They DO love me!

Randy, Gary, and Landon went out of their way to make my birthday wonderful yesterday. When I got home, (after I inspected the below posted episode of Trick my Truck) they greeted me almost ready for dinner. Gary only lacked shoes, Randy was almost dressed, and Landon had fixed his own hair, with cologne. Randy had showered him and dried his hair, but it was dripping wet (he was the cutest Gio model I've ever seen!) They had also bought me a "rest of 2008" membership to The Beach House. Apparently they decided that my self tanner was looking orange. They also bought me a GPS for the car that also is a wireless thingy for my phone. Thank you guys!!!!!!!!!! We had dinner at Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro where Landon serenaded me (and the next table) with a "composed-on-the-spot" birthday piece that included the words: birthday, teetee, butt, pecker, and fart. It was about five minutes long! Randy also found a surprise when he paid. He gave the waiter an old Copeland's gift card that he'd almost thrown away b/c it only had 79 cents left on it. The waiter broke the news that it had $53 on it!!!!!!!! So we ate for $20!!!!!!!!! I LOVE those kinds of surprises!
Here's a rundown of the rest of my"loot". Money, new speakers for my 'puter (my old ones at work pick up some chinese radio station every afternoon!), money, serenity candle, hanging window angel, Cane's gift card, external hard drive to back up all my photos I almost lost last week, Outback gift card, Lifeway gift card, Beth Moore devotional, and lunch at Texas Street Tavern. And we're still partying!!!! Thank you everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trick My Truck

Gary's got this worn-slap-out Power Wheels black Silverado that he's been toying with since it died several months ago. First, he and Randy motified the "motor" replacing the one little 12V battery with a car (or boat-I'm not sure) battery. I didn't get a video, but they looked something like this (<= click there for a demo). It was great fun while it lasted, but Randy became jealous and HAD to give it a spin. The poor litte gears and frame couldn't support his frame, so it's toast now. Before hauling it to the junk yard, Gary pulled out the tools and basically stripped it of "all the good stuff I might need one day" (Yea, we have another packrat in the family-as long as they keep their "nests" in the garage, I can manage). It sat dead and stripped in the driveway for another week, so yesterday, Gary decided to try his hand at visual customization (while I was at work of course-he got permission from Randy before he left for work). The old black truck is the new beauty you see below.

Flower Power

This spring was my first attempt to tame the wild beast of an overgrown lily bed at the back porch. I pulled out about 100 bulbs and various over-grown plants and planted a few new things to add some color and stability (along with a fence to deter the dog...he's since laid on it and added his own touch of character) Not bad for "Assorted 3 gal. shrubs, $5" from Ellis Pottery. When I bought them a month ago, they were just a bucket of compacted green leaves!

Long weekend

I hope you enjoyed your long Memorial Day weekend as much as we did :-) Here's our re-cap: Friday evening-Gary's end of the year piano "thing" (Don't freak out. You didn't miss a recital, it was just for her students...See Cross Music Studio blog for a cute pic of Gary showing his stuff for a group of middle schoolers). Friday Night- boys spent the night with great grandparents and Randy and I went to Texas Street Tavern (Yummm!!! We rarely EVER get a night without them, so it was much enjoyed!) Saturday-Randy and I "stole" a room of carpet and took it to the carpet-binder to be cut and bound into a rug (Randy wasn't as excited about this as I was/am!), spent the afternoon at M&P's and I still think we missed a birthday party Saturday evening but I couldn't find an invitation...(Sorry if it was yours!) Sunday a.m.-church, p.m.-church, in between services, Randy napped in his red chair for 4 hours and the kids put the sprinkler under the trampoline (kept them entertained for hours and watered my "grass"). Monday-mom and I took the boys to the Gator Park in Natchitoches. We got home about 4:30 to find Randy cleaning out the garage. Landon jumped out of the car, threw his arms out, and screamed, "Who did all dis mess?!" Kids wound up back on the trampoline (Good thing Randy & Gary put a new drain in our backyard b/c the sprinkler flooded it this time!) Gary started screaming, I ran to check and found Landon naked, bouncing..up down up down up down..."Landon, why did you take you shorts off?" "Because I wanted to!". Redress him, back to Randy's garage catastrophe. An hour later, same thing with Landon, redress, back to the garage. I went to Gammy's for a few minutes and came home to Gary in the street with a six-foot water moccasin! They had found it in the street and Randy chopped his head but he was still doing that twitching thing. Makes my skin crawl to even think about it!! Landon was as excited as Gary and Colton. He took off running up the driveway and returned with his rubber snake, squealing to make sure we were all scared. (This would be the same rubber snake that greeted me under my feet on my way to work this morning! Donna, you would have wrecked and taken out 10 cars on the interstate in process!)...enough with the snakes! We visited with the neighbors a bit more and laughed about Landon climbing on Gary new 4-wheeler and putting Gary's old helmet on. That is, we laughed until Landon cranked the bike! Dropped conversation with neighbor like a bad habit, took the key from Landon and went inside to fix supper. Came back outside and found Landon, naked AGAIN, this time in the front yard standing on top of his 4-wheeler screaming "pecker pecker pecker pecker...." re-dress for the umpteenth time today. Back to dinner...finally ate at 8:45, bathed the kids and they and I laid down about 9:30...Randy and Shawn were still cleaning OUT the garage and had no sight on moving things back IN. I don't know how much of my very important stuff that I haven't seen in a year that they took to the dump, but this morning my car was in the garage and everything was in a designated spot with LOTS of extra room. Good job guys! Today, it's hard to get much work done as my brain is resting from all the "stimulation" it received this weekend!

No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks!

Well, almost. Their "official" last day is Wednesday, but awards and end of the year parties were today. " Can you PLEASE hurry and take this LAME picture?!"

For the record, Gary received awards for: A/B honor roll, Accelerated Reader, and BUG (bring up grades)

At least somebody was excited about Gary's awards.
Noah quickly claimed his spot when he got up for something or other...



"...and go get yourself some cheap sunglasses"

Part of their party included a water fight ("guns" aren't allowed at school, so they used heavy ammunition squirt bottles!)

From left: Riley, Gary, Maddie, and Abby in front.

Midnight Gardener

Randy and I bought this house that seems to have been landscaped beautifully 5+ years ago, but has been 'let go' since. I keep reading "prune and fertilize azaleas in the spring right after they bloom and they'll be beautiful next year" so my plan was just that. Several weeks ago, I gave them all a "trim". It was so liberating once I got started that they ended up with the "first time you cut Barbie's hair when no one was looking" shaved head cut. But, they're supposed to be hearty enough to survive transplanting in full bloom so they ought to make it. I haven't had time to "fertilize and thoroughly water" yet..until now. Last night about 3 a.m. a sonic boom lightning bolt transitioned me from dead sleep to W-I-D-E awake in .00324 seconds! Amazingly, I had the best idea. "It's fixin' to rain. I should fertilize my azaleas NOW!" No way could I sleep after such a grand plan entered the picture, so Boomer (our Noble Protector who's scared of the rain) and I set out on our journey. By 3:30, we had fed every azalea and camellia bush in the front, back, and side yards. We settled back in to bed by about 4 a.m. with dreams of our own little Norton's Art Gallery right here in Haughton. I'll let you know if any brides stop to take photographs next year :-)

What's the last thing you expect to hear at a restaurant?

"Mommy, my poopoo's comin' out!" My sincere apologies to the table next to us and every table in between us and the bathroom!!!!! But when he's gotta go, he's gotta go and he likes to share the experience! THAT'S why Landon's not allowed at nice restaurants!

More tidbits..
Randy brought home the new 4-wheeler for Gary without my permission and I didn't blow my lid, then came the dog (again without my permission) and I'm still working hard to keep my cool. But, I draw the line with reptiles and rodents. So yesterday when Gary asked, "Who bought us the new hamster?" I nearly lost it!!! When fire shot out of my nose and I broke a silent sweat he said, "Mom, who gets the new clothes hamster!" Thankfully, he meant hamper because he almost earned his daddy a one-way ticket to bachelorhood!

Gary's end of the year Bible Drill Party was last night at the bowling alley. Landon shared a lane with Joshua Sewell. They did a good job waiting their turn but I heard "Mommy, can I do it uuggghhh-gaaaay-yiiinnnn?" at least 100 times!