Got a Hot One

I have a sick boy sitting here with me. Jayke hardly ever gets sick. He is running a fever and has, what sounds like, a cold. I've been lucky with him though. I think he has only gotten sick to his stomach a handful of times in his life. He has never had an ear ache or anything like that. An occasional sore throat but that is about it. He will be missing school again tomorrow because of his fever so I will have company with me again. We played Candy Land today and went and got Blizzards...I'm going to have to come up with something more entertaining tomorrow because now it seems that puppies are sick too...

Off Again

Flat Jaykeb is heading to Georgia! I called Mike the other day to make sure he would do this for him and to give him instructions. Seems he has never heard of this before even though I did this for Jayke when he was 3 years old. We made a Flat Jaykeb and sent him to Kelly in Colorado. She made a great picture book for Jaykeb of all the places she took Flat Jaykeb. She even sent Flat Jaykeb on a cruise with her brother and sister-in-law to Greece, Croatia, Turkey, and Italy. Unfortunately, this time Flat Jaykeb isn't going any where too exciting...just Georgia.

I plan to send the book Kelly did for Jayke in as well. He was looking through it today and laughing at all the places Kelly took him. She was extremely creative I hope what we get back this time is as fun as that was for Jayke.

More Useless Chunks of Plastic...

Decoy swans on my mom's pond. They tried decoy owls last year to try to keep the geese out of their yard. That didn't work so now they have swans. Unfortunately, I was a little slow in snapping this picture. I just missed the two geese who were sitting on the shore right there next to that willow tree. The only ones getting fooled by these hunks of floating plastic are the neighbors. They all got excited thinking they had real swans on their pond!! Really?? I also missed getting a picture of Jim with his home-made pvc bottle rocket launcher shooting missiles at them. I'm glad I'm not their neighbor!!

Letters Home

My mom has a whole box full of letters my Grandpa wrote home to his parents during WWII. He was a marine stationed in the South Pacific. I wish we had a box that he wrote to my Grandma but apparently out of all the little scraps of paper Grandma did save (most of them poked in her cookbooks) she did not save the letters Grandpa wrote her. That or they were lost somehow. At least these survived. This is only a picture of a couple of them. In one of the letters he talked about sleeping with rats on top of him. He couldn't say much about the island where he was stationed because the censors wouldn't let them. I did find it funny that in one letter he was talking about how my grandma wasn't much for telling people what she thinks. HA! That may have been the funniest thing I've ever read! If she was ever like that, she certainly got over it!

I may have to make my way through this box now that I have a lot of spare time on my hands.

Gamers

Mason rode the bus home with Jayke again today. They have become best buddies. In the beginning they fought now and then but lately they have been getting along great! They do love their iPods. They didn't play long before they headed out to play with Nolin, down the road.

I decided that since I was babysitting I should peel myself off the couch and attempt to be parental so I cooked spaghetti for dinner. I figured this was a safe choice...what kid doesn't like spaghetti? Even MY kid likes spaghetti and he doesn't like anything! Neither of them would eat it. They don't know what they are missing...I've been cooking spaghetti since I was like five! It is my specialty. I think I was taught so young in the hopes that we would have at least one night a week that we wouldn't have to eat my mom's cooking. Either that or my parents were just lazy. I'm pretty sure I did all my own laundry from about that age as well. I also recall being taught how to make gin and tonics for Opa too. I may need to revisit these memories in another post. I'm pretty sure I'm on to something here. Child labor!

Anyway... since they wouldn't eat the spaghetti I thought I'd try something a little simpler. Grilled cheese. Each of them ate one square (a fourth of a sandwich). I'm going to chalk this up to they were too busy playing to eat and that it has absolutely nothing to do with my cooking abilities. It is a little upsetting though since whenever we are at Mason's house they always eat what Bob makes...or orders. Next time Mason comes over I think I will leave the cooking up to Mc Donald.

The "Fellas"

Jayke and Mason both playing games on their iPods


Jayke had his first sleep over at a friend's house last night! I'm happy to report that we both survived. However, I don't know if it really counts when your mom stays until 2:30 in the morning and is back by 11:00 a.m.!

He stayed with Mason. A few of us were over hanging out with Bob, Mason's dad, and Bob offered to keep him since they didn't get to hang out over spring break at all. Jayke was more than willing, I wasn't that willing, but finally gave in. This morning when I got there Bob was cooking the "Fellas" eggs and toast. They had a good night. Bob slept on the couch and said Jayke woke up at 4a.m. and said my name, he patted him on the back and he went right back to sleep. He didn't want to leave when I went to get him. I'm glad his first overnight was with someone whose parent I'm actually friends with, made me feel a lot better about it.

Top O' The Mornin' To Ya

Happy St. Patty's Day from my little leprechaun!! He will be wearing green to school today even though he has assured me that they are absolutely NOT allowed to pinch each other if not wearing the color of the day. Better safe than sorry!!

R.I.P

I just learned this evening that Bosley died. I don't have any details or even know when for sure he died but he is gone, along with Grumpy, Charlie, Murray (who ran away) and both of the cats (which Mike just put outside and moved away from). That leaves Mike with one dog that we had together, Sophie. Everyone say a prayer for poor Sophie...seems her owner doesn't have a very good track record with keeping pets alive!

The Dancing Giraffe

....is the name of Jayke's most recent masterpiece and I am the lucky owner of this one of a kind creation. It is now framed and hanging in the living room because The Boy not only is a fabulous artist but also knows how to pick colors that match his mother's decor. I may need more walls soon!

The Dancing Giraffe, dancing in the moonlight, by Jaykeb Howell

20 Years!! Wow!!

My 20 year class reunion is this summer. I know, I can't believe it either. I don't look a day over 25...lol! In honor of the big 2 0...I decided to bring back my 80's do! Jayke walked in from school took one look at me and screamed. I think he was in shock at how awesome I look! He is now calling me, "Hair do" which is a huge improvement over my previous name, Pimple!

Table Surfing

Yes, that is my mom's dog ON THE KITCHEN TABLE!! I remember as a kid she knew if I had been in a room by looking at my footprints in the carpet or if something was moved a quarter of an inch on a table. Now...the dog walks on the kitchen table! I don't even know what to say about this, except things have definitely changed. At least Jackson gets to enjoy his child hood without feeling like Big Brother (or as Jayke likes to say, Big Momma) is watching.

Someone is SUPER Happy!!

Oma got Simon a new bed. Actually I guess it is technically a hand-me-down. Spoiled rotten Jackson didn't want this one! That is fine with Simon! He Loves it! I mean it. The dog doesn't leave this bed...EVER! No sooner had it hit the floor than he was settling his old bones onto it. It came at just the right time because Jayke has decided to sleep in the bottom bunk now, kicking Simon out of his bed. It was pretty funny to see Jayke in the top bunk and SIMON in the bottom.

Oma didn't forget about Laynie either. Apparently King Jackson had two beds that weren't to his liking. Laynie got the other. Unfortunately for Laynie someone else seems to think it was a gift for her...



Laynie does get a turn in the beds occasionally too. As you can see we share in this house...



....and some more sharing...



But in the end...we see who really runs the show around here. The queen is not above kicking an old dog right out of his bed. Lucky for Simon he almost fits in Luna's bed! Almost!

Jayke's February Writing Journal

2/9/11--When it's really cold I stay inside. I play with my cat. My cat's name is Luna.
2/10/11--When I went outside this morning I got on the bus. I had to walk a lot. It wasn't fun.
2/11/11--Last night I played with my ipod. I played zombie cafe. I got a lot of money.
2/14/11--To make a valentine I have to write peoples names on the cards. Next you have to write your name on them. Last you have to give people them.
2/15/11--If I could fly I would go to Africa. I would bring back an elephant. The elephant would smash my house.
2/16/11--Dad and I like to play. I play scare the daddy. It's fun.
2/18/11--On our walk we found a piece of wood. It was really big. I brought it home.
2/21/11--I sometimes get mad when I fall down. It really hurts. I don't like it.
2/23/11--At the beach I collect sea shells. I go swimming. I build a san castle.
2/24/11--For breakfast i like ot eat cierile. I eat coco puffs. I don't like milk with them.

They missed a lot of School in February due to the weather so this was a short journal this month.

What Happened to THIS Boy?

In most of the pictures I take of Jayke these days he looks so old to me. Not this one. I think he looks like hes my little boy again in this picture. Sweet even. Not spouting off some smart comment he got off of Icarly. I tucked him into bed the other night and he said, "Goodnight, I love you Pimple!" Nice. I guess this is what I have to look forward to...the kid pointing out my every flaw. I'm so excited.

MOOOOMMM!!! WE NEED MORE PARTY CHIPS!!

Cracks me up that Jayke calls Tostitos "Party Chips". I had no idea why then it dawned on me. Whenever we go to card parties I usually take a dip or salsa or something with a bag of Tostitos...aka...Party Chips! I asked him if this was why he called them this and he said yep. Mystery solved.

Delta Soccer Clinic

Jayke is in the front row with his foot on a blue soccer ball. Zion is the really blonde kid looking to his left with his foot on a white soccer ball. Mason is next to Zion.

The soccer clinic ended Saturday with a mini tournament. Fun for the kids but man were they worn out afterwards! There were four rotating teams of 3. Winner played winner and they just kept going and going and going.

I am happy to report that Jayke's team had more wins than losses. The last game was against Zion's team. Zion is the coaches son. He is the same age as Jayke but has had a lot more experience playing soccer. Let's just say he is pretty much amazing. He was only playing with this age group to make it an even number. During the game his parents told him he could only shoot with his non-dominant foot and he still single handily won most of his matches. Anyway, at the end of the final game the score was tied at 0 which meant they would have a shoot out...kick off...whatever you want to call it. It came down to Zion and Jayke. Zion missed his shot and Jayke made his so Jayke's team won the final game on his goal! He was more than pumped about this. I've heard him tell several people all about his game winner.

I'm ready for spring soccer to start now. Jayke kicked some pretty awesome goals in this tournament. I can see his improvement and it will only continue. He seems to really like it too.

Awesome 1

See those cool t-shirts? Those are our winter soccer clinic t-shirts. This is the first time we have done a clinic at Delta High School. This is where Jayke will go to high school so it was fun to go play out there. The front of the shirt is cool too but I love that the backs of the shirts say AWESOME 1!! That is Mason sitting on the floor and Jayke on his ball. Waiting for their turn to play.

Tomorrow is the last day for this clinic. We have a tournament. Should be fun. Each team will have a Delta high school student coaching them from the boys high school team. I'm hoping that Jayke and Mason get to play on the same team with Mason's older brother, Monte, as their coach. Regarless of whose team he plays on he will have fun. This has been the best clinic we have done by far. Spring soccer outdoors starts in a month!

ZombieBoy

Jaykeb got his new Netbook computer in the mail today. He was so excited I thought he was going to explode! It took a while to get it all set up for him. He practically sat on my shoulder while I did it. I set up an email account for him and he immediately started composing his own messages to everyone. He sent emails to Meemaw, Ppaw, Oma, Opa, AJ, and me. They have been quite comical. He is extremely pleased that everyone is responding within a timely manner!

One of the emails he received was a request to go to brunch tomorrow. It was from Opa. Jayke wrote him back and told him that if he didn't have anything else to do he would attend. He must have needed to check his calendar first. I went through his emails this evening and found that he has already invited everyone to his next birthday party and he confirmed his brunch date for tomorrow. Requested that his Ipod be returned by Oma and wrote to AJ to tell her that her mother shouldn't be mad that she didn't get one of these new Netbooks. He has been busy! Below is the email I received a few minutes ago...

You are the Mommy ever.Can I stay up late. I really want to go to Mason's house.How long is 80 minutis.My computer
is a Samsung.It 's a really good computer. How is Bob.Mason is my best friend.Mattew is my secont best friend.


He is now sitting here reading the blog and being very disgusted with me for telling all of his "social business"! I apologize to everyone in advance for your full inboxes!!

Just Luna

Man Has a New Best Friend

....and thy name is CAT!

Derby Day

Jayke participated in the Pine Wood Derby today. This is the car that he and Opa built. He was quite proud of it. It must have been a good little car too because he won 1st place in 4 out of the 5 races that he was in. He took second place in the 5th race. You would think that winning 4 out of 5 races would have gotten him something but all he came home with was his little car. Apparently you had to win all 5 races to get a trophy. He was a little bummed about this but says he still had fun.



The races lasted all day. I think they got there at noon and didn't get finished until around 4 o'clock. He was a grouch when they got back to my mom's but I'm not sure if that was because he was tired or disappointed by the fact that I was already there to fetch him.

We tried to watch The Karate Kid this evening but he didn't make it to the end...



....worn out from all that racing. Hope there is no sleep walking tonight. Last night I woke up to the sound of him rustling around in the kitchen. When I got in there he was standing there with his shirt pulled all the way up holding a bag of cheezits. I tried to talk to him but he was clearly asleep. I told him to go to the bathroom and go back to bed. He did. When I went in to make sure he was in bed I found a trail of crackers all the way through the house, including a scattering on the bathroom floor. The empty package was in the trash in his room. I have no idea what that was about. He didn't remember it in the morning. I am just lucky he didn't use the kitchen snack cabinet as his late night toilet!

It's Hard To Get Good Help These Days...

...so I got these people instead!



The big clean up after the ice/snow storm of 2011. There is a couple inches of ice under the snow. Made it difficult to clean up. Several bags of salt and a lot of chopping made it at least possible to get the garage door to close again. The sun and warmer weather did the rest over the next few days.





And yes, I was helping too...someone had to take the pictures!

I really did help do a lot of the chopping, so much that I could barely walk the next day from pulling something in my back. Not sure if that was from my age or lack of physical fitness though...hmmm....

(: SMILE :)

This makes me very happy! This is a Hello Kitty Beanie Baby!!! Who knew? I certainly didn't. I stopped collecting Beanie Babies a while ago but I may have to have these...okay, I do have this one but there are others I may have to have! Why you may ask...I HAVE NO IDEA OTHER THAN IT MAKES ME HAPPY WHEN I LOOK AT IT! I'm going to sit her on my desk at work so I can be happy all day long...lol.

DON'T CALL HER MARY!!

The Boy has recently started asking me to make prank phone calls. I keep trying to explain to him that you pretty much can't make prank phone calls these days, what with caller ID and everything. He doesn't care. He has been making prank phone calls for the past week. He calls Oma,Opa, Meemaw, P'pa, and AJ. When they get on the line he speaks in an Irish accent.(Which sometimes ends up sounding like it has a little pirate in it as well) He is really pretty good at it. We sit here and practice before he dials. His favorite opening line goes like this...

(In an Irish accent) Hello...can I speak to Mary.........Jo? Don't call her Mary. She doesn't like it. There's a Jo on the end, Mary.............Jo.

Then it goes on and on. My other mother doesn't respond if you call her Mary, her name is MaryJo and that is what you have to call her...if you want to be acknowledged.

Those who have received this call can appreciate this post...those who haven't, not so much. I wanted to write about it so 20 years from now, when we have long forgotten about this (if possible) we can read this and recall our little Irish pirate making his not-so-anonymous prank calls.

It's Raining Dippin Dots!!

Holy COLD its crap outside!! Snowmageddon 2011 is here!! At least if you listen to the weather forecasters that is what you will think. They are over the top with the drama and impending doom. Yes, we are having a storm. Yes, we are under an ICESTORM WARNING. No, we are not all gonna die! You might think so if you turn on the news though. I'm over it. So far we have gotten a few inches of sleet. A very light coating of ice is on the trees but it doesn't appear that we are getting much more of that. Snow is on the way next. 1 to 3 inches...nothing out of the ordinary. The wind could be the problem though. We will see what happens.

They must have gotten them all worked up at school for this storm though. I've never seen my kid so anxious about something. He was gathering flashlights, charging all of his electronics, and glued to the tv watching the weather report. He couldn't sit still though and you could almost feel how anxious he was about it. He kept putting his head in his hands and fidgeting around. I tried to down play the whole thing because he was such a wreck over it. Luckily they had Cub Scouts and the pack was going bowling. Opa took him and when he got home the anxiety was gone. I sure hope this isn't something that he is going to have frequently. I know how bad anxiety is I'm hoping that he won't suffer from it like his mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother do.

When he got home from bowling, (he won, by the way. I think he may turn out to be a pretty good bowler.) he was all about "roasting a weinie in the fireplace!" This was the first time we had the fireplace on in this house. I guess he thought cooking our meals in it sounded like a good plan. Me, not so much. The only thing that got roasted was my hand! Apparently bamboo shiskabob skewers aren't quite long enough for weinie roastin in the fireplace! Moving on.

Next idea was to make snow cones out of the sleet that was coming down outside. It looked like tiny little ice balls...or dippin dots, as in the ice cream they sell at theme parks for an arm and a leg. We set cups outside but by the time he headed for bed we only had about an inch of ice in them and I wasn't scooping any up off the ground. So much for that brainstorm!

A lot of fantastic ideas he had this evening and they kept us entertained and busy. I can hardly wait to be iced in with him for the next couple of days! Who knows what he will come up with next!

Jayke's January Writing Journal

1/3/11--Over Christmas break I got a lot of presents. Santa brot me a aletrick scooter. My scooter goes really fast and I went to my Grandmals house.

1/4/11--I would like to learn to read books. Because some books that I can't read. I can't read some words in my Scooby doo books.

1/5/11--I always feel good when I am sleeping because I won't be tired. I like to sleep in my bed and I like to sleep at night.

1/6/11--If I was invisible I bwould spray paint the car, My mommy would go crazy,

1/7/11--On Friday I went to my Grandmals house. I got to play with my frind Josh to. I got to play with legos with him.

1/10/11--I like the suond of birds. They are funny., It suounds like a squeece toy.

1/11/11--I hope that I can go to my Grandmals house. I'ts realy fun becuase she has a dog. His name is Jackson.

1/14/11--In the snow I like to build a snow man. For the nose I pot a carit. The sno man is done.

1/17/11--If I had a million dollars I would spend it on a life time supliy of bouble gum. I really like gum. I ate it on the first day I got it.

1/18/11--I once got hurt when my friend puched me on the ground. It really hurt bad. I all most broke my arm.

1/20/11--I once got hurt when I fell off my bike. I was riding my bike and then I fell. I all most broke my neck.

1/25/11--If I was a penguin I would flop in the water. I would eat fishes. I would woddle.

1/26/11--I was really scared when I was going into my room and then the phone rang. I jumped. I didn't want to go in my room.

1/27/11--I really like to play with my friend. We like to play with army guys. His name is Hunter.

1/28/11--I really dislike going to my dads house. He drives me nuts. He pushes me.

1/31/11--This weekend I played my xbox kinect. I played kinect advencures. I played kinect animals.

As always this was taken exactly as he wrote it. And he is correct, if he spray paints the car I will go crazy!!

Be Afraid...BE VERY AFRAID...

....cause this cat is NUTS!!! Everyone knows I've had a LOT of cats in my lifetime, but I have NEVER had a cat who acts like this one! She is insane. Its rather entertaining though. Last night Jayke got home late (like almost midnight) from going to the Monster Truck Jam in Indy with Opa. Luna must have missed him because from the moment he walked in the door she wouldn't leave him alone! He was laying on the couch and she was sitting on the floor in front of him and if he would stop talking to her or playig with her she would reach up and smack him in the face. Good thing she doesn't have any claws...he would be a mess. She didn't care that he was tired and needed to go to bed. She was ready to play...he had been gone all day and she missed her boy!

This afternoon Jayke played ball with her for a bout an hour. Our two dogs don't know anything about playing ball. You throw a ball for either of them and they look at you like you are an idiot. You can almost read their thoughts...That was stupid! Why would she throw that, now she has to get up and go get it. Idiot. Trust me, that is what they are thinking. I've lived with them long enough to know.

The cat, on the other hand, is a ball playing fiend. She will chase the ball everytime you throw it. She hasn't learned to bring it back yet but she goes after it and bats it around where it lands. She did this with Jayke all afternoon. After about 20 minutes she was even wagging her tail and panting AND just like most dogs she falls for the fake throw everytime. Jayke would act like he was throwing it and hide it behind his back...she took off after it everytime just to stop short and look around like...Where did it go? Where did it go? After an hour of this they were both worn out! They both had to take a little rest...

Beiber Fever

Jayke's favorite gift he got for his birthday has to be his Ipod Touch(4th generation I might add...makes it better than mine!) He got it from Meemaw and P'pa and has barely set it down since!

Shortly before his birthday he had pretty much taken over my Ipod. I even ended up putting some Justin Beiber on my Ipod for him! GASP!! Beiber...really? (okay, I secretly like a couple of his songs and this is the perfect cover for why I have Beiber on my Ipod :)...)If anyone says I like Justin Beiber I will DENY IT! It had gotten so bad that I couldn't even find my Ipod anymore because he was always taking off with it! We were fighting over it to play Pictureka every night. The battery was always dead and I was starting to worry about him listening to MY music which is not all appropriate for a 7 year old. Problem solved. He got his own Ipod this weekend and I got mine back from his grimy little paws.

The Boy can now be seen about the house with wires coming out of his head. He yells everything he says and can't hear in return. He also has taken up dancing. His choice location to bust a move is in front of the glass door to the deck. That way he can observe his moves in the reflection. All I can say about this is its a good thing he has started practicing at an early age because he has a long way to go before taking these "moves" out in public!

Thanks P'pa for the Ipod...from BOTH of us!!

Happy 7th Birthday Jayke!

The Boy is seven!! I can't believe it! He can though. He stayed up til midnight on the 22nd to make sure he didn't miss the moment he turned seven. At 12:01 he picked the cat up and said, "Yep! Luna is lighter, I must be stronger now. What size clothes do you think I wear now?"

I told him the same size he wore two minutes ago. I assume since he didn't Hulk out on me at 12:02 I was correct. He doesn't believe me...he is SURE he wears a different size. I guess he is going to have to go find a few more snow shoveling jobs to afford this new LARGER size wardrobe!

Spent the Day with Chuckie

We survived Chuckie Cheese's! I need to have a t-shirt made. Jayke had a great birthday party! He ended up having 11 kids come. A good group of boys from his class showed up. I managed to get the to hold still for this...



How I managed that, I have no idea because from the time these boys all arrived they were wrestling on the floor next to Chuckie's stage. Jayke, apparently was the only one who came out with an injury. A sore finger and someone stepped on his head at one point but it didn't stop the party. Tokens were handed out and they all took off for the games. I didn't see them again until it was time to eat. Pizza and cake.




The cake above is the one I wanted. Dad had Cheryl make it from the picture I sent him. The soccer ball on top is chocolate cake and the rest is white. These cakes look really cool and they taste even better! I've never had a better cake AND I got to bring home all the left overs. That could be a bad thing though.



Jayke got tons of good stuff. I was really surprised at what he got. My dad got him his Ipod touch which he has not put down all evening. He keeps saying, "I can't believe I have my OWN Ipod!" His father got him two Itunes gift cards so he can purchase plenty of apps and music. Now maybe I will be able to use my Ipod again. He had pretty much taken over mine. He hasn't gotten his gift from me yet, the Netbook computer, because it hasn't arrived yet. I did tell him about it though and he is excited to get it. Until then I think I will take him to get a case for his Ipod toomorrow before he destroys it.

I guess I can cross Throw My Child a Party at Chuckie Cheese's off my bucket list. It is definatley the one and only time I will do that! He went to Omas's for the evening and I went for a beer with my friends after!!

THERE IS A TRACKER ON THIS BLOG!!! I SEE WHO VIEWS IT AND WHEN!

I may be making the blog private in the very near future. This will be an inconvenience to those who read as you will now have to log in to view it. That is, you will have to log in if you have been invited by me.

I have a tracker on this blog that shows me who views it, where they are from, and what time they log on to it. I have discovered I have someone looking at it who has no business concerning herself with my life. Therefore I will have to make a move I was hoping to avoid and make this blog private.

I will be sending an email to those I choose to allow to view the blog once I make it private. I'm hoping that the phone call I made earlier to have Jayke's dad take care of this will make it possible to keep the blog as is, if not I will be making the change in the very near future.

Gettin' Old... :(

....but still enjoys a walk in the snow!

Laynie and Simon will both be 13 years old this summer. They are both in pretty good health other than they both have arthritis and we just found out that Laynie's hip is slipping out of the socket. It isn't something that can be repaired...at least not at her age. So, now she takes prednisone which will relieve her pain and once the swelling goes down she won't have any problems for a while. It will continue to reoccur though and we will have to give her a round of prednisone again. Hopefully this will give us a few more years with her.

When this problem first occurred I was afraid that she had had a stoke or a heart attack because of the way she was acting. Jayke was beside himself thinking that she was going to die. I'm not ready to deal with him losing one of his animals.

Simon, on the other hand, just has arthritis in his hind legs which I'm now managing with baby aspirin. I've decided he is going to live forever but always SMELL like he died 5 months ago! The dog has the worst smelling breath ever! I've never smelled anything like it. There is nothing to be done about it though...we just try to stay on the opposite side of the room from him.

I've now had to reset my alarm clock to allow for the dog's morning meds routine. They have no idea how much they should appreciate THAT!

Snow Day!!! God Help Me!

Woke up to the Del Com party line telling me that school had been cancelled due to icy roads. They call at about 5a.m. Not sure why it has to be so early but it is convenient...and they weren't kidding about the ice! I slid all the way into work.

I have no idea what Jayke did all day with my mom but I do know what happened when he got home...



This would be my son with about a dozen pairs of my underwear around his neck. Why? I have no idea. He has been a maniac since he walked in the door.



Next he decided to try on my sweats and shirt. He started putting them on and informed me he was putting on his delux pants...he then pointed out that delux means BIG. Thank you. Please note that he accessorized his delux pants with a pair of his own boxer briefs as a leg warmer.



After the fashion show was over he sauntered back in and said in a very somber voice, "Well...I have to pack my bags and be moving on now. I've had a lot of good times here but now it has to end." I don't know where he comes up with this stuff.

He's still here.

All About the Cake!

One week until Jayke's 7th birthday party at Chuckie Cheese's!! Woohoo!! I know everyone is excited that I am having it there. What everyone needs to remember is it's not about them it is about Jaykeb and he wanted a birthday party at Chuckie Cheese's so that is what he is going to get!

As always I have spent days browsing photos of cakes online trying to decide what it will be this year. My obsessing over the cake began his very first birthday. We had a neighbor, who owns her own bakery, bake the cake. it was an Elmo cake and she even made him his own little tiny cake that he could tear into. I don't have a picture because I've changed computers too many times but trust me it was cute! Cheryl makes the best cakes ever! For birthdays number two and three we were in South Carolina so I had to just buy a cake at the grocery bakery. Spongebob for number 2 and Cars(the movie) was the theme for number 3. It was cute but not like one of Cheryl's. Birthday number 4 was held at Escapades where you have to purchase the cake from them. It was a Scooby Doo cake. Cute but again, not the same. This all brings us to birthday number 5 and the BEST birthday cake any kid has ever had!



I found a picture of what I wanted and Cheryl tweaked it a little and made this baby for The Boy! Loved it! For birthday number 6 I decided I better tone it down a little. That 3tier cake was pretty pricey (Thanks Dad for buying it for him) Cheryl still made the cake so it was great...



Spongebob again. The Boy loves his Spongebob. As you can see the birthday has become all about the cake for me. I have to have something to obsess over and if I let it be whether or not anyone is going to show up I will go crazy...so I focus on the cake. I have found several great pictures of cakes but I think I've let my dad talk me into a simple sheet cake this year. I can tell you I am going with a soccer theme. The Lego cake I found probably would have cost about a hundred dollars but it would have taken a great picture! LOL Here it is (remember I'm NOT getting this one)




The soccer cake that I really wanted was this one...



I'm not really sure I would know how to cut this thing though. I finally decided to send four pictures of cakes I like to my dad and let him talk to Cheryl (she is his neighbor) and now I will just be surprised right along with Jaykeb when the cake gets to the party. I don't have too many more of these birthday parties to get all worked up over so I'm taking full advantage while I still can! The day is coming when he won't want a silly birthday party anymore but I can hope he will still want a cake!

Jayke's Icicle

We were bored the other night so we went out and pulled this off the gutter. There was a bigger one but I couldn't get to it without climbing through the bushes.

For Hire!!

....will work for Legos and Fruit Rollups!! Does a very good job...until he gets tired at which time he will want to come in your house to eat causing a small flood in the entry way. Also will leave a trail of hats, gloves, and boots throughout the house. Sometimes requires an audience to observe how hard and diligently he performs his tasks.

If interested please inquire at THEBOY@snowshovelerextraordinaire.com!!