A man with a boy's toy......

I know that Eric was a little annoyed with me when he asked if I had bought him a Christmas present and I had told him yes. He gave me the evil eye. I explained to him that you just couldn't have one without the other. He seem confused, but that's all I said. So on Christmas morning when we were handing out the presents, I told Trent to take one for him and the other was for his dad and they had to open them up together. If you can't tell, Eric was a little giddy when he opened his NERF dart gun.
Through out the rest of the day, I was finding weird things around the house. In my bathroom, on the tub wall, on the tile was a black circle. On my window above the kitchen sink, in the fogginess of it was circles drawn all over it with numbers in side the circle (like a target). The cats were nowhere to be found, and the dog was laying on her bed in the corner behind the recliner(which she never does).

That's because these two were running around the house shooting at moving targets, and all the targets they had drawn on my walls and windows. My big screen TV has little circles from the suction cup darts. When Eric was annoyed with whatever the kids were watching, he'd shoot at the TV. When he'd get up to get a drink of water from the kitchen, he'd slink around the corner and shoot at the window, there was no end.

I am now finding darts in my laundry, in the dog water bowl, the bathroom tub, you name it, I'm sure there is one there too.

Boys will be boys..........

Boredom

I booted the four older yahoos out of the house on Saturday afternoon so I could clean and actually feel like I was making head way. I'm quite impressed that they all got along long enough to conjured up a make shift teeter toter. It was cheap entertainment for all of about a half an hour. I also warned them to not come into the house complaining of slivers in areas where the sun doesn't shine, they would have to get them out themselves.

(Please excuse the desolate back yard. We are trying to kill all the puncture vines, so therefore we have to kill the whole yard for 3 years.. Yeah dirt!)

Are we really that bad?

Thursday night we went to Eric's oldest sister's house to have our 3rd Thanksgiving meal of the day. Eric's sister has been known for her fine taste in alcohol and likes to have a good time. So needless to say, I gorged myself with not only turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and pumpkin pie, I partook in the drinking festivities as well( I don't do it very often, so it doesn't take much for me to be walking on my lips). Since Eric gets along with this said sister, we ended up staying there until 2am just reminiscing of the "good ol' days".
I knew that my sister wanted to do the Black Friday thing, and was really hoping at that point that she would have forgotten to set her alarm. That didn't happen. She called me at 4:15am and begged me to take her to JC Penny's. Though I felt like throwing up the whole entire time, I humored her. I only spent $40. I told her that I wasn't going to take her anywhere else, she'd have to drag her husband to do whatever else she needed to do... I was in no condition to be around crowds, afraid of loosing my dinner from the night before.
When I got home, I noticed that the girls were awake. I begged Tarren to appease Caiti, make her a bowl of cereal, let her watch whatever she wanted.. I didn't care right then, I just wanted to go back to bed.
Thinking I was on the home stretch of entering the deep sleep zone, I heard a blood curdling "MOM!!!" from the top of the stairs.
With my head buried in my pillow, I yelled "WHAT!?"
" Is it Amy Day?" (meaning does she go to daycare)
My head still buried "NO!"
" Sooo... that means I have to spend ALL day with you and Dad?" (I kid you not, she emphasized "ALL")
I then popped my head out of the pillow and looked at Eric. He had his head buried because he was laughing so hard.
Gritting my teeth I replied "Is there a problem with that?"
Sensing my tone, I think she adjusted hers. "Why are you so angry mom?"
Still gritting..."Do you have a problem staying with Mom and Dad?"
Making herself sound so innocent and sweet "No, I just don't know why you are so angry?"

I didn't get to go back to sleep right then, I had to wait until the afternoon to steal a nap.

Really?

This morning Caiti graced us with her presence around 5am. Usually that's my time with Eric, getting coffee made, making his lunch, adult conversations without being rudely interrupted... the normal stuff all parents dream of. I couldn't get her to go back to sleep so, I just threw in a movie and went about my morning chores.
Around 7:30am, we were driving down the road to go to Daycare/Preschool.

Caitrin: Mom, I'm tired (yawning)
Mom: (with a hint of attitude) You should be, you've been up since 5.
Caitrin: You don't need to get cranky with me.

Really?
In that moment of silence, I heard her roll her eyes.

You know you're a mom when......

.... you bring your lunch to work in a Shrek Tupperware container and the milk in a pink dinosaur thingy (I'm not even sure what that's called). Yes.. I have been made fun of all day......

Fall days

Our neighbor has a really BIG English Walnut Tree in the middle of his yard. The kids love to play over there because our tree isn't so big with quite so many leaves. The neighbor really doesn't care that the kids play in the leaves or that I scavenge all his walnuts... less he's got to do.

3rd times a charm.....

This has been an on going adventure for Caitrin... going to the dentist. We have attempted two times before this and all she did was stare at Dr. Folsom. He talked sweet to her, bribed her with treats and toys just for her to open her mouth so he can count her teeth.. nope, still a no go. But today was different some how. She talked to him about what she's going to be for Halloween, how old she is and she even opened her mouth!
Of course she got a prize from the goody box, a new tooth brush and a baggy of other dental paraphernalia.

We are the champions.....

...... The title pretty much sums it up.........

Wildcats went undefeated the whole season 6-0

Sorry it's a little blury, everyone was fighting over who got to touch the trophy.

An awards ceremony and banquet for these lil guys will be later this week. Of course Trent is the one in the middle #16. He's already itching for next year...........

Look A Like.....

When I was little my mom would dress my sister and I the same ALL the time. We were only 20 months apart but close in size. I swore I would never do that to my kids.

At my work, my co-workers have kids aging from newborn (as of yesterday) to 20 something. We all bring in the hand-me-downs and rifle through it to see what we want. I received a bag yesterday of clothes that could possibly fit Trent. It just so happened to have a hoodie that Caitrin got as a hand-me-down from a different co-worker months ago. So of course when Trent came upstairs with his hoodie on, Caiti had to run in her room and change her clothes to match. I swear to you, I did NOT dress them the same today.

Go Wildcats!!!

This is Frank the Tank with Trent. He is Trent's Defensive Line Coast. He unfortunately wasn't at this last Saturday's game in Colfax. Someone in his wife's family had passed away and they had to fly off to California. Frank is a big kid himself, and I was worried that the kids weren't going to do well with him being gone. He usually gets the kids hyped up to play. But I was wrong......

It was soooo cold in Colfax at 8am. I want to say it was in the teens. Trent is #16 and is hunkered under one of the assistant coaches. He has learned that if he stays under one of their wings, he gets more playing time. Smart kid because he's played about three quarters of each game. Trent almost recovered a fumble, but when he reached out to grab it, he ended up pushing it out of bounds. Good play though. The Wildcats played their hearts out. We won 30 to zip. Our fifth game and the boys are undefeated. We have a bye next week and the week after that they play at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow for the championship games. They couldn't be more excited.

After the game, Coach wanted to give them a pep talk and express how proud he was of them.

I love this picture of Trent looking up at Coach, just eating everything he's saying. It was funny to watch Trent when they won the game, he galloped around the field like a jumping jack rabbit with his hand in the air pointing the number 1 sign and of course a smile ear to ear.

Of course Dad made it down to watch the boy play. There wasn't enough blanket or hats on us to keep the cold out.

Conversations....

Background history .. Anyone who's around me knows that I can put my hair up with a pen (writing utensil). I twist my hair like so, weave the pen through like that and ta da.. my hair stays. On this particular day, I put hair up with said pen.

Setting: All of us are in Eric's pickup heading to Nezperce. All three of the kids were in the back seat coloring or drawing of some sort.

Caiti: Mom I need a pen.

Mom: You have crayons, use those.

Caiti: No, I NEED a pen. Trent has one, so I need one

Mom: Sorry, he's got the only pen. You'll just have to wait, or use your crayons.

Caiti: (with attitude) You have one in your hair, let me have that.

Mom: No. I'm not taking my hair out. Deal with it.

Caiti: Well, your hair looks weird any ways.

Eric, of course is trying to stay on the road from laughing so hard. I look at him and ask, " At what age do they learn manipulative remarks?" His reply.... "Apparently at 3."
She never got the pen.

The phone call...

Last night I cried. Not bad tears, tears of joy and confirmation. And to understand, I'll back up a little.
It's been a rough 5 months. Eric has been out of town, and it's hard raising OUR 3 children with little help. The busy sport schedules, staying in Asotin for 2 hours a night, 3 nights a week to save on gas, trying to get the girls to their dance, and trying to maintain the house, laundry and dishes. No easy feat. Stress has been high again due to talks of layoff. There are 6 plant with Eric's company and 2 of them got shut down this week due to no bids or jobs for them to go to, Eric's plant not being one of them. But no one was talking of where the next site would be, not knowing if there was one at all. How cruel this economy can be.
This past Sunday at church, I lost it during communion. I realized that like a lost sheep I had strayed from God, and thought that I could do all of this on my own. I apologized for my straying, and thanked Him for never letting me go, and that whatever His will is, He has promised to take care of my family. We have lived through two lay offs and survived by His good graces and if a third is to come, we would survive again.
Early last night, I was dog tired and ended up crashing in Eric's chair with Caitrin in my lap. I was waken around 12:30am by my phone ringing. Eric used to call me when he got off work, between midnight and 1am, but it was a 50-50 chance that I would answer, so he just gave up a few weeks ago. Realizing that it was Eric calling me, I better answer it since he hasn't called me that late in a while. He apologized for waking me, but he had some good news. (I wasn't sure if he was being facetious or not, I wasn't quite awake) My instant thought was that he had been laid off. He asked me to guess what pit they were going to next, in my sleepy stupor I told him I didn't know. I could tell he was smiling when he said "Pullman". That means that he's coming home! The Pullman Pit is close enough that he doesn't have to live in his trailer, and he'll be home every morning (since he works the night shift). But I don't care, I will get to see him every day. Not two days out of every seven, or two days out of 14. I asked him how soon and he said that they should be moving by the end of this month. Being with this company for the last 7 months, I know that Pullman can get yanked right out from underneath them, but I'm riding on the faith that the good Lord knows that I'm in need of my husband and He's bring him home to me.
After the phone conversation, I put Caitrin to bed and I meandered to mine. I just laid there and cried. I'm sure it was out of joy, relief, and knowing that God had answered my prayers. When I woke up this morning, there was a new vibe in the air and a little skip in my step. God is good.
***I do need to throw in credit where it's due. My sister has also been my saving grace in all these hard times. She has taken the kids to their events if I had a scheduling conflict, and she has fixed many meals for the kids and I. She has been my sound wall, when I couldn't talk to Eric and my shoulder when I felt times were getting a little to hard. I would be truly lost without her***

Football

As I have mentioned, Trent is in football this year. He plays for the Clearwater Football League. Full gear, full tackle. It's so awesome to see these little people run the whole length of the field and cream each other going for the ball. You might say that is brutal for an 8 year old, but I'm a firm believer in letting boys be boys. This was when they played in Pullman against the Colfax Bulldogs. Their standings were 2-0. He's pretty smug about his winnings. And for a first year, he has had a lot of playing time.

Coop is in the same league but they will never play against each other. Coop is in the 5th &6th division and Trent is in the 3rd & 4th division. Boy they do look good. Last weekend Trent was to play at Martin Stadium in Pullman. He came down with the flu. It was all he could do to sit in the stands and watch his team mates play. When he got up enough energy, he'd get his helmet on and stand by the coaches (can't be on the field without the helmet). His team won that game and the Wildcats are now 3-0 and we have our seat in the championship game. Tomorrow he plays in Kendrick. He's not a 100% recovered from the flu but he's going to try his best. It's been killing him not going to practice and sitting on the side lines. Not to mention Dad has been getting a kick out of coming home on the weekends just to watch Trent play.

Conversations

Setting: I'm in the shower getting ready to go to Trent's football game. The kids are still kind of waking up or running around getting their bowls of cereal.
Caitrin barges in to the bathroom...

Caitrin: Mom! I have to go to the bathroom!
Mom: Okay.. go. No one is stopping you.

I hear her situate herself and can already tell that there is some attitude in the works.

Caitrin: (sighs)... this is a complete waste of my time.

I just peek out of the shower curtain to look at her in bewilderment.

What do you say to that, because I'm at a loss?

Conversations... (it's been a while)

Setting: The girls and I are at the Asotin Football field watching Trent practice his football for 2 (very long) hours. Caitrin wanted to "mess" with my hair. Anything to entertain a 3 year old. I am playing a game on my cell phone.

Caitrin: MOM!! I told you to sit still!! (as she reefing on my head)
Me: I didn't move. You're the one moving my head.
Caitrin: I know.

She starts "combing" my hair with her fingers. Of course she's pulled out a handful of my hair. I winced in pain at one point.

Caitrin: Oh Mama. Don't be scared. It's okay.

I just grin and bear it, thinking myself "oh, I'm not scared, just afraid of loosing all my hair"

It's nice to know that if all else fails she could get a job at Helga's House of Pain.

Life's lil updates.......

In the past three weeks it has been non-stop.
First off, Dad came home from Coeur'd Alene on Tuesday. Should he have?.... No. His check out weight was 205. There really isn't much left of that man. With him coming home, I don't feel he'll get adequate therapy and most likely being the stubborn mule that he is, he'll end up driving the therapists away. I found out some horrible things that happen to him while he was in Kootnia Medical Center. They weren't changing his feeding tube regularly, so at one point he went 10 hours with out any food, in the mean time they kept pumping him full of his insulin. They missed his pain meds on a handful occasions, then they had the gall to say that he was a difficult patient and was combative. Eric's older sister Chaney is a nurse. When she requested his charts, they refused. So she called up Kathy, Eric's step-mom, to have her permission, they also refused them to her as well. Needless to say Chaney called and reported the hospital. The physical therapist that they assigned to Dad was an elderly, over weight women who only wanted to sit and scalded Cal every time he got up and wanted to walk around. Eric ended up turning her in and they removed him from her charge. I'm sure that's why Dad wanted to come home, figured he'd get better help at home. We aren't sure if his memory will ever be 100%. When we asked him the date he replied with " October 25, 2005". He kept calling Eric "Christian" (Eric's older brother), and Dad couldn't remember that Eric had purchased a new truck back in May. Eric's not happy that I haven't taken the kids up to the house to see Dad. Honestly, and maybe I'm being selfish, I don't want them to see him that way. That's not Papa. His jaws are still wired, but he's able to speak only with great effort and he's got a huge bandage where the hole in his throat was. I just don't want them to have that memory.

Trent has started football. His first official game is this weekend in Moscow. He had a Jamboree this past weekend, where they play all the teams in 15min segments. It's really cool to watch little boys run around and just tackle the heck out of each other. Do I have pics? Of course. Do I have my camera? That would be a BIG no. I left it at Eric's second cousin's house in Oregon.

Which brings me to the Reel Family Reunion this past weekend as well. It was in Estacada, Or. Just south east of Portland. Very beautiful. We met family I've only heard about. Eric's dad is a "Junior", so when he was growing up he was called "Butch"(I still can't figure out why). So when introducing ourselves, we had to say we were "Butch's" kin. Honestly annoying to all of us, but we put up with it for a couple of hours. "Butch" was also the black sheep of the family and had the black mark painted upon his forehead, so it bled on to all his offspring. We all felt awkward and out of place. We were the largest clan there, 7 adults and 9 kids all from "Butch". Eric's real mom was there, and she being the ex-wife, I'm sure she felt a little awkward as well, but she still considers them her family.
We had a good time in Portland though. On the way home we stopped at the Falls. Eric wasn't a happy camper since we always stop there heading out of town. I didn't care. The last time we were there, it was cold and snowy. Different season, different scenery.
Eric is Ellensburg awaiting to go to Goldbar, which is an hours drive our of Seattle. He's getting further and further away making it harder for him to come home on the weekends. From Goldbar he's supposed to go to Olympia. I think that'll be fun, I'll be able to take the kids to the coast and Eric's sister will only be a few hours out of the way. But all this is subject to change at the drop of a hat, so we'll see what they say tomorrow.
Right now I'm just trying to get through yesterday. Life is very busy with football practice, laundry, homework, and making whatever little time is left for me.

The Walden House

Eric and I were kind of freaked out about finding a place to stay when we went up to see his dad. I googled all the surrounding hotel/motels coming to realize that it was going to be an arm and a leg to stay the night. The cheapest place was $85.00. I guess I'm cheap and couldn't see paying that much just for a bed and a hot shower, but whatever it took to see Cal, we were going to do it. When I asked Eric's sister where they were staying so we could stay close, Chaney told me about The Walden House. All she told me was that it was ran by donation, it had 9 rooms, and a community bathroom. I cringed at the thought. Seeing some of the Ronald McDonald houses growing up because of my sister always in the hospital, I didn't think that this was going to be any better. All they wanted was $25.00 a night plus a $5.00 cleaning fee. Seems very reasonable but what else was I bargaining for? When we decided to head to bed around midnight Friday night/Saturday morning, we went to the house where we had a reservation. I just kept saying to myself.."How bad could it be?? How bad could this be?" Pulling up, it was a beautifully lit house with a well manicured lawn. Our room was upstairs, so we tippy toed up stairs. Observing to the layout, the house was gorgeous. The rooms were large, (ours had two twin beds, not sure if all the rooms were that way), the common room was tidy, the kitchen very welcoming. The bathrooms, we did have to share with all the guests in the house, but you had to clean it every time you used it. I'm sure it was a lot cleaner the your local Motel 6. When we settled in, I asked Eric if he wanted to sleep in separate beds, or try to snuggle into one. He said that he sleeps every other night without me, he wasn't going to that night. Needless to say, it was a restless one. I felt like I was going to fall off my end, and Eric felt the same.
Checking out, I got a better lay of the house. There was common room upstairs, a spacious common room on the main floor with a wall of books, and beautiful fire place. In the kitchen, the little old lady had tea, coffee and cookies out for everyone. I was more then impressed. I was okay with paying $30.00 for the night when all we did was sleep and shower. I will definitely recommend The Walden House to anyone.

Stubborn Mule

This wonderful man is Calvin Edward Reel. It's Eric's dad. On Monday evening he was in a four-wheeler accident. I received a phone call at one in the morning saying what had happened and even at that it was all very sketchy. A lot of questions were left unanswered. At 4am I received another phone call that they had done a CAT scan on him and it didn't look so good: broken shoulder, collar bone, multiple puncture wounds on the upper right hand side of his back and the whole right side of his face was pretty much smashed. The only question I could get out was if he was coherent or responsive. I needed to know that he was still "in there". They told me that he'd squeeze your hand if you were talking to him. By this point they were waiting for the orders for him to be life flighted to Kootenia Medical Center in Coeur d'Alene. Through out the day we had small updates here and there, but nothing to say much of anything. He underwent surgery Tuesday night and that's when I found out what all had happened.

(Calvin with all is son's, except for the lil lil guy)
Cal decided it would be fun to ride off on his four-wheeler by himself. Eric's baby brother, Justin and Eric's nephew Dagen were fishing in the creek when they heard a loud commotion. They turned to see what it was and saw that it was dad's/grandpa's four-wheeler that had flipped. Unfortunately it was those two that had found him. No one knows what had caused him to flip, a pot hole, soft edge, we may never know if Cal can't remember. Dagen and Eric's oldest brother Christian had to carry Dad out and he was then taken to Orofino Hospital.
The injuries that he sustained were pretty much all upper body, face, neck and shoulders.
The surgery revealed that he had to have two metal plates placed under both of his eyes, a metal mesh plate placed behind the right eye to keep it in place, they had to wire his jaw shut and they had to do a tracheotomy because his nasal cavity was smashed and he wouldn't be able to breath. Thus they put in a feeding tube as well. The doctor's fixed and set his shoulder and collar bone. The multiple puncture wounds on his upper back were from the collar bone breaking and stabbing him through the skin 3 or 4 times as he rolled.
(Cal and all the kids and the grandkids)
Yesterday, the doctors made him wake up to try to breath on his own. In that man's stubbornness, he tried ripping all of his tubes out. That's the ornery man that I know.
His eyes are swollen shut, his mouth wired shut... he has no form of communication to any of us other then squeezing hands that are holding his. I am being told that he hears you, and that's all. I haven't seen him yet. Honestly, I'm scared to. I will be leaving work early tomorrow and staying the night up there. I can't imagine how Eric is doing with all of this. The plant that he's working on, the supervisor went on vacations which left him in charge. He felt obligated to stay, only going on the fact that dad's injuries weren't life threatening and it's only the waiting game. Eric is leaving work tomorrow from Yakima and heading straight up.
The bleeding in Cal's brain has stopped and their is a lot of bruising, but they are promising no permanent damage. Their main concern right now is his eye sight. He could end up with double vision, deeming him "disabled". The reason I call him a stubborn mule is because on Tuesday, Eric's older sister, Stacey, called up to his room and actually got to talk to Dad. She had asked him if she needed to come up there to say good bye to him. He just laughed, and if you know Cal, you know what laugh it is, and he said he didn't know what everyone was worried about. When Stace relayed that information, I knew the good Lord wasn't done with this man yet... THANKFULLY. He is truly one of the better men in my life. Many prayers are needed.

11 years and going strong

Today marks 11 years for Eric and I. Looking back on our journey,( I say this because it hasn't been all rainbows and cupcakes), I realize how far we have come. If you can imagine a marriage rockier then the Rocky Mountains and stormier then the Gulf in hurricane season, that was us in our first five years. Any possible means of destruction to a marriage, it was done. Not just by one party but both. These last 6 years we have been cleaning up our path of destruction we created. I feel that our marriage is now stronger then it ever has been and I honestly believe it's because I have let the Lord back into my life. I see things with a different light and only want to make things better. Though our marriage is far from perfect, we don't waste our means on material things. We realize what we wasted for 5 years, and what matters is our time to and with each other.
Trying to recall all our anniversaries, I think we've only exchanged cards and had a dinner to ourselves here and there. Nothing big. (On our 8th, we spent OUR day at Eric's little brother's wedding where Eric was a groomsmen. Yes, that's right, his little brother got married on the same day as us. Talk about me being pissy.. salt in an open wound........) I wanted to renew our vows last year being our 10 year mark, and I wanted to do it under the eyes of the Lord, since we were 17, signed off by both of our parents in the court house by a justice of the peace. But Eric was laid off at the beginning of that July, and so yet another test of our marriage was set upon us. I can proudly say that today marks another mile stone and that test has come and is now gone. I just wish he was here with me so I could appreciate US all that much more. Happy anniversary, Babe. I love you.

My sister....

... turns 30 today. Where do I begin with her.... She is my only biological sister out of all of us girls. We aren't quite 2 years apart. Growing up we were the poster children of sibling rivalry. We NEVER got along. I remember when I was younger, thinking that I was going to go to school clear across the county to get away from her. And just maybe, if she was lucky, I'd send her a Christmas card. We were actually separated when I was 13. She had to go live with my biological father because of her "unruly" behavior. She grew up in and out of hospitals due to her bad asthma, so I was always stuck doing her chores because she would conveniently have an "asthma attack." Things changed drastically when I found out I was pregnant with Tarren. She moved her and her now husband up here to Lewiston to be closer to me. We have since then developed a unbreakable bond. We don't go a day without calling each other and knowing what's going on. Her kids are mine, and mine are hers. We have a lot of the same beliefs. so raising the kids isn't a chore for either one of us (though 5 kids are hard to handle at any given moment). This morning when I called her to tell her Happy Birthday and remind her that she was 30, she sweetly reminded me that I'm not so far behind her.

I should also throw out there that she shares her birthday with our biological dad. He is turning a whopping 54. She has our dad's and grandfather's name sake; my grandfather Johnny George, my dad Johnny Michael, and my sister Jonnie (pronounced Johnny) Katherine.

So here's to you Jonnie. Of all those times we tried to kick the poo out of each other, I'm glad we didn't end up killing one another. Hope you have a great birthday! I love you.

Coping.......

Since the older two are gone to church camp in Orofino for Faith Tabernacle, I've been trying to occupy Caiti. Monday night was quite nice. We gave the dog a good bath and then we settled down to watch a movie. By 7pm, Caiti fell asleep and I found myself waking up around 8:30pm on the couch. I took advantage of the whole situation and packed her up and we went to bed. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with her last night until I heard on the radio that the Aquatic Center was having family night from 6 to 8 and it only cost $10.

So I called up my nieces and asked if they wanted to join me. My oldest niece brought my great-nephew who is one, and we had a great time. So for $10 we got 7 people in, not bad I say.

I took Caitrin with the intentions of her passing out early. I figured that all that running around and swimming would tire her out. Not so much. We ended up staying up until 11pm. It must have been the all the sleep that she got the night before.

Happy Birthday Trent

Today is Trent's 8th birthday. This morning he woke all excited to leave for camp in Orofino today. But when we got to the bus, the mood changed. He had tears pooling up and his eyes were red. He asked me to say a little prayer with him to help him be brave and strong. I sat and waited for the buses to pull out and leave to let my own tears fall. He has never been this long without me, so it was kind of hard on mama as well. I felt bad because I called Eric bawling. He just laughed and told me to enjoy the craziness that the little one is going to give me. I promised Trent that when he got back on Friday, we'd have a Transformer birthday party for him. I just hope and pray that he'll have a good time. Poor kids, I miss them already.

Conversations

Setting: We were in the car listening to the radio. The song Life is a Highway, by Tom Cochrane came on. At this particular time, I didn't know that it was Tom Cochrane who sang it.
I saw Trent staring at the radio in disgust.

Mom: Hey, what's your problem?
Trent: They're singing this song wrong.

It took me a minute to understand what he was talking about. He has grown up with the Disney movie CARS, in which Rascal Flats (sp?) sings the song, so it didn't sound quite right, to him.

Mom: Oh. Umm... This is the original song. The first time the song came out. Long before you were born. Rascal Flats re sang it so they could play it for the movie.
Trent: They still aren't singing it right. Who is it?
Mom: You know, bud, I'm not sure. But I can find out later today.
Trent: It's probably a bunch of senior psychopaths.
Mom: Senior psychopaths, huh?
Trent: Yea, a bunch of old people.

I just shook my head...

Growth Spurt

With school being out for the kids, Trent has spent a lot of time at my sister's place. My nephew, Jackson, and Trent are joined at the hip most of the time. They get along really well. ( More then I can say for the other 3). Friday night I had told Trent that he had to come home. I hadn't seen him in a few day and I wanted to spend time with him. He wouldn't have it. When I told him it wasn't an option, that didn't go over well either. Needless to say that when we were at home, he did everything in his power to give me MAJOR attitude. By 6 o'clock, I was done with it. I sent him off to his room. It is very like my son to challenge me. By that I mean, he'll come to the top of the stairs and sit and make noises, he'll come up from his room saying that he has to go to the bathroom or needs something to eat or drink, anything to see if I'd forget that I sent him to his room.
The girls and I were just veg-ing on the couch. Around 7:30 it hit me that Trent had not challenged me, or gave me any more attitude. I went down the stairs to check on him, make sure he didn't make an escape out the window to his friend's house ( I wouldn't put it past him). When I entered his room, he was snuggled under is covers. "Well....??" I thought. I just chalked it to him not getting enough sleep at my sister's house.
The next morning, I woke early to read my book (I'm reading the Twilight Series.. again). 8 o'clock Trent came wondering up the stairs after a good 12 hours plus of sleep. As he reached the top, he stretched. While I was watching him, I made a mental note that I thought he looked taller. No big deal, all my kids have legs.
He did his morning routine of going to the bathroom and when he came out, he just stood in the hallway staring at his feet, or it could have been the floor. I'm not sure. He looked at me kind of confused.
"What?" I asked.
"Mom, I feel taller" he said puzzled.
" Okay, come here." I guided him to the hall way where we measure the kids on a regular basis. I had noticed that Eric just measured all the kids on May 9th.
I backed him up to the wall and was blown away. He has grown a full inch since May 9th.
There goes the pair of pants I just bought him before school got out. I guess I should have noticed something was up when he started to eat me out of house and home. I have a sneaking suspicion that he's going to be taller then his dad. What's a mother to do...?

Conversations

Setting: We were driving home from my sisters house. Caitrin and Tarren were in the very back seats and Trent was in the middle row in front of Caitrin. Mind you, all three of them had been bickering with each other ALL day.

Caitrin: Hey, Trent. (no answer) TRENT!
Trenton: What!?
Caitrin: I have a water bottle and it's not yours. (with the neener neener attitude)
Trenton: Caiti, I know it's yours and I don't care.
Mom: That's enough you two. Caiti, we all know that's your water bottle, so stop trying to pick a fight.

A few minutes go by....
Caitrin: Hey, Mom. When you and me get home, I'm gonna pick a fight with YOU.
(No surprise there, the child is bull headed)
Mom: Really? I'm going to tell you right now to chalk that one to a loss.

Caiti just smiles. You know her wheels were turning.

I swear I'm going to check myself in to the 5th floor on her 13th birthday!!

Inseparable

Memorial Day 2009

I have been wanting to go back up to the falls since last year. With the gas prices SO high last summer and Eric being laid off right after the 4th of July, we really didn't go anywhere or do much. So I BEGGED him to take me up to Elk River for Memorial Day. He graciously agreed. I asked my sister and her family to accompany us. All the boys rode up in Eric's truck and the girls all road up in my car. (Please don't ask me what the deal is with the sticks in the mouths, I have no clue and it just doesn't end here... you'll see.)

All these kids are such posers. There were many fallen trees on the trails. I'm glad that I opt not to bring the stroller. I would have ended up carrying it more then pushing it. Caiti Bug was a real trooper.

This was at the lowest falls. I didn't take a picture of it, but there were people swimming and playing around at the bottom of water fall. It was still a little too cold for me.

This was the Middle Falls. The tallest of all three. There is a game trail that you can take to the very top of it. My parents made me take it when I was 14. When the kids are a little older, I'm sure I'll do the same. There were people all over those trails.

My sister and I. Need I say more.

Like I said earlier, Caiti was such a trooper. It's a total of almost 2 and a half miles round trip, by this point we had about a half a mile left to the parking lot. She trucked all those steep hills and narrow trails. If you have taken that trail, you'd know it's not a straight stretch.

But what's going to Elk River without scoping the town. There were many trailers and truck trying to hit the road and head back into town.

And you can't go to Elk River without going to Huckleberry Haven and having their famous Huckleberry Ice cream. It's the best. I highly recommend it. They had a Huckleberry pie in there for sale, it ran for $21.00, or $7.00 a slice. We just settled for the ice cream.

After the ice cream we went up to the lake for some fishing. Caiti had other ideas. The boys weren't happy with her since she was splashing around and "making noise". She didn't care and apparently the water wasn't too cold for her.

I guess it wasn't fair, 3 boys and 1 pole. I didn't think we'd have enough time, so I didn't bring the others. I'll know better next time.

Bug and her dirty face. I swear it's a magnet for the dirt. All in all we had an awesome time. It was really relaxing and I honestly didn't feel rushed. We did what we liked, took our time. We had no where we had to be at any given time.

As soon as the Cedars open up, I'm sure we'll be taking another trip up that way.

A boy and his toy

Eric decided that this was the weekend that he'd bulldoze the backyard.

Yeh for me!

Trent's first game

Tonight was Trent's first game. He's still in Farm League, which is pitching machine. I'm hoping we'll be able to go up to live arm next year, but we'll see. He seemed a little gun shy of the ball, but relaxed once the game got going. When he was up to bat for the first time, he did strike out. The second time proved to be better, he got on base but never made it home due to outs. Just like last year, he's being groomed to be a catcher. He absolutely loves it. Of all the kids catching, he was the only one that would scoot close to home plate. All the others were clear at the back stop. We have told him that the ball isn't going to hurt because of all the gear, that's what it's there for. Get in front of the ball.

Papa decided to grace us with his presence. In doing so, he out right spoiled his grandchildren. Caiti Mae being his princess, got hoards of candy. He spared no expense with the girls, buying them nachos, gatorade, suckers, laffy taffy, and other sugar crap that I yelled a him for. His excuse is that they are his to spoil and I have to back off.

Here is his pouring (literally) sugar in to Caiti's mouth. I had to turn away, it made me sick. Eric told Dad that he was going to be on night duty with her, since she's going to be bouncing off the walls.

I would like to think that our boys won, but being in Farm League, they don't keep score. Both teams hit and fielded well. It's a lot better to watch then T-Ball, that's for sure. Tarren has her game tomorrow. It seems like every night this week is designated for a game or practice, but that's not different then any other week. Poor Caitrin, she's going to spend every spring and half her summers growing up at the ball fields. A ball field brat.