It's Dad's Day!!

For Father's Day I went digging in some old photo albums and found the following gems....

Look!  We all three, Drue, Dad, and I, have the same haircut!  Drue says mom still has that bowl.  She swears she didn't cut our hair...looks suspicious to me.

We stopped in to see P'Pa for Father's Day and bring him some donuts.  We took Opa a pie earlier in the day.

Here we have my other dad teaching me stuff.

Pretty sure that someone was shooting at us with a bb gun in this pic...

One happy family right here.  Look at those smiles!

And I'd also like to wish myself Happy Father's Day since I pull double duty!

Mom's Day!

Time to bring back these gems!  The above picture causes a lot of groaning from the older lady in the picture.  I told her to relax, it's a great picture of me!  (discoloration aside)

I like to call the below picture, which my sister plastered on Facebook for all the world to enjoy, my awkward stage.  Not sure I grew out of that yet.

No pics of The Boy and me.  We had a traumatic day of soccer.  2 hour drive one way for a guaranteed loss.  We didn't even have enough players to field a full team!  The other team, however, had 14 players!  14!!  That meant they could almost sub out their entire team.  Then, just to give us an extra dose of misery, it rained.  I don't mean it was a nice light sprinkle that kept us cool on a hot summer day.  It POURED SIDEWAYS!!!!  THE ENTIRE GAME!!  My child is blind in the rain on a soccer field.  Goggles just don't work in the rain.  Man was it a terrible day.  My intentions had been to snap a couple pics of the two of us but we were over it by the time we left.  He went straight to sleep and I had steam coming out of my ears the whole way home.  No pictures, please.

At Least There Was no Giant M&M Umbrella

Jayke was so embarrassed that Oma wore this big floppy hat to his soccer game today.  I, oddly, was not phased by it.  I am becoming immune to her old lady ways, I guess.

He will get to enjoy it for an entire week when she takes him to Alabama this summer.

We lost the game, first loss of the season, maybe it was the hat.

Eleven--Minecraft, Bouncing, and iTunes!

Birthday party time!  He chose Skyzone again so I enlisted Jeff to help drive 10 boys to Indy to bounce their brains out at the indoor trampoline park.  We had a really good group of kids this year.  

Mathew, Kaidan, Landon, Jonathan, Brayden, Mason, Mason, Jayke, Zach, and Perrin.  We had to wait a bit before our jump time so Kate, the party hostess came out to entertain the boys.  As  you can see, they liked Kate a lot.

Jayke got a special shirt that would allow him to jump to the front of the line...his buddies chose pink for him.  He didn't mind.

We had a minecraft creeper cake.  Dad and MJ picked it up for me, as usual.  They had no idea what it was.  I had a hard time explaining as I'm not even sure what that crazy game is.  Jayke loved it though and knew exactly what it was, of course.

As he opened his gifts we all had to laugh as each gift was the exact same thing.  He got $110.00 in iTunes gift cards!!!  I asked him if he told everyone that was what he wanted and he said no...it was what I told everyone who asked me though.  It was, after all, the only thing he told me he wanted since he just got everything you can imagine for Christmas.  He did get another pair of shoes from Meemaw and P'pa!  

When we got back from Skyzone they played outside for about an hour running around playing hide and seek.  By the time they came in they were worn out and the remaining five who were spending the night quietly watched a movie until they all fell asleep.  In the morning they went out and played in the rain and mud until everyone was picked up and it was time for Jayke and Zach to go to their basketball games.  They will probably all have pneumonia in a day or two.  Happy Birthday, Jayke!  Hope he enjoyed this party because it will probably be the final one since he is off to middle school next year.  I don't think you have birthday parties in middle school...at least that is what I'm going to try to get away with!

Fun Gift

Happy Birthday, Oma!  For Mom's birthday, Jayke wrote 52  (one a week) "Remember Whens" and "I love you Because" notes on paper, folded them and placed them in a jar.  We decorated the lid with matching scrapbook paper and ribbons and made a card referencing which color was which kind of note.  Weren't we creative???  I have a feeling many more loved ones will be receiving a similar jar in the future.  I may have one already in the works for someone. ;)  

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!

Opa got Jaykeb a rifle for Christmas.  I agreed with a couple of stipulations, he isn't to shoot any animals with it and he has to keep it at Opa's house so that he doesn't end up shooting me with it!  With The Boy going to hit puberty the same time I am going to hit menopause the fewer weapons in the house the better!

I might make an allowance on the shooting of animals though if THIS dog doesn't stop sitting at the table for dinner...

Didn't Mean for that to Sound Ominous

I requested pictures for the final Grandparent's Day.  It is the last one since The Boy goes to middle school next year.  I said something about it being the last Grandparent's Day on Facebook and got a bunch of questions.  I guess I should have explained WHY it would be the last one.  It's just because The Boy is growing up!

Thanks for cooperating Grandparents...I know how you all love to have your picture taken, and you wonder where I get it!

By the way, Mom, I have your pictures. LOL...obviously!  They are on top of the pie safe.  I know I won't remember to tell you since I now have "40 year old brain"!

The 'rents

Mom and Jim at Mitch and Mallory's wedding.  SOMEONE had a few glasses of wine and tried to dance with everyone.  This victim doesn't look too thrilled about it.  LOL!!!

Day 3: Keystone and THE WEDDING!

On the third day of our trip we all headed for Keystone where Mitch and Mallory were getting married.  We met in Breckinridge for lunch on the way.  The weather was bad and we didn't have much time to spend there, which was disappointing since the last time I was there I was only 13 years old.  

After our quick lunch in Breckinridge we went to the the resort where we were staying.  Its the off season so there was really no one there, no one but wedding guests.  After a quick change we headed to the gondola that would take us up the mountain to the ceremony.

The view from our condo

Below is our ride to the wedding...

We had to take two gondolas to the top of the mountain.  Jayke thought this was pretty cool.  I was just happy it wasn't a chair lift!

On the way up the mountain it stopped raining and there was a rainbow over the mountains...a good omen. 

Jayke got to join in the Champagne toast!  Look how happy he was about it...then he tasted it.  (Non-alcoholic of course) He claimed it was good but I noticed he didn't touch it again.  He tried several of the h'ordeuvres, which I was proud of him for.  They were prepared for the 3 kids who were there and had chicken strips for them, much to Jayke's relief!

Before dinner...the guys watching football on their phone...smh.

There was lots of dancing.  I danced with Jeff, I tried to dance with Jayke, and my mom tried to dance with everyone.  As the night grew later and later I began to wonder how some of these people would get on the gondola to get back down the mountain.  The ride down was a little scary.  It was Jeff and I on the Gondola in the pitch black.   All you could see were the lights from the resort at the bottom of the mountain.  The only noise was when you went over the periodic stands that held the Gondola cables, which was a little disconcerting.  They gave you a blanket for the ride down which was little comfort in the pitch dark, on the side of a mountain, hanging by a cable in a metal and glass box.  I was more than happy to get off of that thing and wondered how Jayke did.  Turns out, he didn't like it much either.

The next morning we headed back towards Denver to have lunch with Kelly and go spend the evening with Mark and Robin.  After running around non stop for 3 days I was happy to just hang out at their house and eat pizza from the grill.  On the way back I took the below picture at the continental divide.  We would have loved to have had another week to hang out in the mountains but unfortunately, we had to go home the next day.  Maybe someday we will be able to go back.  4 days is not enough!

Splish Splash!

Took the kids swimming at my Dad's today.  This was our first trip over there and everyone seemed to have fun.  They swam for most of the day and then played soccer in the yard while Jeff and I talked with Dad and Sherri.  Hoping to get another chance to do it again before summer is over.  Jayke has an extremely busy schedule this summer though so I don't know if it will happen.  He will be going to Georgia in July for 10 days with his dad.  He also had soccer camp, has a Pacer's basketball camp coming up and a Taylor basketball camp where he, Zach, and Seth will all stay for the week.  After that he has just a couple of days until school starts!  Short busy summer!!

Gobble Gobble

Jayke got to be an Indian at his "Feast" at school the other day. Here he is in in his vest that I had to go out and buy a package of white t-shirts and use half of my coffee to make. Apparently the teachers haven't changed their curriculum due to the economy! They still have us spending money every other week.

Jayke is with his dad for Thanksgiving so it was pretty quiet at Mom's for dinner. Not so much at Dad's. There was a lot of complaining about the fact that it was 6 o'clock and the turkey was STILL cooking! Everyone was starving. I guess it takes longer than one would think for a 22 lb turkey to thaw. It should be ready in a week or two! LOL Good thing they also had an 18lb ham too!

I skipped Black Friday this year. I have all my shopping done so there was no need to go out and spend any more money. We are heading to IKEA Saturday though for my birthday!! Can't wait...first time at IKEA!! Happy Birthday to me!!

Some Things Never Change

Jayke and I went to see Grammy in the hospital Friday. The last few times I have gone to see her she hasn't had much to say so I expected the same thing this time. I was afraid she was going to be in really bad shape too. Boy was I wrong! She was having a breathing treatment when we first got there so she wasn't able to say much but when it was over...someone had opened the flood gates! She talked and talked! She told everyone who came in the room that I have no job, no husband, and need a haircut! It has been a while since I've heard this critique of my life from her so it didn't really bother me this time. It was actually kind of funny to me....I mean, it's all true! Even the haircut part!

She was particularly funny when her poor male nurse came in for the first time. She demanded to know who he was and WHAT HE THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO DO IN THERE! I'm glad these nurses are used to dealing with this. He just laughed and answered all her questions...and believe me, there were a lot! I thought he was going to make it out unscathed but she nailed him in the end...it came out in their conversation that he was married and she immediately asked him, "Do you think that is going to last?" That was my cue to leave because I knew where this conversation was heading. She was about to try to fix this poor man up with me. We had to get while the gettin was good! Fortunately, they were going to take her down for some test so there was a subject change and an exit strategy. I think before I go up this week I will call ahead and make sure all the nurses on duty are female!


On the way home I whipped into a parking lot and had The Boy get out so I could get some pics to play with later. A left over drainage tile was the perfect spot! It's hard to come with interesting subject matter in MUNCIE!

Trash Talkin

Jayke got a new basketball from my dad the other day. He was thrilled and immediately had to drag Dad out to the driveway to show him his skizzles (skills, Mom...skizzles are skills). There isn't even a basketball goal in the drive anymore so it was more a dribbling demonstration.

I was watching as The Boy put on an impressive trash talking display. Some of my favorites were..."COME ON OLD MAN!" directly followed by, "HOW YOU LIKE ME NOW,OLD MAN?" after doing absolutely nothing to elicit this exclamation/question. He also informed us he has "HOPS". He has about as much "HOP" as a gofer. After those got old he preceded to remark on Dad's attire, calling out his footwear in particular. I didn't blame him for this one...just look at those shoes! At least he hasn't duct taped them...yet. I was waiting for them to disintegrate right in front of me. They are his favorites, by the way and he is quite proud of their advanced state of decay.

As I was watching the dribbling exhibition, I was taken back to when I was Jayke's age out in the same drive playing basketball with Dad. I laughed to myself as I realized that he has the exact same moves that he had when I was a kid. Those moves worked the same on Jayke as they did me too. Funny to watch. I'm glad The Boy is enjoying his new basketball. The more he enjoys it the more he will practice and actually develop some skills other than trash talking...he seems to have that one down!

I Say "WE" Like I had Something to do With This...

Here is the table Jim built for my mom! I must say I was impressed. I mean I know he can build houses... but tables??? LOL I just wanna know why we aren't in the furniture building business? We could totally sell these...and I know this because I posted it on Facebook and got approval from my minions.

I hope my mom is happy with it! Having a kitchen that is too big is such a PROBLEM!!