting the boys play in their dirty, stained, belonging in the garbage "pjs."

Then they bring it all in the house. But I am not even going there. That's for another day. I have given up on the backyard. They just have so much fun that I let them go to town. I have consigned myself to stripping them at the door, wiping them down, and half of the time directing them to the tub. Then I go around wiping up mud and dirt prints, soaking clothes that will never come clean, and vacuuming up dirt and sand from the strangest places in my house. So, I might be a redneck, but I am happy with it! I wonder if all boys are like mine?

Welcome Home Daisy

Along with just about everyone else in Tippecanoe County, we went to the fair. Fun was had by all. Dominic manhandled any animal he could get his grubby little hands on.



We went on Family Night, so everyone was able to go on rides. We all went on the giant slide a few times. Dominic loved it. Ashton went on the roller coaster a couple of times. We had to force him to walk away from it.


You can only see Paul, but Ashton was next to him screaming!

Then we did something that I am sure most people didn't do at the fair. We adopted a dog! I knew Paul was up to something. He was on the look out for the Humane Society. When we were walking to the fair, dogs went by with bandanas that said "Adopt Me." That was all it took. Now Daisy has joined our family.



She is a small dog. Quite a bit smaller than Monty. We couldn't bring her home until today because she wasn't scheduled to be spayed until yesterday. When I picked her up, the vet told me she needs to take it easy for a couple of days. Yeah right, a dog in a new home with 2 kiddos and another dog. I don't see any easy going any time soon. She and Monty are already best pals. Well at least in Daisy's eyes. Monty just wants to sleep under the table, but Daisy keeps joining him and wanting to play.

We went to see her twice over the weekend. It was so sad seeing the dogs who obviously had been mistreated. There was this huge dog in the kennel next to Daisy, and when it saw Paul, it ran to the back of the kennel and tried to hide from him. Other dogs were shaking and whining. Daisy had been abandoned in a house. So I am sure we are going to have issues to deal with. I had a feeling she wouldn't be house broken, and she's not. But she looks so happy now.

We were happy that the place we adopted her through works with Petfinder.com. They do a lot of good work. So if there are any animal lovers out there, who don't want to or aren't able to donate time, money, or a home to animals in need please click every day here. We have it saved to our favorites and at least once a day click on each tab across the top for hunger, breast cancer, rainforest, animal rescue (which also works with Petfinder.com), and a couple other things. It takes 10 seconds max to help even the tiniest of bits.

Saucy

Paul is soooooooo proud. I am proud of him. He doesn't think his mom actually believes it. Paul made the sauce! And it turned out great! Yep, that's right. Paul doesn't have to rely on his mom coming out and making the sauce and us freezing enough to last until she comes out again. We have a freezer full, all thanks to Paul.

Until recently, Paul's mom was the only one in the entire family who could make the sauce (at least where it turned out right). Paul decided to give it a go, it's been quite a few years since he has tried. He added all the right ingredients: pork ribs, italian sausage, and ONLY 52 meatballs. He sounded said when the count was 52. But I explained that we are only a family of 4, we don't need a million meatballs.

He called his mom to tell her to move outta the way, there is a new sauce maker in town. He is not so sure she believed him on how good it tasted.


It was excellent!

I have to admit I was leary myself, but he did a fabulous job.

Camping

Friday night Paul took BOTH the boys camping with Joe and Jase Holdaway. I told Paul he was a brave soul, what with taking Dominic and all. They had fun. At first. Here are some happy pictures.



The boys played at the playground, ate dinner, roasted marshmallows, and watched tv. Yep, they watched tv. Because how would camping be complete without getting to watch a movie too?
Then the fun started to end. The boys decided to check out the river.


Here is the river.


Here is Dominic when Paul dragged him away from the river. The water was soooooo calling his name!

Then things started to get worse. Bedtime came. And went. And at 3:30 a.m. Paul threw in the towel and brought Dominic home. The poor kiddo had been crying on and off all night! It scared me half to death waking up to someone in my bedroom with no lights on! Dominic grabbed on to me like he hadn't seen me in years and sobbed some more. After a few minutes of consoling him, to bed he went. Paul returned to the campsite.

Dom woke up cranky the next morning. Lucky me! At the campground, Jase woke up Paul and Ashton around 7 a.m. and the boys got back to having some fun. They cooked breakfast and went hiking in the woods.


I just love this picture of Jase and Ashton. Aren't they cuties!

All in all a good time was had by all. Just not all at the same time. They want to go again this year, just not with Dominic!

Blueberries

I fianally have a working computer! It had a miraculous full recovery. I am sitting here, crossing my fingers as I type hoping this is a permanent fix.

I know I haven't posted in a long time. It was the computer, I swear. And maybe a bit of my laziness. And we have been busy too.

I took Dominic blueberry picking while Paul took Ashton to his first dentist appointment. It was crazy busy when we got there. That's fine, I can deal with busy. I got out of the van and a gust of wind blew out a contact. That never happens. Ever. Okay, so I can deal with only seeing out of one eye on a sunny day.

Dom and I got to picking. He prefers the green blueberries. Only green. The bucket must be filled with green ones only. If mommy has the audacity to put blue ones in, then they must get thrown out. Fine, I can deal with an 18 mo. old who thinks green blueberries are the way to go.

We were going well for about a half hour. Then Dominic started to get needy. I had to pick a few berries, rub Dom's back, give him a hug, and then resume the cycle. That lasted about 15 minutes before I said I give up. I can handle busy, walking far with a 30 lb. kid, drinks and berries, squiting and seeing 8 blueberries where there was only one, a know it all kiddo - but a draw the line at a crying, needy little monster. We left with only six pounds picked. Yikes. But he was done for.

Paul went back that night with Ashton and they had a ball. They picked more and Paul insisted I make a blueberry pie. Now here's the thing. I don't bake. I can't. I have given up. If it doesn't come from a box, count me out.

But it actually came out well. And, it only took me two attempts to make pie crust! Something I have never been able to do before. Yeah, I know it is easy. At least that is what everyone tells me. But I have never had a successful crust. Yay, I am so proud.


I over cooked it a little, but I don't care. It was still good!


This is the face Dom made when he took a bite.

Dom was surprised to learn that blueberries are not bananas. You know, the only fruit or vegetable that he will eat. So he decided to eat the crust only. And if any blueberry accidently got in his mouth, he would spit it all over himself. Yep, that's my boy. Ashton, however, loved eating a pie from the blueberries he picked. He was so proud.


He is just way too happy here!

Misty's 27th Birthday

Last week I turned 27, so Paul says that I am an old lady now. Which he proceeded to teach Ashton to say. Which he now does say. Which he has now generalized to the entire female adult population. So if Ashton happens to tell you that you are an old lady, take it up with Paul.

Ashton gave me a "little computer" (a digital picture key chain) and a bag of chocolate. Dominic gave me a Mickey Mouse card that sings - which he promptly ripped from my hands and has yet to give back. Paul told me to go buy myself whatever I wanted - yeah I know, he's a real creative thinker. Wink wink. My mom gave me a book which Ashton tried to return to the library today.

Paul to me to dinner at Mountain Jacks. Now we never go out. We never have a babysitter. I don't even know how to find a babysitter. So we usually go out when we have relatives in town to watch the boys. This sitter thing was new to Ashton. Paul arranged the sitter, a grad student from his department. Stephanie showed up and Ashton was immediately smitten. He turned to us, pointed at Paul and then me saying, "You and you leave. You (Stephanie) stay here build Geo-Trax," while practically shoving us out the door. I love you too sweetheart! I thought I still had a few years of being the most important person in his life, I guess I was wrong! He found his new love. He has asked for her several times since.

The next day, the boys made me a cake and decorated it. Wonder why I received a cake the day after my birthday? I sure did. Someone ask Paul. He claimed he planned it that way. I wonder...



Dominic helped by testing the cake before everyone else. Paul was digging out the sprinkles for Ashton while Dominic was wielding a spoon. He helped himself to a bite and must have decided it was good for everyone else to share. Ashton covered up Dom's hole with sprinkles and a giant glob of red frosting. They were so proud. So was I. Who wouldn't want a vanilla cake with strawberry frosting, red frosting, and just a touch of red and green sprinkles? Something must be wrong with you if you don't.

I had a great birthday. Birthday's just get better and better now with the kiddos pitching in to help. Ashton was so excited to give me my presents and present me with my cake. Not to mention saying Happy Birthday and Happy Mothers day several times a day since the big event.
His happiness and excitement not only made my day, but my week. I love my little goofballs.

Monty's Water Fun

My wonderful, wonderful hubby insists that I share a small tidbit of what life is like with Monty. Monty is the most high strung dog there ever was. If he is in the front yard playing and sees something that makes him wants to bark, he has to go in the backyard (behind any fence) to bark.

He's a pretty good dog. He won't run off. He behaves most of the time (except we can not get him to stop biting at the tv!). One time we were headed back to Ohio, and accidently left Monty behind. I know, it sounds horrible. We are the worst pet owner ever! But it wasn't entirely our fault. He is scared of long car rides, and completely understands that when we say we are going to Grammie's house, it will be a LONG car ride. The goofy dog stands for the entire seven hour trip. Anyways, we put him in the van twice! He jumped out the first time and we didn't see that he jumped out the second time.

Yep, we were driving along and all was good. We stopped to fill up before we were on the road and I had a Home Alone moment and asked "Where's Monty?" We immediately turned around and found him sitting, anxiously wagging his tail at our front door. Outside our front door! Any other dog would have run off to play but not Monty.

Another one of Monty's idiosyncrasies is that he loves water. Especially hoses and sprinklers. He likes waves too, but we are a little far from some out here. We set up the sprinkler just for him. He will play in it all day if we let him.

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The problem is not him playing in the water, it is what follows. I should have learned my lesson by now, but I had an airhead moment. After Monty was playing in the water, we all went in to eat dinner. He started dancing around, and I thought he just wanted some of our food. Then he ran into the kitchen and peed all over the floor. I guess it wasn't food he wanted! I KNOW this can happen, and yet it didn't dawn on me that the dog was asking to go out (it's way too easy to go up to a door and scratch or bark at it - it is much more fun to act goofy and stare at people expecting them to read my doggie mind). We haven't had that happen in years. Poor Monty was so upset by it. He thought he was in trouble and all Paul and I could do was laugh. The dog was so confused by us doubled over laughing when he did something he knew was wrong.

Lesson relearned. Whenever Monty plays with water, he must stay outside for a good two hours.