Age = height?

We were walking back to the car from Faith's softball tournament...I was in front pushing the stroller, Jason was behind me and Noah was following behind him and I hear Noah, out of the blue, say, "Mommy's 44, and Daddy's still taller!" 

If you know our ages, yes, I am older than Jason, but only by 6 months, but apparently older in the eyes of a 6 year-old, must mean that you should be taller.

Although, his cousin, Charlie is a year younger than him and I am pretty sure he has outgrown Noah.

Flashbacks tickle

Often there are times when Noah will be sitting there & suddenly he will start giggling.  Of course we then have to ask him what's so funny, because there is not usually something funny going on at the time.  He will share a funny memory that makes him laugh that is a laugh completely contagious to the rest of us.  Today he did that and Ian exclaims, "flashbacks tickle!"  I thought it was an appropriate idea for Noah because he sounds like he's being tickled when he has one.  So if you ever catch him giggling at a time when nothing funny is going on, it's because flashbacks tickle Noah.

So as to not get caught plagiarizing the idea, Ian said it came from SpongeBob...of course!

Armpits

AJ came upstairs to eat today without a shirt, that doesn't happen very often, and he might not anymore either...


Noah: Why do you have hair in your armpits?
AJ: ...

Ian and Noah proceed to talk about armpit hair and their lack of it.  AJ moves over to living room chair.  Noah nonchalantly walks over towards him & tries to look at his pits.

AJ:  What are you doing???
Noah:  Can I touch it?

As he proceeds to point his finger towards AJ's armpit hair...

AJ: (surprised & exclaiming)  What the heck?  Dude! what are you doing??
Noah:  I just want to touch it!

We are all laughing hysterically now watching AJ squirm as Noah tries to tickle AJ in attempts to discover how armpit hair feels.  He eventually gets up from his chair and retreats downstairs as I wipe the tears from my eyes from laughing so hard watching the 6 year old pick on the 15 year old, which is a change of pace in this house.

Force of nature

Due to an unfortunate act of nature yesterday, we had to make a decision about our pool.  Long story short, the pool is now moving with us.

The long story...

Yesterday, was a rainy day.  Unfortunate because I had just filled the pool (accidentally) to the brim the day before for the first time since we originally filled it for the summer.  (If you know anything about the price of water usage in Montgomery, it's a painful choice to put the hose in the pool.)  The night before, I just dumped in more chlorine to shock the pool because it rained on the weekend also & that tends to also effect the chemicals.  I had also spent most of that afternoon babysitting the pool vacuum to get the bottom clean.  So, the pool was clean, full and ready for a warm day to swim again.  Mother Nature had another plan.

Bring on heavy winds, strong enough to toss the large garbage bins over and push over our neighbors double swinging rocker.  It blew pool floaties off the deck and when the rain and lightening let up enough for me to go round them up, I headed out to the soggy yard.  I happened to glance over at the pool and was shocked to see the waterline about a foot below the rim (remember I had it filled to the top?).  I then noticed that the strips holding the liner on around the top had somehow come off and the liner had collapsed into the pool, causing water to flow over the back of the liner and out the sandy bottom of the pool.  I ran to that side only to be shocked at the water gushing out the bottom and holes at the seams of the side of the pool.  The neighbors yard was flooded (for the 2nd time by us this year...oops!) and I panicked at what to do.

I ran inside to yell for AJ to help and had to ask Ian to watch over Bella (who was ready for a nap.)  When he got out, we tried to pull up the liner in the 2 areas that were falling, but the weight of the water pulled it down and we had no option but to hold the liner above the water line until the water that went over the backside drained out.  Totally beside myself, I told AJ to give the 911 call to Jason, who was at work training in the new AD.  All we could do was hold up the liner to keep more water from flowing out the side until Jason arrived.  In the meantime, one of AJ's friends came walking down the street and luckily for him, he was wearing sandals, so I used him as another helper to stand in the soggy mess and hold up the liner while I attempted to get the hoses hooked up to drain the pool into the street and not the yard.

Jason arrived to see all of his recent hard work spilling out & we had to decide whether we would go through all the work and money to get it back up and running, only to enjoy it for a few more weeks.  Once we got things under control (as much as we could), I called the realtor and we figured that the pool neither helped nor hindered the sale of our house, so we decided that we would just take the pool out and leave a really large sandy fire pit (at least that's how we're going to market it!)

Needless to say, our workload just increased by a lot, not to mention the sports schedules and packing with a toddler, but Jason is thrilled to have the option of the pool at our new home.  I, on the other hand, am reminded at how heavy those panels are and am wondering how in the world we are going to load those things without a forklift!

So if anyone in our area needs some sand...there are 9 tons under it, and I am guessing that a fire pit doesn't need that much.

We're moving again!

And, no, I'm not pregnant! LOL!  It was not an easy decision because we have loved this place since we first visited 2 years ago, but when it comes down to it, being closer to family wins over.  After much time in prayer, we felt that either Activities Director position was a great opportunity for Jason and that God was allowing us to decide where we would go.  In the end, it simply came down to raising our kids where they could go to school with their cousins. 

We originally left Minneota because Jason discovered how much he loved being an AD & desired to do it full time and not having 1-2 other administrative jobs to do with it.  When it was apparent that he wouldn't be able to do that in a smaller town, he looked to a larger district, which took us a couple hours away.  We have certainly loved the opportunities of a larger school and community and will miss many things, especially the wonderful people we have met.  It never gets easy leaving those you grow close to, but we are so much better for having the chance to spend time with them and look forward to the next opportunities to do so.

I told Jason I am going to make him a t-shirt that says, "All roads lead to Minneota" and have a map of all the places we have moved to and from since we have been together.  I think I counted 12 in 16 years...it might be more.  Needless to say, it has been one adventure after another and we hope that this move will be the last, as we have found a home we can comfortably live in until we die.  Hahaha! 

But until that time a couple months from now, we are going to take in all that we can from this beautiful area, spending time with friends, and relaxing in our pool before we have to pack things up and head back to family and friends in Minneota!

Clean up, aisle 6!

Baby spilled cat's water dish, then I went downstairs to clean up (dried) slime in the carpet, cleaned the cat box while I was in the laundry room getting a bucket of water for the slime, then the cat pukes on the carpet in the room where we're trying to clean up slime, (notice I said TRYING), come upstairs frustrated to discover baby's got a poopy diaper. All in less than 10 minutes! Now I get to research how to remove dried slime from your carpet... 😒

Is there anybody out there?

It might be wishful thinking to expect that anyone still checks my blog after my 7-month hiatus from posting.  Not to mention that I have racked up a whopping 4 posts the entire year of 2017.  Instead of boring you with the long list of reasons why I haven't kept up, here are some new pictures to tie you over and a few updates on what's all going on in our lives, (which will give you insight to why I don't get to sit at the computer as often.)

Yes! Noah is now 6 and enjoying kindergarten, at home, with Mom as his teacher, because the very thought of being in a classroom with others at this point terrifies him.

Bella is now 1 and keeps busy with all things that learning toddlers do.  (Actually, I have been interrupted several times during this post to redirect her curiosity to a baby-friendly activity.)  But she is a total gift to our family & she makes us all smile often on a daily basis.

This crew!  (I think Ian's expression sums it up)

AJ is now a 15-year old 9th grader who is working at lots of stuff: football & now basketball, pep/concert/marching band, drivers ed & a part-time job!  He has been given the gift of a room to himself, even though he's here the least amount of time, but sharing a room with a 10 year-old was getting to be a battle, and let's be realistic, the 2 younger boys together makes more sense right now.  (If I would have had that revelation when we first moved in, it would have saved us a bunch of time & energy!  Preggo brain!)

Laney is 14 (8th grade) and busy in her special artistic way: concert/jazz/honor band (playing 3 instruments), piano lessons, lots of art (including starting up a blog for her drawings), and helping out a bunch by watching the youngsters while I play bus driver for the others.  She absolutely loves SuzyCat & the feeling is reciprocal, especially when they have "lazy days" together & just spend time loafing. 

Faith is 12 and is on the brink of teenage-isms.  Ah, the hormones in 6th grade!  School days certainly become more challenging, don't they?!  She loves sports also, and was busy with volleyball & now basketball.  JO volleyball has also come into the mix & will soon fill the rest of her time as she gets used to the idea of daily practice that awaits her next year.  She is also in band & student council & is a raging slime-making maniac.  (The collection keeps growing!)

Ian is 10 & has enough energy to be a 3-sport athlete in one season, if we would let him.  But for the sake of my sanity (and our checking account), this 3rd grader has been limited to occasional, more convenient options of burning off energy.  We are eagerly anticipating the start of basketball for him & are also considering a session of Tae Kwon Do to help him manage his actions, because Lord help me, I can't keep up with him!

My hubby...I am so blessed that he works so hard to make it possible for one of us to be home to raise our babies.  I honestly don't know how he does it, but I do know that he loves being a filled-to-the-brim full-time Activities Director, (like 50-60 hr weeks) and still manages to Deacon at least one weekend a month, as well as teach religious ed to 2nd graders every Weds night (his one normal night off a week).  I get tired just thinking about it.

Oh wait!  I'm already exhausted, so it doesn't take much to make me tired, haha!  As you can imagine, if you take all of these active family members with their happenings and the trail of laundry, dishes, paperwork, appointments/meetings, emails, "get me here, pick me up there" communications, throw in a desire to cultivate a loving, God-willing family made up of individuals who will try to make a positive difference in the world, then you will find me, (sometimes curled up in a corner throwing my own pity party), but for the most part, getting it together as I realize this is our reality.  This is our now.  This is our family growing up way too fast and I am constantly praying to know God's will and to follow it so that I can hopefully teach these little gifts how to do it better than I can.  In the meantime, I will squeeze them as much as I can so they will know they are loved, and teach them as much as I can so that when they go out into the world, reality doesn't punch them in the face.

I can't make any promises about getting out Christmas cards in time, (some of you know I tend to make them more like "Easter cards"), so hopefully this will get you updated on the Myhre crew, so you know that we are still alive and kicking...some days more (or less) than others.