The Sleep Overs

I promised a post about the sleep-overs, so here it is. When Brian was gone to Colorado on Wilderness Trek, one of David's friend's (Luke) invited him to come spend the night. I teach the three year olds on Sunday morning with Luke's mom, Tish, so she knows David pretty well and was prepared in advance for some of his little quirks.

I dropped David off at Luke's sister's softball game, and Nathan about had a cow when David drove off in another car. He was quite perplexed that anyone else would take his big brother away, but that didn't last too long. Pretty soon he was asking if David could stay with Luke for a week!

David was really nervous about his first sleep-over at someone else's house. We have had some friends stay at our house before, but I think he was kind of scared about the unknown; however, Luke lives out in the country, and David was thoroughly excited to see what country life is like. He was not disappointed. Here is a list of all the things he did (directly from David):

1. He got to watch Luke feed the chickens.
2. Their dog had puppies, so he watched Luke's big brother retrieve them from under the porch. Four of the puppies had died, so they all went to the creek to toss them in so the birds wouldn't eat them.
3. He played air hockey.
4. They had an underwear fight. (Don't ask! I have no idea.)
5. They had a nerf gun fight.
6. They had millions of wasps in their house and one landed on his back and went down his leg, but Luke's brother shot it off with a nerf gun.
7. They played with Legos.
8. They slept.
9. They went to a carnival to kick off the area wide Vacation Bible School. (David told me he only got lost once!)

They ended up the sleep-over by going to the birthday party of twins from their class at school, and I picked him up there.

The funny thing is that I got David's version, but then I also got Tish's version of the night too. David has this habit of asking A LOT of questions when he is nervous, and this night was no exception. All I can say is POOR TISH! She assures me that he was fine, but he peppered her with questions the whole time. He also was quite a little back seat driver for her. In spite of being nervous of the unknown, he had a blast.


David and Luke at the end of school, Kindergarten reception


This past Thursday, I got a phone call from the mom of another boy from David's class (Jalen). She said both of her boys were having a few boys over to spend the night and wondered if David could come. David was excited to get spend the night again at someone's house, so he joined in on the crew. When he got home, he said that they watched four movies and that he learned a new trick. He put his hands to his mouth and made what he calls a "tooting noise". Now I know what happens when you get 6 boys together for a night of fun! :)

They also played outside and had a gunfight. They played Nintendo. They rode bikes and scooters. And then spent a lot more time making tooting noises!

David had fun at both sleep-overs, and I am guessing that this year will be full of requests to have friends spend the night at our house.

Happy Birthday Steve!

Today is my big brother's birthday. I had hoped to get this post on here earlier today, but Sunday is always a busy day at our house. So even though his birthday is almost over, I wanted to send him some good wishes.

Steve is a dad to four kids, a husband, a farmer and most of all a dreamer. He constantly has a new idea about how something can be improved, which I think is a really neat trait. He would probably hate for this to make public, but he is a very generous guy...the kind that gives without weighing out the cost. This is a very small example of this, but I remember one time being with him in Denver. It was late, and we were tired and hungry. We had just gotten a pizza at Pizza Hut and were headed back to the hotel to eat. As we pulled up to a stoplight, we saw a man in a wheelchair sitting by the side of the road with a sign that said he was hungry. Steve rolled down his window, grabbed the pizza and handed it to the man. He then reached in his pocket, pulled out his wallet and gave him all of his cash. Now, many would question what the man would do with the money or why he was asking for handouts, but Steve left all of that up to God and gave him what the man asked for. That is just the kind of guy that Steve is.

Steve was also the one I chose to walk me down the aisle at my wedding. My dad hasn't always been present in my life, and for that very important day, I wanted my big brother, who had always been there through the thick and thin of life, to walk with me and hand me over to the guy that would be my husband and new family (and to make sure I didn't trip and fall). To him it might have not been too big of a deal, but is sure did mean a lot to me.

I spent most of my childhood trying to prove myself to my brother (and probably a good part of my adult life trying to do it too!) We are like night and day; I don't think siblings could get much different. But I love him immensely and hopes he has the best day and best year yet!

Since he begged me to show him some love and link to his blog, you can read more from him here. And just for the record Steve, I was going to write this post before your last comment (although I am still hurt you don't like the new look of my blog!) :)

Have a very happy birthday Steve!

A New Look

Every so often, I have to have change in my life. It doesn't have to be anything drastic, but I like to experience new things. I attribute this strange need to moving so often as a child, and honestly, a psychologist would probably have a field day psycho-analyzing me about it. However, that will never happen because I kind of like the fact that I like change. I love experiencing new things and the excitement that comes with it.

My husband, on the other hand, is not much for change. He likes things to pretty much be the same. After looking at my new blog, he said that he liked the old version better. He also was not very excited that I decided to switch around the content of almost all the drawers in the kitchen. I would love to rearrange the furniture, but I think Brian might not be handle it. :) Thankfully, he tolerates my need to change things up a bit with good humor and simply shakes his head when he opens the wrong drawer. He is a good man to put up with me!

Other than rearranging the kitchen drawers, we have been busy with fun things. David had another sleepover (and I know I still owe the grandmas a post about the first sleepover...maybe tomorrow), we went swimming at a friend's house, and we have also had fun days hanging out at home playing the Lego Indiana Jones game, putting together legos, and other fun stuff. David also had basketball camp in there somewhere, and we had the area wide VBS. We are getting ready for a mission trip to Michigan where we will do a VBS for a small church in St. Joseph. Many days have been spent painting, cutting out, copying and getting lessons together for that. Throw Father's day and my birthday, along with me studying for the CPA exam, into the mix, and it means I haven't been the best blogger. I keep thinking life will slow down sometime, but I don't think it ever will. However, that is okay. I have enjoyed watching the boys have fun this summer, and there will eventually be time for me to blog about all the things I want to share with you.

So bear with me and keep reading. I may inundate you with too many posts in the next few days, but it won't last for long and I will fall back into my habit of not posting. :)

Nathan's Logic

I shared some David-isms the other day, so now I need to share something about Nathan. Nathan has an uncanny ability to make a point in the most unique way. For example, the other day, David was in our bathroom getting ready for basketball camp and Nathan was wandering through the house yelling his name and looking for him. He asked me if I knew where David was and I said jokingly, "Maybe aliens took him away." He thought for a second and responded with "How am I supposed to be a little brother if I don't have a big brother?"

Here is another one. Out of the blue yesterday, Nathan said, "Only humans drive SUV's. We are human. Why don't we drive an SUV?"

That kid is just funny. He comes up with the craziest things to say and sometimes he just nearly brings us to tears because we are laughing so hard. The problem is that he also uses this same logic to be sneaky when he is in trouble or trying to get his way. Life is never dull with him around!

I've Been Tagged -- TWICE

Hooray! I am finally back in the world of internet usage! Brian left town to take a group of our teens to Wilderness Trek in Colorado and our internet went down. The internet provider told me it was a problem on my end, and my dear sweet computer expert was over 1000 miles away. I fiddled with it, but to no avail, I couldn't get it to work.

Well, Brian came back, switched out cords and did all sorts of other stuff, but he couldn't get it to work either. Then all the sudden it worked again. I am so not thinking it was on my end. Needless to say, I really missed having the internet and getting to check my email, facebook and all the blogs I read. However, in other ways, it was really nice to take a break from spending entirely too much time on the computer and realize that I can live without it.

During my forced break from the internet though, I was tagged by Trisha and Amy, so FINALLY, here it goes:

What were you doing 5 years ago?

1. I was 5 days away from turning yet another year older.
2. I was mom to a sweet 2 year old and a sweet 6 month old (and probably very tired).
3. I was getting ready for VBS mission trips to Iowa and Nebraska (and probably cutting out lots of stuff and painting!).
4. I was about to see my nephew Tyler for the first time.
5. I was watching A LOT of Blue's Clues and Toy Story.

What are 5 things on your To-Do list for tomorrow?
1. Clean my bathroom
2. Clean the boys' bathroom
3. Practice site words with Nathan
4. Mulch the flower beds in the backyard
5. Study for the CPA exam

What are 5 snacks you enjoy?
1. Goldfish crackers
2. Flip side pretzel cracker with cheddar cheese
3. Grapes
4. Sunflower seeds
5. anything chocolate

What are 5 things you'd do if you were a Billionaire?
1. Start a foundation to provide funds for therapy for special needs kids who fall through the cracks of "the system"
2. Support missionaries throughout the world
3. Give to programs (like the Academy of Leadership and Liberty) that teach individuals how to be leaders and/or better themselves
4. Pay off student loans, house, etc. for us as well as my mom, Brian's mom, my brother and his wife, aunt and uncle and my cousins.
5. Buy my husband a silver 1970 Corvette.

What are 5 of your bad habits?
1. Procrastination
2. Leaving my dresser drawers open just enough to frustrate my husband
3. Spending too much time on the computer
4. Worrying too much about what other people think
5. Putting off studying for the CPA exam

What are 5 jobs that you've had?
1. Farm hand/cook/do whatever they tell me to
2. Grader for professor
3. Intramurals worker
4. Staff Accountant
5. Adjunct Professor

Name 5 places where you have lived.

Man, where I haven't I lived...
1. Searcy, Arkansas
2. Nashville, Tennessee
3. Lubbock, Texas
4. Eugene, Oregon
5. Venango, Nebraska

Who are 5 people you want to tag?

Anybody who is up for the challenge and hasn't done it already!

David-isms

The other day, David asked a question and started it the way every conversation should be started with me:

Mom, since you know everything in the world...

He is going to spend his first night with his friend, Luke, on Friday. I am not sure how he will do because sleeping through the night is not his best talent, but I am praying for a great night for him. Luke lives out in the country, and David is really excited to see Luke's cow, chickens and horse. For some reason we were talking about milking cows the other day, and he said maybe he would get to milk Luke's cow. I teased him that maybe he would get to drink some of the milk trying to get a reaction out of him because he is not a huge milk fan. He responded with

Ewwwww! Drink milk from a cow's gutter?!!! I would never do that!