Link issues....oh, and finger surgery

I don't know why, but when I click on my link to the Pioneer Woman's website it's sending me to this "Pipes...feed" something or other. I have no idea why, and I have no idea how to fix it. This "pipes" thing lists her posts, but is nothing like her actual site. If you've never visited the Pioneer Woman, you MUST. She is stinkin' hilarious, she has great recipes, gives Kitchen Aid mixers away all the time, and is just generally great fun to read. The site is at www.thepioneerwoman.com. Anyone know how I can fix this link problem on my "blogs I read" list?

In other news, I've gotten lazy about photos again. I'll have a great new one after today, because Tim pounded off the tip of his finger while pounding in a ground rod (I don't have any idea what that is). He called me from the express care about an hour ago and said they sent him to the hospital to have a surgeon fix it. I get calls like this about once a year. I'm used to them now. The last one was about a year and a half ago when he called saying he thought he broke his ankle (which he did)...he was calling while driving himself to the doctor. So I plan to take a photo of the finger. Perhaps it will be too gross to post, we'll see. I don't know...the Pioneer Woman posted pictures of a mama cow's uterine prolapse! Certainly a missing fingertip isn't as bad as a cow's uterus! Until next time.....

Five candles, and hold the sprinkles, please...

Today my baby boy turned five. FIVE. It didn't really hit me until today that he's FIVE. That's a big deal! (Especially at our house....that I haven't given birth in five years!!) The photo is of his birthday list..I'll get to that later. I offered to have a little party for him with his two or three buddies from church (he's never had a friend party before)....but he flatly refused. Family only, he said. I was a little surprised by this, but then he went on to say that he wanted a lemon cake, no "theme", no sprinkles, no ice cream, and no games. Good grief! Who is this child? He didn't even want to go to a park to have his party (which ended up being a good thing since it rained cats and dogs all day). Nope, he wanted to stay at home and have his cake with no sprinkles and no ice cream and no friends. Alrighty then! What's the catch, because this is too easy. Or is there some deep-rooted psychological reason he didn't want sprinkles or ice cream or friends? Oh, I'm just kidding. I didn't really wonder that. Really, I didn't. Really.

So, today we had a very nice and low-key birthday, complete with lemon cake (he did cut me some slack and let me put on a few sprinkles...and the rest of us had ice cream). A few days prior he had made a birthday list. I always like to keep these, and thought you all might get a kick out of this one. I'll translate for you:

Start
Go
0. IPOD (yeah, right...I don't even have one!)
1. vidyo game (video game, which he didn't get. The Wii is still fresh.)
2. calindr (calendar)
3. map
4. legos
5. go otor (we couldn't figure this one out, and he couldn't remember, either)
6. cumpyoodr (computer, um..I don't think so)
7. clock
8. seeydy (CD)

Other than the computer and the ipod, I thought these were pretty simple requests. His favorite gift? A 2009 Veggie Tales calendar I found for $.97. He said it was his best birthday ever. Now if I can just get the other kids to have these same expectations!!

Happy fifth birthday to my fresh-faced little five year old Peter!

lane closed

I love my kids. I love interacting with them, listening to what's on their minds. However, it seems like all day yesterday, I did not experience five consecutive minutes without hearing my name (Mom) called in request for help of some kind. Usually for food. This really gets me when I'm on the phone or talking in person with someone (they have been taught OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and....that if I'm SPEAKING or LISTENING to another person, that they need to WAIT their turn and not interrupt - unless there is blood involved, of course.) I get real tired of having to stop and tell them that they're interrupting and to wait. I do realize that part of the problem is me failing to give a consequence when this habitually happens, but also that sometimes the kids are just one track minded and so focused on what's in their little brains that they forget. So I was thinking how handy it would be to have a light on top of my head that would automatically be "on" if I'm free to talk or answer questions, and "off" if I'm engaged in conversation with someone else. Lane closed. Find another lane. (DAD's lane, perhaps? :) I'll bet I'm not the only mother who would invest in such a gadget.

ball.....camp......

Scroll down two posts to "ballpark fun", and in the first photo you'll see Sam's baseball team lining up to "good game" the other team. (Sam's team is in the navy blue.) You'll see numbers 9,3,6,1,7, and two coaches (I think the second coach is very handsome and manly, by the way..). Anyway, Sam is number 1. In that same post, I mentioned something that didn't bother him about his baseball experience this year. Can you guess what I'm talking about?

In other news, the boy returned from camp today with lots of stories, camp memorabilia, smiles, and a suitcase full of clean, folded laundry. Which means he pretty much wore the same thing for three days. But he did say he took one shower. He and Janie had fun swapping camp stories in the van on the way home.....that was fun to listen to!

serious business

Oh, dear. Let me just say that Peter did not know he was being photographed here, nor was he trying to be funny.

ballpark fun

Yesterday marked the end of baseball season. Sam's team (Homeworks Central) came in third place. They had a great last couple of games and ended the season on a high note. I was completely intimidated by Little League at first. I thought it was going to be super hardcore and serious. While the boys and coaches certainly did take it seriously, it was much more fun than I had anticipated. The coaches did a fantastic job...they had a good bunch of boys on the team...and it was fun to get to know some of the parents, too. Our boy really does love baseball. Not once did he complain about the TWO HOUR games, twice a week (I did, though...:), get upset about striking out or not playing the position he wanted, or seem to mind that most of the boys on the team were heads AND shoulders taller than him. He was in his element. He was like a fish in water. Like a pea in a pod. Like Mom in a Starbucks. :) I got to learn all sorts of baseball lingo, too, like "Good cut" and "Don't aim the ball, just throw it" and "Power T! Teardrop!"...so I can really sound like I know what's going on!

Yessir, I believe this was the first of many summer seasons at the ballpark!

laziness - no, restfulness

Just about every day for the last week or so, I've had something on my mind to blog about. But here's the thing. I've gotten really spoiled with this laptop sitting on the dining room table. It's not ours, but we're "laptop-sitting". It's wonderful, but it just provides more opportunity to be online when I should be doing something else. Anyway, all my photos are on the desktop computer (or still on the camera). While I realize transferring the pics to the laptop is not rocket science, I'm admitting that while I sit on the sofa with the laptop on my....well, my lap at 11:38pm, it really does seem like too big a task. Anyway, Tim says I need a "thumb drive". I still haven't figured out DVRs. I don't know what a thumb drive is. Or maybe I do, and I just thought it was called something else. Does it usually come attached to a string-around-the-neck thingy? I'd ask Tim, but he's sawing logs next to me here on the couch with his earbuds in. We are LAME. All this to say that if I had a "thumb drive", I'd have new posts, complete with photos, just about every day! Hmmph!

Enough of that nonsense. Today marks the end of a season for us....the season of running around/never eating supper together/feeding kids at the ballpark/tag-team parenting. Today was the final game of Sam's Little League (which, by the way, his team won to come in third place in the league...) AND as soon as the game was over we hopped in the car to take Sam to Pine Lake Camp. It's his first time at camp..please pray that he stays safe, gets to know Jesus in a new way, and brushes his teeth at least once. I know hoping for a shower is a pipe-dream, but I threw in the shampoo and soap anyway. Sorry...bunny trail. So baseball is over, Janie and (almost) Sam are done with camp. We can now relax a little. We are now free to move about our summer. We have really enjoyed the crazy season....the kids love their camp, the ballgames were fun to watch, and we are having so much fun watching the kids grow and experience new things. But now we're looking forward to grilling in the backyard. Going to the park to hit balls. Swimming. Camping. Eating popsicles on the front porch while catching lightning bugs and going to bed late and filthy....I mean, freshly bathed of course. Yah, sure, ya-betcha! :)

Last week was one of those in which I was exhausted and in desperate need of a sick day. I didn't realize for a day or two that the reason I was feeling so fatigued is that I was coming down with some sort of bug (and maybe partly because of all these kids wanting me to fix them food all the time :). Anyway, amidst the tiredness I started to head down that mental path where I over-analzye and question and wonder if I'm doing everything wrong and what would we do about this or that in five years. But God spoke to me in a number of ways and reminded me that 1) to not trust Him is actually sin (ouch) 2) that I only need to take one day at a time, and 3) that the life he has given me today is so rich and beautiful and I am MISSING IT by worrying and over-analyzing. As my dear friend Susanna would say...IT IS WHAT IT IS. Have I mentioned that that little phrase changed my life at one point? Deal with today. And be thankful in the process.

I bid you goodnight now. I'm going to enjoy a quiet house for a few minutes (one would expect that at 12:14am..although Tim is still snoring). I'm going to ignore the dishes in the sink, the kitchen trash which smells like death, the tufts of cat hair floating around the living room floor, and the array of legos, blocks, papers, and pipe cleaners(?) which are dispersed in the upstairs hallway.

I seriously just sat here thinking I should really find a photo to post with this, but I'm just too comfy to get up..... :)