Austin's 11th Birthday

Austin usually has a BIG birthday. Actually he has had a combined birthday with Carson and Griffin for the last 3 years and BIG birthday parties each year before that. This year he didn't have any party that he really wanted. Not bowling. Not sleepover. Not camping. "Just pick something Mom," he said to me. I picked SURPRISE party! Hahahah! We showed up at Chuck E Cheese at 11:30 this morning and Dustin and Jake met us there within minutes. It was all very exciting. See:








I got the high score on Street Ball. Freakish. Who knew I was ANY good at b-ball?



Austin's party then moved to our house where the boys played Wii for 5 hours. Oy. They had a ball though. Surprisingly they all really loved the cake and made sure to "one up" before heading back out to game some more.





Austin has issues with being still at the best of times and CAN NOT while playing games. Yes. He is tied to the chair. LOL!



Overall I think he had a great day. I just can't believe he is getting so big. Sigh.

Geocaching

Esther and Matt were nice enough to invite us geocaching on Saturday. We were all enjoying the low cloud cover by sleeping in and getting a late start on our trip. We didn't leave until almost one o'clock. Ah, lovely. The first stop was just outside of Arab, at Thompson Falls. I missed most of the falls action by a mistaken path (We thought you had to climb down this steep trail, but there was another by the cars. Oops.) but I did get an okay shot of the main falls and plans to return.


The kids spent a good 45 minutes building dams to hold back the water run off in the trail. There is something fascinating about mud and water.


I can't remember the name of the second falls. It was in Blount County. It is amazing how powerful water is after a good rain. This falls was a rushing torrent of water. We saw lots of wildflowers, some kayakers, what I think was an Indian marker tree and even a snake! LOL! Lou managed to find both geocaches. I found some geo-trash - as in small containers that COULD have been caches, but were just empty junk. Sigh. Oh well. I liked the hike!












On the way home we drove through some severe weather and on the other side of it we saw a gorgeous double rainbow. Austin was nice enough to snap this shot of it. What a great end to the day!

Griffin's 5th Birthday

(Alabama snowmen - yum)







My favorite quotes of the day (so far):

"Guess what Pawpaw, I turned five so I GREW last night!"
"It's okay guys it's my birthday and I can do whatever I want..."
Hack - cough! "Ugh, something just touched my uvula!"

Back from Outer Space

Surprise! I did not fall off the face of the Earth. I did however watch a movie about that this weekend... "Knowing" is weird. I'm not sure if I liked it. Anyway, so now I'm back from outer space and I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face. You should have changed your stupid lock. You should have made me leave my key if you had known for just one second I'd be back to blog at, uh, you... Sorry. I swear I see my life as a musical.


With spring in full swing here, I have been working on my spring cleaning. It's nice to be pulling things out and, after freaking out about how much crap there is under stuff, work on clearing out and cleaning up. It is hard going. The boys have been forced into slave labor, but I figure they can put it on their resumes one day: Used to Slave Labor. I'm confident they will get hired. Not to mention married if they say they know which end of a broom goes up. School? Bah! The real way to succeed is to show you can do what you are told.

I can't - case in point.

This week's schedule is packed: Errands today, doctor appointments in Cullman with a visit to PJ in there tomorrow, Thursday is supposed to be thunder storming so I think our hike is off, Friday is Dentist then G's birthday party (want to come?), Saturday is the geocaching party at E's, Sunday is church and such, Monday the Charter guys come to change over the phones and Tuesday is Austin's birthday so I'm moving errands to Wednesday. Whoo! Accordingly our menu has lot of crazy stuff in it to accommodate.

Tonight is Seafood night - Shrimp, Crab legs, Salad greens and Angelfood cake with Strawberries.

Wednesday - Cereal and smoothies
Lunch in Cullman
Roast with potatoes and carrots, homemade wheat rolls

Thursday - Sausage biscuits
CRV lunch/ sandwiches
Pizza for the guys, Pasta for me

Friday - Happy B-day G! - French Toast
G's Party lunch; Hotdogs, Chips, Giant Dill Pickles, Pineapple, Cake, Ice Cream
Cars Mac and Cheese for the guys, left over roast for me

Saturday - BLT&E(ggs) Sandwiches
Chili at E's
Date Night

Sunday - Church
Small group's Hamburger Grill out, Potato salad
Left overs

Monday - Cream of Wheat/Cereal
Sandwiches and Fruit
Crock Pot Chicken

Tuesday - Bacon and Eggs
Pizza at CEC
Lasagna for the guys, Chicken salad for me

I got out about 6 books for ME this week. I ran out last week and had to resort to TV the last couple days. Sigh. I really just don't like TV. I do however like the On Demand section of Free stuff. That is cool. After about 6 hours of TV this week (that is a LOT for me) I checked out books about home improvement, Freezer cooking, the Glass Pantry and the Dinner & Movie Cookbook. Party time!

Spring Portraits

These are my favorite shots. Some are good (Carson had a good day and Austin was WITH me) and some aren't (Griffin was in a goofy mood), but I'm pretty happy with them.