Ezra found a set of Ben's safety glasses, and wears them all the time. He looks smart.

This was our second trip to the fair. The first time, I forgot the camera.

The only ride Ezra went on was the mechanical bull. He enjoyed it, but not as much as the old folks running it.... He was their cutest customer to date.

A very good end to a good day.

Daddy Truck

Every morning when Ezra gets up the first thing he says is "Good Morning Honey!" followed very shortly by "Daddy Truck!" Then he spends the rest of the day trying to make me crazy by chanting "Daddy Truck" over and over and OVER!!!!! Hundreds, probably thousands of times a day I hear "Daddy Truck"

It's enough to make you bang your head on the wall.

In an effort to save my sanity Ben gave Ezra a little ride in the Daddy Truck. Excited doesn't begin to describe that kid..... We'd met Ben at the car wash, simply so Ezra could ride back to the house and stop screaming "Daddy Truck" at me. On the way back they passed me, and Ezra could see me out his window. He was very happy with this, but kept yelling at Ben to "GO!!! GO!!! GO!!!" I guess he's a little competitive and wanted to beat us home. (Don't worry, I took this picture at home, not while I was driving down the road!)

So what we thought might pacify his truck addiction has only made him crave it more... It's not only the first thing I hear from him in the morning, but the last at night now as well. Hooray for me.

Two Milk and a Buffalo

The fellow we've been talking to about a couple homes for he has for sale apparently hunts. On his wall are two elk, and a moose. Ezra is a little mixed up about his animals I think. He was sure that the elk were horses, and I still can't convince him the moose is not a buffalo.
The entire time we were at the guys house Ezra pointed to the wall and chanted "Milk, Buffalo?!" 'Milk' is as close to 'Elk' as he gets. So, the gentleman has two Milk and a Buffalo on his wall and had no idea till he met Ezra.

A Few Random Thoughts

Well, yesterday was the first day having the boys back to myself since last week. Um, they are a lot of work! So to those interested in the previous post's add, maybe we can work out a time share deal of some sort....
Part of the difficulty was that I'm still not supposed to be picking them up, and that frustrates Ezra to no end. Another contributing factor was that the speech therapist was supposed to have come for his first appointment, and never showed up. So we tweaked all our schedules and messed up nap time for everyone. That makes all of us cranky. The crankier Ezra is the more cranky it makes me, and in turn makes him worse... You see where this is going.
We got in touch with the therapist and figures out that in the chaos of the last week, she hadn't been able to confirm the appointment, and assumed we wouldn't be here. Thanks for thinking so highly of us...... We re-scheduled for next week and will try it again..... Hopefully with a little more success.
We're spending the day today looking at a couple of houses and getting groceries. Doesn't sound like an all day project? With two kids it is. We are soooo tired of living in our little town house. The police were next door again last night, for the FIFTH night this week. I never pictured myself living somewhere like this..... Certainly not raising kids here. The places we are looking at are new mobile homes on basements with five to seven acres. In a perfect world we'll put up fence the day after we move in, and the next go get a puppy. We'll see how it all works out. Either way, I still want a dog.

For Sale: Two Blue Eyed, Blond Haired Boys, Good Eaters, Better Mess Makers. Call With Offer

I've realized that having kids is more work than I thought. Since I had my appendix out I'm not supposed to lift more than ten pounds, so my boys have been farmed out for a while. They are at a gals house who runs a day care with her kids. I never wanted my kids to be daycare kids, but this is working out really well in our current situation. The gals daughter picks them up in the mornings (because I can't get them into the car) and brings them back in the evening. They boys are loving going to play with other kids. Ezra wakes up asking to leave... It warms my heart. At least I know they are having fun and not just crying for me. Even though I'd feel a little better if they missed me even a tiny bit.
I feel really lazy, but my house is WAY cleaner than it's ever been... And it stays that way on it's own! Like I said, kids are more work than I thought.... I told Ben we could sell the boys, have a clean house, and a slightly chubbier version of me from sitting around not knowing what to do with all the spare time, or keep them, have a little messier house, a little more tired me, but thinner from chasing kids and forever picking up after them. I think we both would miss the boys....
I guess it's something you get broken into slowly, but when it all goes away you realize how much they do require....
So, since I've got no kids and my house is picked up I'm going to go take a nap!

BORED:


bored, bor·ing, noun
–verb (used with object)
1.
to weary by dullness, tedious repetition, unwelcome attentions, etc.: The long speech bored me. –noun
2.
a dull, tiresome, or uncongenial person.
3.
a cause of ennui or petty annoyance: repetitious tasks that are a bore to do.
[Origin: 1760–70; of uncert. orig.]
—Synonyms 1. fatigue, tire, annoy.
—Antonyms 1. amuse; thrill, enrapture.




It's one of those days....... I've never stayed in bed this much and well, I'm bored! I let Ezra hang out with me for a little while earlier but he doesn't really understand why I screamed when he accidentally kicked me in the stomach..... So, the boys are back downstairs and I'm hiding out in my room. I'm very glad Ben's got his laptop here, or I'd be going crazy.
Ben is going to let me go to the barn today, as long as I sit in my camping chair and just watch him clean stalls.... As long as it's getting me out of the house for a little while I'm okay with it! He's been taking very good care of me. Almost too good. He'd make a great bossy mom.... He's washed my hair for me twice, which means I lay on the counter with my head in the sink because I can't bend over... He even slept on the floor so he wouldn't jostle the bed and make me move unexpectedly. As well as bringing me ice cream he brings me Otter-Pops to put on my belly all night.... As much as I'm sleeping he's working. He's a little worried about what I'm going to do Monday, since the boys are so very active. We'll get it figured out I'm sure, and if we don't Debbie Mader said she'll be making me a bed at her house...

Knock-Knock-Anyone-There???

This is me getting prepped for surgery. We all actually enjoyed ourselves and joked the entire time. I think the only person who didn't enjoy our teasing and jokes was the anesthesiologist. The way they put you under is a little different than I thought it would be. They use IV drugs to put you out initially and then put a breathing tube in your throat and use some kind of gas to keep you out. We were teasing and asking if they ever made bets about if they could do it with 'the other hand'... She didn't like it very much. She did pay me the oddest compliment I've ever received though. She said I had the most beautiful airway she'd seen yet. Don't worry, I'm not letting it go to my head.

Ben tried to take some pictures of Ezra laying in bed with me, but all our batteries are dead.... Typical. I'm sure there will be more opportunities for him to get pictures of me lying in bed here in the near future.

As you can probably tell, I'm a little bored. I'm feeling well enough to talk on the phone, and have my voice mostly back from the tube.... Hint hint..... The boys are kind of getting locked downstairs so they don't jump on my stomach, so I'm mostly alone. Desperate and pathetic enough to make you all feel sorry for me and call with your favorite knock knock jokes? I'll post my favorites if you do. With some nice compliment about the individual who tells it too.

For now I'm going to lay back and wait for my phone to ring!

Ice Cream! I'm Gonna Eat Ice Cream!!!!

Have you ever heard that Bill Cosby bit about getting his tonsils out as a kid? The gist if it is that surgery is worth it, because you get to eat all the ice cream you want when you're done.

I've eaten nothing but strawberry milkshake since yesterday. Yep, I had surgery! One of my goals in life was to never have surgery. That got blown out of the water yesterday. I started having a horrible pain in my lower right quadrant about 11:30 and by 2:00 was at the hospital. Debbie Mader, who is boarding my horse, took me to the hospital and her daughter Jamie watched the boys. We joked that they board horses and boys....

Ben was about 4 hours away when I decided to go to the hospital, and by the time he got there they were making the decision to take me to the OR. Fortunately I was only in surgery for about 25 minutes and everything went really well. My appendix was about three times the size it should have been, and they were able to take it out with no problems. I was out of surgery by ten after six and headed home by nine. Not exactly what I'd had planned for my day, but it is a good thing that things went like they did. We were talking last night about how in a round about and very direct way (as contradicting as that sounds) my horse probably saved my life. Had we chosen a different barn to keep him at, or not had him here at all we wouldn't have met the Mader family, I would have stayed home thinking I had a case of really bad gas! They are a wonderful family and we are VERY thankful that they were put in our path.

That said- Disclaimer: I've had a LOT of pain killers and if this doesn't make much sense, you can file a formal complaint with my manager- Ben.

AAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In this day and age of modern technology and convenience, where everyone uses digital camera's and mp3 players, this family has jumped right in with everyone else. All our pictures are stored on our computer, and all my music is downloaded off the Internet and stored in a neat little file next to my kids pictures. Well, as easy as it is to store it all there, it's ten times easier to loose it all. Yep. Our computer crashed and we've officially lost EVERYTHING. This means I'm about in tears over this, because there is not a single picture of Wyatt taken on film. The last year has ALL been on digital, and stored conveniently on the computer.
So, I am posting from Ben's work computer, and hoping he doesn't get in trouble for it.... The point is, if any of you who frequent our little blog here have pictures of my boys, PLEASE SEND THEM!!!!!

These boys travel in style.....

Lets not forget that they're cute. Maybe cute isn't the right adjective for this picture....

He's entertaining.

This is Crazy Horse. At least that's what they told us. It's been under construction since 1948, and this is how far they've come. I'm sure I sound very critical and unappreciative, which I'm not. I'm simply surprised that in 1941 Rushmore was started, and 14 years later the finished product was revealed. When you think about the technology and equipment we have available these days it's a little baffling.
This is the bus that you can take to the base of Crazy Horse. For 150 dollars a person...

Here is the most entertaining part of the visit to Crazy Horse.

This is Devils Tower. Again. This time the boys and I went with my mom. If you look really closely at the first picture, you can see Wyatt and I. We hiked up some of the rocks at the base. Much to my amusement, someone actually asked if I'd climbed the tower. With A Baby On My Back!!!! I'm sure that Bill Engval would have had a clever "Here's Your Sign" retort, but we were too stunned to be witty.

They can be so darn cute.....

I just love this picture. The cousins were packing up to go home, and Ezra gave Zeke a very sweet hug.

This is pretty much how the cake eating went at Wyatt and Shannon's party. Shannon dug right in, while Wyatt watched. He was a little timid at first, but now I think maybe he was just trying to get the right angle.

This was Wyatt's 4th of July. He ate Circus Animals, which made him VERY happy. And very messy.

Happy Birthday!

Oh how time flys by.

This is just a year ago, sweet LITTLE Wyatt was born. He's still sweet, but litte he is not. He eats more than I do on any given day, and he and Ezra wear each others clothes.

I suppose I should admit that this post is a little delayed. His Birthday was Saturday... There will be pictures of his little party when I get back from WA.

Ezra starts his days very energetic, and much like Wyatt, enjoys the naps that come after.

Wyatt likes big adventures, and the naps that follow!

Back to Devils Tower... It's very pretty up there, and there is a lot to climb on.

This was our trip to Rushmore. You can tell the boys were super excited about it!

We saw Devils Tower Monday. It's mostly just a big rock, but it's a really nice drive and kinda fun to hike around.

Most of you probably want to see pictures of the boys and cousins, but there are a few who want to see Angardd (Mom!). He's settling in very well, and making an attempt at making some new friends.

Aunt Mimi

Ben's sister Amy and her kids, Sam and Liz, are here to visit for the week, as you can see~ the boys are thrilled!
There will probably be less posts for a while here while Aunt Mimi is here.

Fight or Flight

My horse FINALLY got here, after a few weeks of expecting him 'any minute!' . He has never seen a cow, let alone lived with them. His new home is right next door to the steer pen.
He got to the barn at about 11:30 last night, after an 800 mile trailer ride. He was so tired and ready to be out of the trailer he didn't even care about the steers. This morning was a different story. He had rested. A lot. We bucked right on by the steers and saw the rest of the arena pretty quickly! I think that at 13 years old he's finally going to grow up and get broke.

This is the hail after the tornado... There was enough hail just south of town to warrant bringing out the snow plows. There was about six or eight inches on the roads down there...