Smokin' Meat!

What is it with men and their meat? They are constantly buying something bigger and better to cook it in or on. If you ask me it is just something else to have to find a place for. Opa got this new smoker the other day and had to smoke some ribs out in the driveway. He first had to destroy my mom's kitchen though whipping up his homemade rub and sauce. I don't know how long it took this meat to cook but they were setting up when I dropped Jayke off before work in the morning and the meat came off the smoker at 6p.m. That is a lot of work when Damon's is just down the road! Seriously they were good though. Jayke loves ribs!




As you can see Opa had an assistant helping him all day. Jaykeb even asked my mom to leave so he could hang out with just Opa. Just a couple of guys bonding over some meat.


There were some other activities going on in the driveway while that meat was smoking too. We will just call this Jayke's version of bobsledding. You take a rolling gardening stool, add one Oma, and one fearless child and you have Garden Carting! No, I did not take a ride on the garden cart. If anyone were to fall off the thing it would be me.


One good push and kiddo went flying all the way down the driveway into the grass. Others were brave enough to take a turn on the flying garden cart and because of my fear of my mother killing me I am not showing the end results of this ride. Lets just say that all three of them, my mom, Jayke, and the cart ended up in a heap in the yard. I have action shots the entire way but I know she would not be happy about them ending up on here. They were not of her most flattering side.


Grammy came over for some spicy smoked ribs too. It was the first really nice day so we all just hung in the driveway with the men and their meat. Jayke is already working on his tan as I'm working on not getting a sunburn. Lucky kid got his dad's good skin. Mine just burns.



I have to give a brief earthquake update. When I got up and went downstairs Grammy wanted to know if I had fealt it. I told her yes and she told me that she woke up thinking my dogs had somehow gotten in the house and were underneath her bed scratching themselves and making her bed shake. I heard many more stories all day at work of what others thought it was and I guess Grammy's theory wasn't so far off...turns out several people thought it was their dogs scratching and making the bed shake. Bed shaking yes, but making the pictures above the bed bang on the wall is something else!

5.4

It's just not right, when you live in central Indiana, to be awakened by and earthquake. It shook the bed so hard it woke me up and that is not an easy thing to do usually. I woke up, laid there a minute, determined it was just and earthquake, rolled over and went back to sleep. It takes more than an earthquake to get me up before my alarm goes off!

Batter Up!

I finally got Jayke into a baseball league playing t-ball. Not my first choice but my second. We are going to be busy now. This means there will be more super cute pictures of the wee one in a cute little uniform. That and he will be playing the sport he is the best at. Hopefully he will be okay with hitting the ball off a tee...he likes to be pitched to. That will take some getting used to.



This was taken after leaving the ballpark the other night. We went to watch Angi's son practice and let the kids play on the playground. We hit the Delta Queen afterwards for icecream. Kiddo was two fisted.

The Boy is still refusing to kick the ball at soccer. He runs all over the field chasing it but won't kick it. He does great when they are practicing their skills but as soon as they start the game something happens to him. Guess we will have to drag our goals out in the yard and recruit some grandparents to play against us to get him used to taking the ball away from someone. Oma went with us tonight so she understands what the problem is now.

Jayke is going to be staying with gradparents during the summer instead of going to school. One good thing about this is he will be learning to swim while at my dad's. I enlisted Meemaw and Ppa for daycare/swimming lessons. Jaykeb is also finally going to get his own bedroom. He doesn't have one right now in Grammy's house but we are going to fix that very soon. I have fealt bad that he doesn't have his own room so we are turning the playroom into his bedroom. He can just play in his bedroom. He has been promised by his dad that if he starts sleeping in his own bed that he will get bunk beds. Jayke has been obsessed with bunk beds for as long as I can remember. He doesn't really ask for much so we figured we can give him this if he does his part. I will probably end up sleeping in the bottom bunk some nights.

It's looking like we are going to have a busy summer. We have already kicked off the season with the tradition of my mom getting the lawnmower stuck in the mud and Jim having to come pull her out with his truck. You would think she would learn her lesson but she doesn't ever seem to. She does this every year! She has a record with lawnmowers. When she was a kid she drove my grandpa's brand new lawn mower straight into the pond. I'm surprised anyone lets her on one anymore. Oh well, as long as my yard gets mowed it's all good!

Fuzzball

When the kid starts looking like an exploded dandelion it is time for a haircut! The Boy has decided that he wants to wear his hair in a mohawk. I've had to bust out the hairspray and gel several times alreay and try to get his stubborn hair to stand up. He ends up looking like a blonde rooster and thinks he needs to run around head-butting everyone when his hair is styled in this manner. This, of course, ruins the hawk and we have to start over. I have enough trouble getting myself to work in the morning without having to style The Boy's hair. He is too young to start that! I also can't afford to double my hair product budget. No, I do not have a picture of the blonde hawk yet. I will get one next time it is requested.

I finally had my review today! Yeah! More money! My boss is very happy with me. She even gave Jaykeb a new soccer ball. I think that makes 6 soccer balls for us now. I have no idea how we ended up with so many. You know boys can never have enough balls...snicker.

We Play in a Swamp!

These late nights are killing me. Late as in I'm out past 6:30. No really by the time we get home from soccer and I strip the boy out of his outer layer of mud coated clothing, get the laundry started, feed The Boy and Grammy then get him hauled up to bed(the bath will have to wait until morning) it is past nine o'clock which is late for us. Late for just getting home from work. I'm not used to this stuff. Coming out of retirement is killing me.

Tonight we played Taylor with the long hair's team. They smoked us. We are the grey team and the kids chose the name the Grey Elephants. I think it is appropriate for them because they all kind of lumber along. Jayke has some new issue with not kicking the ball. He has decided he doesn't want to kick it. He spends the entire time following either Trenton or Caleb around the field mimicking there every move unless they actually kick the ball. He does't immitate that move. I bribed him tonight with a trip to a secret place this weekend if he would kick it once. He went right out and kicked it then ran down the field looking backwards to make sure I saw it.

As you can see above it is very muddy here. The kids are all covered with mud by the time they are finished. The parents are pretty wet and muddy too. I'm hoping for some warmer weather soon because I freeze out there and I know the kids have to be cold too.

I have yet to have my review at work. My boss seems to think she has more important things to do like the end of the month and hiring 3 new people. I beg to differ with her. Maybe tomorrow she will get around to me. I need a raise so I can buy my kid who has decided to start growing like a weed all of a sudden new clothes. He has grown 4 inches in 5 months! I didn't think I would ever see the day. He is still small for his age though. That is okay with me for now. He is growing up too fast as it is.

What Did You Say?!?

There is something just not right when you hear the following phrases from your four year old...

"Hush up and drive!"
"I'll be on you like stink on a hog!"
"Isn't my peepee cute?"

and my personal favorite...

"Fix me a waffle woman!"

What We've been Up to...

I have a ton of pictures I've been meaning to put on here so I'm trying to get most of them up here tonight. I will try to give brief descriptions when necessary but mostly this will just be pictures.

First is our trip to the Farm Festival. A field trip with Jaykeb's class. I went with them. Isabelle was our partner. I particularly like the one of him milking the cow. He and Isabelle had a big discussion on the bus about what kind of potatos they each dislike. Turns out neither of them like mashed potatos...I think it is a match made in heaven!







Next is coloring Easter eggs at Meemaw's and P'pa's. Look at the green fingers... We called him Shrek for a couple of days.





The next few are of Opa and Jayke fishing the other day. Jayke caught his first fish although he isn't counting it because Opa had to help him. I'm counting it though. It was small and they threw it back of course. They fished a couple of times that day but only caught two. I guess it needs to warm up more. Opa was explaining all the stuff in the tackle box to Jaykeb and carefully going through everything with him. After that Jayke walked into the bedroom and told my mom, "I know how to fish, I don't need all that talk!" Anyone who knows Jim would see why I think this is so funny...lots of talk!





The last group of pictures are of my super soccer star! We started outdoor soccer tonight. I was really pleased that the indoor soccer really helped and Jayke was one of the better ones on his team. He is a little directionally challenged when he gets the ball though and sometimes runs the wrong way. That is when having a loud mom on the sidelines comes in handy. I had to help the coaches out too because they are new at this. The field was a swamp and we were trying to determine who got the most muddy...Jayke or Mommy. I think I was dirtier. I will be glad when the fields dry up a little.

I love how cute he looks in his soccer gear. We are still trying to get into t-ball but it isn't looking like it is going to happen. I waited too long and it may conflict with soccer. If we don't get in I will try earlier next year. I think I can teach him baseball anyway since I played softball in school.










I may have more but I have a sleepy boy who needs to go to bed so I'm off to the other room. I'm trying to get better about blogging again. I still need to get my laptop hooked up. I also have another new obsession...the Wii. I LOVE Smashbrothers Brawl! So much to do and so little time.

Ninety Day review tomorrow...hopefully that means more money. Keep your fingers crossed!

Late Easter Post

Jayke finally sat on the bunnie's lap this year. I did have to enlist Angi's kids to go with us to make this happen though. He hopped right up there and got his picture taken without any protesting at all. I think it turned out really cute too! Best one yet. I wish I had had him take his jacket off but he was already up there before I even realized it. Oh well.



We did eggs at my dad's house and got HUGE Easter baskets from the grandpa Easter bunny. We had Easter brunch at my mom's after a big egg hunt at Grammy's house. His eater eggs had little dogs in them which thrilled him to no end. Daddy had left a bag of goodies last time he visited too so he got way too much crap for Easter. He even said so himself, "Boy I got a lot of CRAP!" Yes, watch your mouth boy.

So, that is my way late Easter post which I am cramming in real quick while my mom is waiting on me to go help her haul stuff to and from the barn. I will have to put a post up later about the neighbors butchering our pine trees and the impending law suit that is heading their way. Sick people!

Yummy!

It gets scarier by the day here at casa de crazy. Jayke put a bag of rocks that he picked up at Oma's on the kitchen table the other day. The following day My gramma told my mom that she thought it was salt water taffy and tried to take a bite out of one. Okay, I can accept that, even though I'm wondering why she wouldn't have tried to unwrap the rock taffy before chomping into it. What I'm finding hard to accept is that the very next day she saw the same bag of rocks on the table and this time thought it was toffee and tried to eat ANOTHER ONE! Two days...two rocks. WTH?

Yeah...I know St. Patty's Day is Over...

I'm BACK...again! I know it has been a while and you probably thought I'd given up on this blog thing. I actually thought I had but I got ambitious tonight and decided to put something on here. Let's see...I missed St. Patrick's Day. Turns out this is my boss's favorite holiday and she gave away a great gift...which I didn't win...that day if you wore green.

Both Jayke and I were totally decked out for the holiday which is also the anniversary of my grandfather's death. We figured Grammy could use some cheering up that morning so we came down wearing LOTS of green...see below...





It worked...she was cracking up at the leprechaun and his side kick.

I don't really feel like a whole lot has happened since I last blogged. There was a field trip that involved milking a cow but I will save that for a later post since I don't have the pictures uploaded yet. I did get 8 inches of my hair cut off and am ready to go back in and get more chopped off. Okay...the 8 inches only came off the back and the front is still as long as it was, think Posh Spice, and I love it!

I made a new friend at work, Laura. She and I hang out, go shopping, and out to lunch together. She has a daughter, Hannah, who is almost 5 years old. She is going to play soccer with Jayke starting April 7th. We have been practicing and I got Jayke a super cute bag that has his name on it to haul all our gear out to the sports plex twice a week.

Another friend at work is Sara. She is my office mate. Our jobs kind of go together and we help each other a lot. Laura is right next to us and it is a wonder we get anything done. I do get tons done though. My boss and the CEO of the company tracked me down the other day to tell me that since I've started credit card payments are higher than they have ever been in the history of the company and they think it is because I have gotten so many closure letters out to collect from patients. My review is coming up in a few days...should be getting a raise then. There is more going on with that too but I will talk about that another time.

Jayke and I both got rollerblades and we are going to start skating. I took him to the rollerrink the other day and he amazed me. He put those skates on and went right out there. No fear! I had to have bigger kids chasing after him half thetime to bring him back to me. He was heading out to the center to do the hokey pokey at one point...all by himself! Crazy. Next time we go I'm going to lace em up with him.

We had Easter at our house, my mom's and my dad's. Got way too much candy and several Nintendo DS games from the Easter bunny. We are now on a search for a Wii. My sister had managed to buy two and is looking for two more now. Jayke and I have become Mario junkies so we have to get a Wii so we can play Brawl, Paper Mario, and Mario Galaxy. We are obsessed! Nintendo has taken up my blogging time. It has actually taken up my tv viewing time too.

Well, that is enough of what's going on with us for now. If you have emailed me and I have not answered it is because I am never on the computer anymore. I sit in front of one all day so coming home to one is not what I want to do. I will update now and then when I can though. TTFN!

Monkeying Around

Two monkeys playing games. We are obsessed, addicted, whatever you want to call it to the Nintendo DS. Super Mario brothers and Sonic to be exact. Here The Boy is laying on his monkey Daddy got him for Valentines Day playing his game.

Not much going on in our lives. Work, school, and soccer. Soccer ends next weekend and will start outside in April. I can't wait.

My boss is adding more things to my job...I am that good. I am fast and she loves that because I have totally caught them up with MDPREPS which is when we turn people over to collections who have not paid their bills. I also require very little training for some reason. Tomorrow is the big employee of the month thing so I may win something again...who knows. Not really like me to be lucky and win things but maybe my luck is changing for once since I won last time. I have yet to watch the movie I won last month. I just don't watch much tv anymore. I'm not on the computer much anymore either. I'm not home that much when I think about it. What the heck do I do all the time?

A Rare Post These Days

Heard from The Boy today..."Mommy, I'm going to find you a new husband so he can put two babies in your tummy. YOU WOULD BE REALLY FAT THEN!"

So does he want two babies or just to see how fat I can really get? I think we've already seen that...the scale is only going down from now on.

No goals in soccer this week but his dad finally got to see him play so he was very excited about that...that and his new Nikes I bought him. The Boy LOVES shoes...he is my son ya know!

Today he helped oma paint the brick surrounding Grammy's fireplace. She had decided it looked "tired" so he and Oma sponged paint on it. He did a fine job, only fell off the fireplace once, skinned one knee, and ruined one shirt. It looks pretty good. He had to show me which bricks he painted.

Jayke is doing outstanding in Kindergarten readiness...of course...what else did you expect? He made me a very special valentine which is now hanging up in the playroom. He also made me a sand sculpture at the children's museum in Muncie this weekend.

Okay, American Idol is on and I have to go watch. I've already got a couple of favorites especially on the guy side. Who's your favorite?

Blogger friends, you'll have to forgive me for not visiting very often lately. I try to get around as often as possible. I will try to do better.

Chic Magnet

Before the new snow came we got out for a few minutes to throw some rocks in the pond. When you are four that is big fun!



When I dropped Jayke off at school the other day all the girls were giggling over in the kitchen play area. They called Jayke over and he went...hesitantly. They wanted to tell him secrets then the all came running to me giggling. Apparently they wanted to tell him he was their boyfriend. He was totally unphased and just turned for a hug from his mom. Yep...I've still got it! Number one in my boy's life!

A Scholar and an Athlete!

My little genius scored his first goal at soccer yesterday! It was so exciting. I was standing there all by myslef watching him run out in front of the mob of kids yelling my fool head off. I didn't even realize it was me yelling. He just turned around and grinned at me like he scores his first goal every day.

I asked him this afternoon if he heard me yelling...he said yes and looked a little embarassed. I'm still shocked I was actually yelling out loud. I'm usually pretty reserved at sporting events. I guess I couldn't help myself...it's not every day you get to watch your son score his first ever goal!

Finally...An Update!

Today was a proud moment in a mom's life. My boy got put into kindergarten readiness a year early! I'm just afraid IT will be too easy for him. He has learned how to add in the past couple of weeks and has also begun spelling. He is working on telling time and tying his shoes too. He is eager to learn and it comes so easily for him. He has learned all this with my mom at home so I asked about moving him up at school and they went ahead and did it today. He got a great report after his class and I'm sure he will continue to fly through their excercises. Hims smart!

Yesterday Angi and I took our Valentine's out to eat. Her daughter was at dance and her husband is still working out of town so we grabbed out two little men and went out to dinner. We picked somewhere that had video games so they were more than happy. Jayke got a Creepy Crawly Bug Oven for Valentine's day and we were up making bugs late last night. I got an adorable Valentine from Cheeky...thank you very much...made with love! I also got one from my boss. She is too funny. I didn't win the huge puppy they had a drawing for at work though and I was bummed. Jayke would have flipped out if I brought that puppy home! He got 4 new puppies for V-day (yes I went over board as usual...they were all so cute!)and a red hippo from Grandma Rain and Pop. We now sleep with about 12 stuffed puppies in our bed...and one red hippo.

It will soon be time to register for Tball which is what we have been looking forward to. Jayke LOVES baseball and is really good at it so we think this will be his sport. We are still in soccer but I'm not liking it as much this time. I'm ready to get outdoors with it.

Tomorrow I'm going to work my first Saturday for extra hours. My boss uses words such as "amazing" and "love" when she talks about me so I think she is pleased with the job I am doing...she uses those words when describing herself too. She won the huge puppy in the drawing and walked around the office asking eveyone if we wanted to touch her yesterday. We get another new employee on Monday so she told me today was the last day she had to be nice to me because I would no longer be the "new girl"...I don't think she will be able to help it because I am fabulous at my job and she knows it!

I got this from Katie, who I got to meet this summer and now I have to pass it along to 10 more people. Well, I don't know if I can come up with 10 but I will try...

Kailani of An Island Life
Tommie of Tuesday Update
Mrs. Parker
One Plus Twins

....and that is all because everyone else has already gotten it. I may try to put a real post up later...don't know.

Misc Pictures

Nothing much to say so I thought I'd just put some pictures up that I've been meaning to post. The modem problems caused me to get all out of order and behind so these are just random...



Jayke's class celebrating his birthday with cupcakes.



The boy loves to pose...





This one cracks me up! We were at the Children's Museum last Sunday with Mike. Jayke had fun playing at the water table and loved the dinosaurs!




Jayke in an Indy car!

Hack, Hack, Wheeze...

I'm sick. The little bugger gave me his cold only I got it even worse. I have laryngitis. I can't make a sound no matter how hard I try. Now...those of you who are laying on the floor in hysterics can pick yourselves back up and stop laughing...I will get my voice back eventually. In the mean time do you know how hard it is to be a single mom of a four year old when you have no voice? Jaykeb was concerned at first but now I think he finds it amusing when Mommy starts flailing her arms around wildly to get his attention or smacking the bed to get him to listen to her whispers. It only gets better when he is crying hysterically, my mom is on the phone and can't hear me, and Grammy is standing at the bottom of the stairs yelling for me and I can't answer her. Someone just shoot me now.

Where's The Beef?

I called home last night to see if Gramma had eaten dinner yet and had the most amusing conversation of yet.

Gramma: "Hello?"
Me: "Have you eaten dinner yet?"
Gramma: "No! Who is this?"
Me: "It's Wendy!"
Gramma: "Oh, yeah I had some soup."
Me: "So it matters who it is as to whether or not you've eaten yet?"
Gramma: "Yes it does...who is this?"


YIKES! She did remember immediately that she had already asked that and began to crack up at herself but let me tell ya folks, it is kinda scary round here lately! Not only is her hearing getting way worse but now she has gone on some crazed meat cooking bender. She was quite proud of herself for calling the butcher at Marsh supermarket the other day and ordering a roast cut...then ordering my mom to go fetch it. She cooked that 6lb roast for me and Jayke then couldn't believe how much was left. Um...excuse me...this is the girl who is down to one meal a day and I had already had it that day and the kid who chews one bite of meat for 45 minutes straight before then spitting it in the trash can. Did ya really think we were going to eat a whole 6lb roast and why aren't you eating any? She only made the roast too...there was nothing else. I'm not complaining but 6lbs of roast is kind of an unusual meal. After Jayke and I didn't polish off that hunk-o-meat she decided she had to get it out of the house immediately and summoned my step-dad, Jim, to come take it away. Guess Jayke and I had our one and only shot at the roast because that sucker is gone!

Tonight she cooked a huge meat loaf. My aunt had sent out some hamburger because she bought too much and Gramma must have been obsessing about it because when Mike, Jayke, and I got home there was a huge meat loaf in the kitchen. None of us are big meat loaf eaters either. My mom called and gramma told her she couldn't call her all day because she was busy cooking meat. I've never seen so much meat in all my life! I told her after the meat loaf she was cut off! I'm sure she will make my mom come get that tomorrow. I should go buy a huge ham to put in the fridge tomorrow and really freak her out!

It Hates Me!

Modem in, modem out...modem on, modem off...modem laying on floor...modem FLYING OUT THE WINDOW! So far so good today. I swear the darn thing hates me. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. You just never know what kind of mood it is going to be in, much like me.

Today it seems we are both in working order so far. I had a really good day at work Friday. I won the DVD Oceans 13. I don't even know if it is any good or not but the fact that I actually won something was new. I never win anything. First of the month, every month the owner of the company piles prizes on the conference table and we play a game for them. She then announces the employee of the month who gets balloons and a tiara/crown plus the privelege of parking in front of the building and havig a lunch of their choice brought in...funny. Bad thing about it is you have to have been there a year to be eligable. I have been there 1 month, so the DVD was all good with me. I also got paid yesterday, even better than a free DVD!

Grammy and Jayke have been behaving themselves lately. They have been reading the bible together a lot. Maybe too much. Mom, Grammy, and Jayke were driving through campus the other day. Jayke had never seen it so he was taking in all the big buildings when all of a sudden as they approached the bell tower he shouted, "OH MY GOD! IT'S THE TOWER OF BABEL!" and was dead serious. You can imagine the laughter from the front seat. I wish I could have heard it.

Jayke missed the entire past week of school from being sick. He went to the doctor and he said it's just a cold. Whatever. He has been running a fever every night and has a horrible cough. I am taking him out of basketball since he missed the last practice before games start and he is really too small for it. I watched that little kid try harder to dribble that ball than I've ever seen him try anything and it about made me cry. He was determined but all the kids were so much bigger and he has never been shown how to play basketball. He was so tiny out there compared to them all too. We will just stick to soccer for now where he is doing really well.

Now the hateful modem is not letting me upload photos or spellcheck so assume I know how to spell and pretend there is a picture of Jaykeb here playing his new keyboard Grammy got him.