A little about John and me

Husband Tag

What is his name? John. With an 'h'. Not Jonathan. Just John.

How long did you date? Until we were engaged or until we were married? We were engaged 1 month after we started dating, and waited another month to tell people because we figured they'd all think we were crazy. We were married after a seven month engagement.

How long have you been married? 10 years, plus 5 months

Who eats more sweets? He does.

Who said I love you first? He did. Two days after we started dating. I cried and called my parents and said, "He told me he loves me but how can he it's only been two days WAHHHAAA" I was distraught. My dad said, "If he said it, I'm sure he means it." Oh.
Who is taller? He is.

Who is a better singer? Well, me.

Who is smarter? He is, for sure. Advanced physics and all, you know. A math wizard.

Who does the laundry? What kind of question is this? You mean, some husbands do laundry? We're gonna have to have a talk.

Who pays the bills? He does.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do.

Who mows the lawn? Mostly John, because he likes to use the tractor. I use the push mower and trim, plus I mow the septic hill. Isn't that a pretty phrase? "Septic Hill." Say it.

Who cooks dinner? Me, unless it's Tuesday, and then I do.

Who drives? John

Who is more stubborn? ME!!!

Who kissed who first? John kissed me first. On our first date, parked in front of his mom and dad's house. He asked if he could, so I said yes. Then he gave me a peck on the cheek.

Who asked who out? John came to pick me up at the airport--I was flying home after spending some time in CA with my brother. It was 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday--July 27, to be exact. I was not prepared to see him there and was put out that he came to get me and not Brina and Jerry like I'd planned. I had flown all night--got on the plane at 8:00 p.m. the night before, had a layover in Denver, then home at 6:30, and I was a wreck. We got in his car and he said if it was okay with me he'd like to start seeing me, but I didn't have to answer right away I could think about it for a while, but let him know...he'd really like to start seeing me. He didn't look at me the whole time. He was so nervous. I said, "Okay." and he didn't hear me. He kept going with the "if you don't want to that's okay, you don't have to tell me right away but I'd like to start seeing you."

Who is more sensitive? Me. But that's not a bad thing, right? Hmmm. Sensitive, yet stubborn. I don't know if I like this combination.

Who wears the pants? He does. He thinks.

Now you are all tagged! Copy and paste it to your blog!

A word from the mom

Today, I can totally understand why gerbils eat their young.

All three are driving me up the wall. I seriously want to leave for awhile. I have thought about going shopping all throughout the day, but then I remember--rats. I have these three kids I have to do something with. And they're the whole reason I want to get away.
They fight like little wildcats. They slap, they scratch, they kick...whatever it takes to assert their self-appointed top-of-the-heap status. I have stopped even trying to see what the fights are about. I don't care how badly they hurt each other.
Tomorrow it will be better. Tomorrow I will feel like I'm Wonder Mom! And my children will be Cute Little Angels!
But tonight, I'm feeling distinctly gerbil-ish.

I had always thought that I'd be sad and have to choke back sobs when I see little Joel get on that big yellow schoolbus, into the great big world.
Today I kept looking at the calendar, counting and recounting the days until September 2. I came up with 12 everytime. It might as well be 12 weeks.

Someone told me last night that this time goes so quickly. She reminded me not to wish these days away. And I agree! Some days I find it hard to catch my breath when I think they're not getting any younger and I know that someday I'll miss this stage.
But today? Hmph. Today they give me a headache. And I promise the boys wanted to eat more than they usually do. Just to annoy me, I'll bet. Stinkers. Or maybe I'm imagining that.

You want examples of what I've put up with today?
Joel was playing a game on the computer. All was happy and gay. Then Rebecca came along and demanded that it was her turn. He disagreed. A fight ensued. She pushed him off the chair. He screamed and pushed her. She slapped him over and over. At that point I decided I'd better jump in and referee. I came out of it with a bruised wrist and a nasty scowl on my face.
All three kids were playing Lincoln Logs. They dumped the tub out and spread pieces throughout the house. Rebecca and Joel pretended to live in the same house and Clayton couldn't live with them. They knocked over each other's creations. More slapping. Some shouting. Some, "You're such a baby!" I pretended I was at Starbucks, sipping a latte.
I told the kids to clean up the mess they'd made before they ate supper. Rebecca said, "What if I don't?" Smart alek. I told her she wouldn't eat. She said, "I will too." She can be unbelievably snotty sometimes. I don't even know what to say. I alternate between wanting to teach her a lesson and ignoring her. I've tried both. Neither seems to work.
Joel started cleaning up the toys. Clayton claimed extreme fatigue suddenly, and couldn't be moved from his pillow on the living room floor. Rebecca finally went to help Joel and then they both came upstairs. I asked if it was all cleaned up. "No," they replied. "We cleaned up what we played with." Oh, that infuriates me. HOW do they know which little Lincoln Logs they each played with? I told them, quite sternly, "I don't wet in your bed, and yet I'M the one who does laundry. I don't use all the dishes in the house, but I'M the one who washes them. All of them. Now GET back down there and CLEAN! IT! UP!" They did. Thank goodness, or smoke would have poured out of my ears. Followed by flames. And then I would have spontaniously combusted.
After I cleaned up all the dishes I didn't use, I told the kids to put their pajamas on. Rebecca started arguing with me. (Do you see a pattern here?) She said it's not bedtime yet. It's only 6:50. Too bad, I said. PUT THEM ON!! NOW! They did. I think they're starting to realize I'm done.

Tomorrow will be better. Right?

New school supplies

Yesterday I took the kids to Wal-Mart to take advantage of the awesome deals they have on school supplies. Crayons, $0.22. Glue sticks, $0.22. Scissors, $0.55. Notebooks, $0.05. Paper folders, $0.10. So how did we end up spending over $100? I'll have to think about that one for awhile. This is Joel, just this morning, sharpening 10 pencils so he's all ready for Kindergarten. I can hardly believe that my little boy will be going to school already. Then only one more year until the littlest boy goes too. I'll be all alone! Whatever will I do with myself?
I'm sure I'll find something...

Evening and morning

It rained the other night. Most of the day, actually. Around 7:45 p.m. the sun shined through the rain. Of course, I had to take some pictures. This, of course, is facing west. Since that's where the sun always sets. Raise your hand if you didn't know that.

Then the next morning it looked like this. This is looking east. That's where the sun rises. Raise your hand if you didn't know that.

My garden

Tomatoes

Another variety of tomatoes. This year I planted heirloom ones, both red and yellow. The pear-shaped ones are supposed to be yellow. We'll see.
My cucumbers
I planted two hills of squash. Never again. My word, last Fall I expanded the garden plot by probably 100%...It's twice as big as it was the first year. Apparently, squash takes as much room as you'll let it. It's climbing the dill, the corn, crawling over the beans, even reaching the tomato plants that are in the opposite corner.
Perfect squash
Ummm, what happened to this one?

Can you find the bean plants? They're somewhere under the squash vine...I planted 10 strawberry plants this spring, and I've been pinching off the blooms so they concentrate more on making runners. I missed one bloom though, so I let the berry ripen.
And this is the last picture of that particular berry that anyone will see. Ten seconds after I snapped the photo, I happily ate it. It was delicious.

River Boat Dinner Cruise

Ruthie told the band guys that it was Jerry and Brina's anniversary. So they came and seranded the happy couple. This was after they played and sang for Kerry and Darla since it was their anniversary too. When the glass-tinging, table slapping started, Jerry and John hugged.
More glass-tinging, table-slapping. That wasn't good enough for the crowd. So Jer and Brina finally gave in and kissed. Except they did it so fast I missed it and got a picture of the hug instead.

An evening on the river

John and I got to go on a date last Saturday night. With about 30 other couples we know. It was really intimate and romantic.
No really. It was fun. We got to see so many people that we usually only see maybe once a year.
We were especially glad to be on the boat, mainly because we almost missed it. Jenny, the Great Date Planner, got her wires crossed on what time Boarding and Departure were. I thought Boarding was at 5:30. Turns out, that was Departure. Minor details, right? So John drove like a bat out of that one place, and we covered 25 miles in 20 minutes. I hung on for dear life, closed my eyes, and tried to ignore the life that flashed before me.
Don't we look calm and relaxed?
Take a look at the two ladies to the left. Troublemakers, both of them.
Neisha and Patty are so refreshingly normal.
Oh! Oh! Oh! Did you ever see a bathroom ceiling that's SHINY? Whatever happened to privacy?

The 40-and-under group. John and I almost didn't make it on the same picture. HEY...
The 40-and-over group. I think they were all lying. None of them looks a day over 38.

Mom, Darla, and Patty.

Dad, Gary, Roger, Diane
Kerry and Darla, Darren and Wendy We walked to the candy shop and bought homemade truffles. So of course we needed Starbucks to wash it down! Or maybe we just didn't want the evening to end.

Company picnic

John's company has an annual picnic, geared towards families. It's great: free food, free ice cream and cotton candy and games and prizes and stuff.

We took the kids to this AFTER our county fair ordeal. Read on. Thank goodness they behaved at the picnic. If they hadn't they'd seriously be grounded for a year.

Eating. And eating. And eating some more.

Just a few examples of what my kids do all day:

I love how these self-portraits always turn out so natural-looking. Like, you totally hardly can tell that I took the picture!
Waiting for breakfast. It was so early he was hardly awake yet and brought his pillow to the table, in both the pictures above and below.
Notice there are no pictures of Rebecca eating. She eats, but not as often. She's not a breakfast girl, while the boys definetely are starving come 5:00 a.m. Okay, maybe it's more like 7:00. But still.

I'm telling you, all they do all day long is eat. I just bought groceries a week ago. Spent close to $200, and half that was at Aldi (a majorly discounted grocery). I had to go again yesterday to get a *couple* things. That cost over $100. $300 in one week? The kids aren't even teenagers yet!!!!!

Maybe I should have them tested for parasites or tapeworm or something. This can't be normal. The boys eat more than I do.

Am I overly obsessed with this topic? Don't answer that.