Our Baby Is 5!!

Lukas turned 5 on Monday (the 16th). The day was pretty uneventful because we are having his party tomorrow. We did do cake and presents from Mommy and Daddy on Monday though. Seems so hard to believe that it was 5 years ago already. Tomorrow's party is a COWBOY party! Lukas finally gets to wear his new cowboy outfit! Well, he's worn it a number of times, but everytime we let him wear it, he thinks that it's time for his party! I am not sure how many kids we'll have, but I invite something like 24 kids. Uggggg. Now you all know that I can't do anything small....lol. If you remember, Jake had like 41 kids here for his Halloween party a couple of years ago, and thirteen 13-year old boys for his 13th birthday sleepover. Hey.....they're only young once. Michael is absolutely NO fun what-so-ever. He has no imagination, and thinks that all of my ideas are ridiculous.....so I've kept him right of the loop as to what we're doing tomorrow. On the agenda....sack races....a game called "there's a snake in my boot"....horse relays.....nd the most awesome of them all.....panning for gold!! I took 2 lbs of aquarium rocks and spray painted them gold. I bought a small pool.....and we'll put a bunch of sand in there along with the rocks, and let the kids pan for gold with pans (pie tins with holes in the bottom!). I've been doing alot of research for ideas! I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow! Well, gotta go get the cupcakes out of the oven!

We Must Be Doing Something Right

I took Lukas to the mall today to do some Father's Day shopping. On our way into the mall, he was a few steps ahead of me. When he got to the door, not only did he hold the door open for me, but also for the elderly lady behind me! I gave him a hug once we got inside and told him how proud of him I was. Then, later at Walmart, he walked in front of someone and I heard him say "Excuse me". Again, I hugged him and told him how proud of him I was. So, like I told Michael....he may be a piss pot most of the time, but we must be doing something right. It's a good feeling, and left me feeling all warm and fuzzy.....until I heard him going "BEEP, BEEP....OUTTA THE WAY!!" while I was pushing him in the shopping cart.....lol. You never know what he's going to say or do!

I took him to pick up his tux........and just as I suspected.....it didn't fit. Far from it as a matter of fact. The day that I took him into to be fitted, the chick doing the measurements was busier than hell and was rushing. So I have had a feeling from day one that we were going to have problems. Today she took everything out of the bag, handed it to me, then left the room to help someone else. I got a hold of the pants and new immediately that they were NEVER going to fit. I kid you not....these pants looked like they were made to fit a fat midget!! They were HUGE around the waist, and the legs were super short. Out of curiosity, I decided to try them on anyway. If you were to hold the waist band out in front of him, there had to have been a good 10 inches of space. They were a MEN'S SIZE 27 WAIST!! They had taken the legs of the pants, stuffed them up inside the pant leg, then "stitch witched" the leg to the inside of the pant. The bottom cuff was almost up to his crotch. The chick came in, asked how things were going and I told her "Not so good!" She looked at it and asked who had measured him. I told her that she had. She measured him again, and she said that his waist is measuring 27" (which I still find hard to believe). On the sides of the pants there are some fastener thingies that can take the waist in or out. She adjusted them all the way in, and they were still HUGE! She sat there gawking at them, then started to say "Hmmmm....well, I could probably take them in here...." and I had to cut her off and tell her that they looked terrible and that he needed all new pants. DUH!! I'm no seamstress.....far from it.....but you didn't have to be to figure out that there was something DRASTICALLY wrong with these pants! Even if she could fix the waist, the crotch of the pants was hanging down to his knees! Then, if the pants situation wasn't enough, I went to try the shoes on him. They were a size 11 and I had ordered a size 1. Ridiculous. I am furious at the fact that I have to take him back in either tomorrow or Friday, depending on when the new pants come in. They'd damn well better have gotten it right when I go back or I'm going to raise holy hell. I'm glad that I went today rather than wait till Friday! The wedding is Saturday for God's sake! Why in the hell they would send a 5 year old MENS pants is beyond me! It's not like he's some kind of freak of nature, 150 pound 5 year old! He's just a BIT bigger than average.

What A Wicked Storm!

There was a tornado watch posted across the bottom of the tv when I got up yesterday morning, but I didn't think much about it, as most people probably didn't either. It was a super hot, sunny day, just like the past few days have been around the area. Shortly before noon it got really, really dark and the wind picked up ALOT. I stood with the front door open, watching the sheets of rain come across our front yard. It was really amazing! Suddenly there was a huge burst of wind, and the glass bottom part of our door blew right in and the inside door smashed against the wall!! I let out a screech like you wouldn't believe! I got the door shut, grabbed Lukas and ran into our bedroom to get Michael....not that that helped any. He was so totally out of it that a freight train could have ripped through the house and he wouldn't have flinched. Of course, he had been awake for over 24 hours prior to going to bed. The storm went as quickly as it came, and within a few minutes, the noon news was reporting damage allover the north country. We sustained no damage here except a ew things throw about the yard. Lukas' Little Tykes Pirate Ship was thrown a few hundred feet across the back yard and into the wood lot out back, Jake's basketball hoop was flipped over (and that weighs a TON!), our 4-wheeler trailer was pushed back about 20 feet, and we lost something off the roof....some kind of "cap"? Other people weren't so lucky in neighboring towns. Roofs were blown off, trees fell on cars. Mass chaos! Kind of exciting though...lol. Ever since I've lived up here on Gobbler's Knob, I've been dying for a real good storm...especially in the winter! I love the excitement.

Lukas went to school today. His "poison ivy" is alot better since I started putting the calamine lotion on him. I'm not really sure now if this is poison ivy because it nevr itched him at all....but it sure does resemble it. Either way, I'm glad it' clearing up. His legs look terrible! I'm thankful that it's not all over his face or neck. He's in my cousin Kyle's wedding this weekend. I have to take him to pick up his tuxedo today. He's going to be so stinkin' cute in it!! His birthday is less than a week away (the 16th). He's going to be 5! So hard to believe. I did up the invitations to his birthday party last night. He's having a "cowboy party". I'm having a dillema over who to invite in his class. The "right" thing to do would be to invite everyone in his class. But there is one kid in his class that is a total little asshole, and to be quite honest, I don't want the kid at my house. He's a HUGE disruption in the classroom, and he drives the kids NUTS! There's also a little girl in his class that isn't quite as bad, but still ranks right up there. So, I'm doing the "wrong" thing and inviting a select few and sending their invitations to them at their home. Awful, I know. But besides everything else, I have enough other kids to invite that if I were to invite all 20 out of his class, I'd have a zillion kids here. So screw it!

Off to take a shower, pick up the house, pick up Lukas then off to town to get groceries and Lukas' tux!

We're Back......Thank God!!

We had a wondrful time on our little vacation, despite the incredibly hot temperatures. You all know how well I tolerate the heat! There wasn't a day that we were there that it got any lower than 80 degrees. Luckily there was always a beautiful breeze blowing, otherwise we all would have died. The camper has a/c, so of course we had that cranked right up. The kids spent alot of time in the pool too.

Like I said, the trip was great. But it wsn't without complications. On our way down to PA, around Binghamton, we blew the engine in the truck. We were riding long, and Mike realized there was something wrong and pulled over on the side of the road. \The passing tractor trailers shook the camper and truck to the point where I got nervous, so I took the three kids (my 2 and Jake's friend, Luke) and went down the hill next to us, across a small ravine, and up onto a hill....far away from the traffic. There we sat for 3 hours waiting for Triple A to find someone with a wrecker big enough to tow both the truck AND the camper. Everyone in our convoy of campers stopped for us, and eventually, 2 of the campers went on to PA without us. My Uncle Shawn and his family waited with us. We ended up leaving Michael there with the truck and camper and heading on to PA too. My brother-in-law, David, got to PA, unloaded and set up their 5th wheel, then headed back to Binghamton to get Michael and our camper. We left the pickup at a truck stop near Binghamton and took our camper to PA. We decided that we weren't going to let the whole ordeal ruin our weekend, and we didn't. We pressed on and had a great time. Tomorrow, David and our friend, Stewart, are each taking their trucks (Stewart is towing his big flatbed trailer) to go get our truck and camper. Can you say CLUSTER?? We are going to need a new engine for the truck, but seem to think it's not going to be that big of a deal considering the number of people that can help us out in one way or another. So we are down to one vehicle for now

Lukas ended up with Poison Ivy during our little escapade on the side of the road. The poor kid is covered with it. Luckily it hasn't itched at all though. Jake has a small spot of it on his leg. I may end up having to take him to the dr's tomorrow just to verify that that is what it is, which means that he'll be missing school tomorrow. I'm sure that will just break his heart!

It was hotter than the hubs of hell when we got home. Mike got the central a/c situated, but the house is so damn big that it takes a good 24 hours to get it down to the right temp. It's bearable now, so I guess that I shouldn't bitch.

Guess we're going to bed here in a few minutes. It'll be so nice to sleep in my own bed!

Watch Out Pocono, PA...The Slate's Are On Their Way!

We are almost packed and ready to go to Pocono! I am so excited, as are the kids and Mike too. This will be Jake's first big race. Me...I could care less about the race. I'd rather watch paint dry. That's why I'm not going to the race. I am staying at the campground with Lukas and my neice, Morgan, while everyone else goes to the race. In all, there are 4-5th wheel campers, and 16 people going! I have spent the last 3 days shopping and making food. If Michael had any clue as to what I've spent, he really would "ground" me....lol. Jake has a friend, Luke Evans, going with us. I'm sure things will get confusing with 2 "Luke's" with us. When I picked Lukas up at school today, they informed me that "pink eye" is going around the school, and that they sent a student out of Lukas' class home with it today. Beautiful!! The way our luck goes, we'll be in PA and have to find an ER or something. I came home, dug through the cupboard, and found a bottle of what I call "liquid gold"......Vigamox.....the "pink eye" antibiotic. The bottle is tiny. I'm not even sure if there't an ounce in there. If you don't have insurance....which back in the day, I didn't......that little bottle costs about $45. Oddly enough, if you have insurance, it's only about $15 and we have to pay like $5 of it. Anyway. I'm all set should Lukas start rubbing his eyes. Well, guess that I should go finish up the laundry and packing up the camper. I'm sure I'll have lots of interesting stories to tell you all when I get back on Monday!

Slate, out.

1........2.......

Last night, as is the case most Sunday nights, Mike and Lukas had a pissing match while brushing Lukas' teeth. Now, during the week, things around here are very routine.....rarely a problem at bedtime. But on the weekends when Mike is home, it is ALWAYS a fiasco around here at bedtime. My Grandmother Smith is positive that it has something to do with Lukas paying Michael back for not being here during the week. Anyway, things got heated to say the least, and I really do try to stay out of it because it totally irks me when Mike butts in when I'm trying to dicipline. Well, I could only take so much of it last night and finally spoke up. Needless to say, Mike didn't take well to it. He ordered me to go say goodnight to Lukas, then proceeded to COUNT to ME!! "1..........." was all he got out of his mouth....lol. I was SHOCKED!! I said "Now I KNOW that you did not just COUNT to ME!!" God love him. The longer that we are parents, the more that I notice us doing stupid things like this to each other. Sometimes it's hard to differentiate between the adult/child world. He's been forewarned not do it again......or I'll have no other choice than to spank his ass and send him to his room.....lol.

I had to work my big one day a month gig at Standard today. I was done by 10 a.m. then went shopping for our trip to Pocono. I absolutely HATE shopping, and I hate driving around even more. The price of everything has gone up so much that it literally makes me ill. Not looking forward to having to fuel up the truck during our trip. Ugggggh. When we went to Charlotte, NC last May it cost us $800 in gas down and back...and that was when gas was just over $3 a gallon.

Well, suppose I had better go get some dinner going for the Chief before he grounds me....lol.