Santa's Newest Elf

This is definitely one for the record books. Last night, Randy was out doing some last minute Christmas shopping and I was home with the boys. Randy called to ask me about presents for the boys. About five minutes later, Gary grabbed my phone to play a game or text someone or something. He'd been on it all evening so I didn't think anything of it. A few minutes later, the phone rang. It was Randy again and Gary passed the phone to me. Apparently, Gary had texted his daddy, "did you get the boys enything?" from my phone! The fact that we had just talked along with the misspelled word was enough to arouse Randy's suspicion. He only replied "a little" then called me. Gary knew by the look on my face that he was busted and flashed a big toothy grin coupled with a sinister laugh. He was proud of his craftiness. I have to admit, I was too. THAT was a good idea!!!!

Spam!

Success!!! The comment moderation feature has finally paid off. Last night I had a comment from a spammer advertising a certain first-round type fertility drug. It just so happens to be the same one that I can thank for most of the Dear Diary predicaments below! Why would I ever want anymore of that? hehehe Obviously, I'm kidding. I'd take 10 more Landons if that's what God blessed me with :) Back to the topic at hand; it was sort of empowering to be able to reject the comment before it was ever published. Hooray for publishing control!

A Star is Born

Yesterday, Princeton Elementary Celebrated Veteran's Day with a ceremony to honor all of our Veterans. Click Here for the video link showing news footage from the morning activities and Gary's 10 seconds of fame! But, the real stars are Jim and all the others who've fought for and are currently fighting to save our freedom. Thank you Veterans!!!!

Dear Diary,

The past week has been so bizaar, I've decided to document it before I forget..
Monday, Nov. 2 Landon had a bike wreck (no one saw what happened). Went to the E.R. and received 6 stitches under his chin.
Tuesday, Nov. 3 - Back on the bike
Wednesday, Nov. 4 - Landon was caught by my mom, just before riding his bike down the slide!
Thursday, Nov. 5 - Landon's school called about 11:00 a.m. to tell me that he had fallen off the slide and torn his frenulum (the piece of skin that attaches your upper lip to your gum) Again, no one witnessed the accident. He's told us, 1. He was sliding down the slide on his bottom and just fell off the side, 2. He walked into the slide, 3. He was pushing a lawn mower and ran into the slide, 4. He was pushing a lawn mower up the slide. We will probably never know how this one happened!
Friday was quiet
Saturday, Nov. 7 - I removed Landon's stitches and he fell asleep half way through the process
Sunday, Nov. 8 - Landon fell on his face and reinjured his lip
Monday, Nov. 9 - Landon fell on his face, again, and reinjured his lip
Tuesday, nothing note worthy
Wednesday, Nov. 10 - Cathy Turner called from Princeton to tell me that Gary had been bitten during P.E....by a 4th grade girl!!! Apparently, a group of girls was playing vampire and decided he was a worthy victim...
What's next?!
**Update I just talked to Gary on the phone to get the vampire story. In addition to a bite, he also was cut in the eye by another kid's paper, and fell on his own pencil. Teacher is looking for lead in his hand as I type.
I won't make the mistake of asking, "What's next?" again! hahaha

Gary's Sunday School Lesson from 08-30-09

Zoom in on the bottom right corner...Might we have a comedian emerging?

If he's serious, he's grounded for a year!!! :-)

By the time his "work" got to the other end of our pew, every one of us was giggling!

School Daze

Both the kids are finally in school and things are getting back to normal (whatever that is!). Homework..football practice (also known as "the grass game" to Landon)..cool mornings. I'm not sure who's happier, our babysitter or me! :)

Gary's first day

"You really expect me to smile and be happy when you're making me ride the cheese wagon this year!?"

Landon's first day and his birthday!!!! He couldn't be more excited about school. Snack person, new chucks with fire on the side, cupcakes, drink boxes in his backpack. When mom picked him up today, he wanted to stay at school! He called me after they left, "Mom, I didn't cry. I was the leader all day. I did everything my teacher said to do." I told him he was the best kid in class. He cut me off with "I know." He's most impressed with PreK-4. We'll hope for the same attitude tomorrow morning.

More to come...gimme time

Greenfield Picnic Day 2009

Greenfield's Annual End of the Year Picnic was today at the park on Brownlee Road. Landon and the rest of the kids had a wonderful time. Below, is Landon's first attempt at jumping off the climbing rocks (reserved for 5 years old and up) You have to click on the picture to really appreciate it. His face tells the whole story!

His class having lunch.

There was a rhino, a horse, and a race car. Landon passed on the first two and waited for a turn on the car. Imagine that!


Running for the next water spout

He became more brave with each jump. This was about #5.

He landed with a thud. Lay motionless. I ran over thinking, "Great, I've let the kid break his back!" (The other moms were trying to keep their kids off the rocks) "Landon, are you okay?"

"Dat one hurt just a wittle," he said in a calm steady voice without looking up or moving a muscle. "Jus wet me way here a minute."

"Okay, I'm ready to do it again!'

Taking a break to warm up with Mrs. Candy.

Back to the grindstone

One last jump before time to leave. If I had to guess, he probably did this 50 times. All that practice jumping off the stage at church finally paid off!

Field Day 2009

Start the morning off with a friendly game of tug-of-WAR

A few of them lost their grip and fell flat on their faces.

Of course Gary didn't miss out on that action! (green hat)

Mom's still cheering them on

50 yard dash
1st (Gregory)
Austin and Gary tied for 2nd

This had to be the most fun event of the day..
Drag Racing - Haughton Style!!!

PUUUUULLLLLL!!!!

KEEP PULLING!!!!!!!!

The parents HAD to get in on this one!

Mrs. Waldron was a good sport. Hard work paid off. Gary's team won this one too :)

"Jump back Jack"

Take a step back each time you catch the ball. Bow out if you drop it. Gary and his partner were among the last "men" standing :)

Finally...a break...

Good morning "love"

You know you live with boys when first thing in the morning...
Me: "Good morning, Sunshine!"
Gary: "I just peed and the bubbles made a heart shape in the toilet!"

Catch Up

We've been super-busy doing "things" and I haven't had a chance to post in a while. Here's a quick catch-up of our past couple of months...

Gary took a sewing class at church.
They made dolls and hospital gowns, then delivered them to kids at Sutton Children's Hospital.

Mardi Gras parade at Greenfield

The kids (neighbors included) can't resist our ditch.

L-R: Gracie, Gary, Colton, Landon, Bailey, Grant

ages 3-13

Basketball or Ballet?

Showing his skilz

Easter Egg Hunt at 1st BC Haughton

Patriotic program for Easter with Master Mixer GW on the Mic

Monroe Zoo

No matter how loud Landon and Bailey growled at those lions, they wouldn't make a sound!

We found a few monkeys at the zoo too :)

Are YOU smarter than a 3rd grader?

Congratulations to Platt's six third graders that competed in the Shreveport Symphony's Music Memory Competition at South Highland's Elementary last night. Winning 2nd place was no easy task for them! They studied 10 classical music selections, had to memorize the song and correctly write the Symphony or Piece it came from, the song title, and the composer after listening to a small section of the song, sometimes less than one measure. For the record, I studied with Gary for a month and I could only indentify two last night!!! They received points for correct answers, spelling, and punctuation...example:
Symphony No. 35 in D Major ("Haffner") First Movement
Allegro con spirito
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Washing Post March
John Philip Sousa
Rodeo: Hoedown
Aaron Copland
"Night on Bare Mountain"
Modest Mussorgsky

I probably punctuated those wrong! But you get the gist... The kids were awesome and had a great time. Thanks to Mrs. Watters, their music teacher. She worked hard to keep them interested and teach all those songs; even staying after school to work with the kids. They're lucky to have her! If you see Gary Wilson, Jayson Nitz, Grace Teutsch, Alana Lewis, Chloe Lewis, or Mackenzie Farqhar make sure to high-five them. They definitely deserve it!

Coupon Queen

A lady on FoxNews this week, inspired me to start using coupons. She WAS blogging her $1500/year challenge, but had negative feedback from some less than impressed folks (probably CNN watching democrats!) so she deleted her blog. Regardless, following her for a couple of days was enough to get me excited about saving money. I printed a lot of coupons online, clipped from the Sunday paper, and took advantage of Brookshire's Moonlight Madness sale yesterday. My total savings were about $40 off what would have been a $98 shopping trip! That's exciting!!! I don't have time to recount the entire event, but can't skip bragging about: $.35 box of bandaids-used Brookshires paper's $1.00 off any health/beauty item to discount a $1.35 box of bandaids; and two cans of Del Monte corn - $.99 reg. price minus a $.75 coupon for each left me with two cans of corn @ $.24/ea.; lastly I had a $.30 coupon for Downy liquid fabric softener that qualified for tripling. I usually pay around $6 for it at the dollar store but Brookshire's a certain scent (Violets and Roses) on clearance for $3.34. Subtract $.90 for the tripled coupon and I walked away with a $6 bottle of downy for $2.44!!! I didn't get anything for "free", but I have to leave something for next time's goal. Happy shopping and happy coupon clipping! Please leave any hints you may have as I'm new to this game :)

Christmas Past

Typical of my child, he's hiding from fame. Gary, along with all of the other children pictured, played Christmas songs on the piano at a retirement home. Upon searching, I found proof of his participation (See photo below). You'll have to take my word on it!!! I think he does so well with piano b/c he can HIDE behind that huge grand piano where no one can see him! Whatever... I'm no less proud of him than I would be if he were a Show-Boat Sam. :)

Sleep Tight

Landon and I turned in WAY before Randy (no surprise) last night. Gary was outside somewhere with Colton, probably in the monster sized dog kennel out back that they've deemed their clubhouse. I awoke about 1:45 a.m. to take Landon to the bathroom and noticed the outside light on and the dog barking. I looked outside and there's a tent in the back yard! Randy told me the boys (Gary and Colton from across the street) wanted to camp out. Knowing they'd freeze to death and want to come in soon, I left them there. Skip to 7:00 a.m. Sat. morning. Landon pokes me in the forehead with an ice cold finger... "Mommy, where's Gary and Colton?" "Honey, they slept in the tent. They're outside." "No they're not!" "Well, then they're probably in Gary's room or at Colton's house." Doze off again... 10 minutes later, another cold poke in the forehead... "Mommy, they're not at Colton's house." "How do you know? Did you cross the street by yourself?!" "No." "Then how do you know they're not at Colton's house?" "Because I just know!" (He gets that "NEVER admit to your wrongdoing even when you're caught red-handed" thing from his daddy-their smile/charm somehow usually gets them out of trouble!!!!) I decided to get up when I heard the front door slam. Got downstairs in time to see Landon look both ways before crossing the street (point for him!). Called Tracy, "I'm missing 3 kids..." T: "I have one, but the other two are in yourbackyard!" "No they're not, Landon said they're gone." T: "I'll send Bailey (5 yr. old little sister) and Landon back to your house to look in the tent." The boys were there, just hid from Landon when he initially went out to look for them. I think they've all ventured back over to Colton & Bailey's house...I've got to get off this 'puter and take advantage of my free time to get ready for Souper Salad Saturday at church!

Here...kitty kitty kitty

My copy-cat kid is getting pretty quick with his comments... The other night I was fighting Gary about eye drops, "Gary, tilt your head back so we can get it over with.." From down in the den we hear this little encouraging voice , "Yea-yeh, wike a big boy!" Randy, Gary, and I laughed till we cried. I think I'm remembering 3 as being my favorite age with Gary, as well. They begin to really grasp life and their imagination and communication skills explode. I guess as with most youngest children, you always think of them as babies, but Landon reminds us every single day, "Mommy, I'm still growin' and I'm gettin' big and I'm gonna be big as daddy!"

Speaking of big, we had a big fat stereotypical evening... Randy took Gary and Landon to see the monster trucks Saturday night (I admit that I like Monster Trucks too, but I wasn't invited this time). They had a fantastic time doing boy stuff. It gave me an opportunity to try out my new sewing machine. I made Landon a pair of pajama pants. I'm no seamstress...never even taken a sewing class...but once I figured out how to thread that stupid bobbin, things got to rolling. I had to rip out one of my seams 4 times, but I can guarantee you that I won't try sewing again without: checking the bobbin, attaching the foot, or lowering the foot. Each circumstance makes for a heck of a bird nest!!!! My challenge (challenge b/c Gary said "you can't do that!") now is to complete the shirt that came with the pants pattern..... If it ever gets finished, I'll post a pic.

Update from below...

Friday evening, Landon informed me that he taught the kids how to drive a milk truck AND a juice truck. They must not be ready for flying lessons yet :)

Substitute Teacher & Mom

I'm not sure what's been going with Miss Candy this week, but each day Landon has insisted that she wasn't at school. He further insists that he was the teacher for the day. Their studies went as follows:
Monday, "I taught all the kids how to drive a trash truck today."
Tuesday, "I taught all the kids how to drive a motorcycle today."
Wednesday, "I taught all the kids how to drive a four-wheeler in the mud and not get stuck today."
Thursday, "I taught all the kids how to drive an airplane with holes in it today."
I can't wait to hear what kind of adventures Landon takes the class on today (Friday) and pray that Miss Candy gets to feeling better soon! Maybe he'll teach the kids how to fly that airplane that they drove yesterday :)

He's decided to take the reigns at home as well... Last night I told Gary to go brush his teeth no less that 20 times. He finally crawled up the stairs and yelled back, "I am!" to which Landon immediately screeched, "No you're not! I don't hear the water running!" It always surprises me when I open my mouth to say something, and the words come out someone elses mouth!

Day off...

Our company decided last minute to give us today off. I had planned to clean house and make my semi-annual trip to Minden Wal-Mart but plans changed as visitors arrived. We all had a lot more fun than shopping would have been!!!!

Picnic with Johnny's Pizza. Gary and Adrienne burned our Christmas boxes in the front yard.

Wilson's Backyard Bistro

Tummy full of Pizza + Trampoline = Vomit!!!!!

at least it would for me. The kids, obviously, have much stronger stomachs than I do.

Ella, "I used to have a picnic table like this, but my grand daughter took it."

Gary, "I loved lighting the fire by myself."

Adrienne, "I learned a new trick on the trampoline."

Bailey, "I'm glad Adrienne came to play!"

Landon, "I'm glad all my 'priends' are here."