A Cow WHAT?

A little history lesson..... waaaaay back in Junior High and High School, I engaged in the very serious business ::ahem:: of being a cheerleader. Did it for 6 full years. Graduated from HS as captain of the Varsity squad. And, in that time, we spent time selling a variety of things to help offset the cost of the various and sundry things that went along with being a cheerleader. Uniforms, shoes, camp costs, paper/paint supplies, and on and on. I have been responsible for selling a variety of things - the ones I can remember at the moment are sunscreen, sunglasses, candy, balloons, and spirit ribbons. (I know there were other things, but really, this was a LONG time ago). However, we didn't have the expenses or needs that a regular athletic team has.

So, when a couple of members of the girls' softball team from our local high school showed up at my front door last night, I was more than happy to buy a raffle ticket from them.

So, can you even begin to imagine what this raffle is for?

It is for their 3rd annual Cow Dump.

::cough::

For those who have heard of this prestigious fundrasier, carry on with your day! For those of you who have said, probably out loud, "cow what?", as I did last night, let me explain. At a Cow Dump, the team will lay out a grid on their playing field with a certain amount of numbered squares. Then, they will let a cow loose on the field.

For those who have started laughing, now YOU can carry on with your day. For the rest of you who are trying very hard not to have this crazy mental image, stay with me.

After letting the cow loose, they wait for the cow to.... well.... fertilize the field. And the person who holds the numbered ticket that corresponds to the... ah..... THE square wins $1000.

No, no - I'm not kidding. And, yes, I still bought the ticket anyway.

It's certainly a, um, creative fundraiser! Oh, who am I kidding. This is 12 year old boy'ish gross, but it's funny. Come on - deep down you know you want to laugh!

Only in the Deep South, honey. Only in the South.
And I wouldn't want to live anywhere else!

This is Insane.

~You gotta see this. But my apologies for any eewwww links that show up after it's thru playing.

Valetudinarian

Mmmhmmm, yep - I had to look it up too. Queen at The Beehive clued everyone into this cool deal, and because I have never read Emma, I thought I'd jump on it to have some Jane Austen in the house. They came in last Thursday. Lovely books!

But I'm barely into the first chapter, and I'm having to consult my dictionary already.

Although, truth be told, it's really a cool word. I'm going to have to find a reason to use it soon.

Thank You

To our veterans, to their families, to those who are currently serving. To everyone who has ever been involved in securing and insuring peace for this country. Our military and their families are one of God's amazing blessings to this great U.S.A.

From a grateful heart, with true appreciation for all the sacrifices. So many of which the rest of us will never know or understand.

You are loved!

The Stomach Virus Hitteth.

And hitteth hard! Poodle woke up from her nap around 2:15 on Wednesday, started throwing up, and continued every 10-15 minutes until about 9:30 that night. It took the phenergan a while to kick in. It hit me by 6'ish, and hit Jmk by 11'ish. I have no idea how Chunk managed to miss it, but praise the Lord, he did. His eczema is acting up, but that could be nothing more than I didn't have the energy to give him the skin care that he requires the past couple of days.

Wow, WE were a deathly looking bunch yesterday. Just miserable. Poor Tooter was as confused as he could be because of how pitiful everyone was. He was quite whiney by the end of the day.

BUT, thankfully, we're all on the way to feeling better today. Still a bit shaky, and all that. But the effects of the virus - you know what I mean - are under control. Yay for that! This thing is a stinker. If you happen to catch it, and I hope you don't, then just plan on writing off a couple of days, at minimum.

Yesterday morning, I looked around the pantry and realized that we had no jello at all. So, what does this strong-willed mother of two do in this situation? Make a quick trip to the store to get Jello for me and my ailing family? Noooooo......... I call MY mom! But she doesn't just bring us some jello from her house. No, she goes to the store and brings us jello (box and pre-made), goldfish and saltine crackers, sprite, yogurt, chicken and stars soup, and even frozen blueberry pancakes for when everyone is feeling better. This was while she was in the middle of making my dad's salad for lunch, getting the morning stuff done for Granny, and getting ready for work herself.

Thank you so much Mom!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOOMOO!!!

You are due a most wonderful day today!!! To such a beautiful woman and friend and sister in Christ.... I hope your day today gives you a chance to feel as special as you are! You've always given so much to so many - there are times I wonder how you juggled the "everything" that went along with four kids. Especially now that I'm beginning to see JUST how busy things will always be as a mom myself. But, then I realize that the great love that you always had for us just pushed you forward, and for that love, I am so grateful!!!

You are a dear soul and a beautiful person, and everyone at the Zoo hopes you have JUST that kind of birthday today!!!

We love you so much!

To Tooter....From Papaw

Papaw was Jmk's beloved grandfather - SueSue's dad. He went home to the Lord over 20 years ago. But when Jmk was born, Papaw went and bought these overalls for his first grandchild. Over 30 years later, I think Papaw would have been glad to know that his first great grandson is wearing them also.

My precious boy, your baby blues aren't the only wonderful thing you've inherited from your Daddy.

And for the finale.....
"I'M LIVING IN A VAN, DOWN BY THE RIVER....."

Wiped any Cries lately?

Last night at supper, Poodle bit her tongue, pretty hard. And, subsequently, her baby blues welled up, and she let us know all about her discomfort.

After she calmed down and was ready to continue eating, she took her napkin and started to dry her teary eyes and cheeks and told us:

"Hold on - I have to get my cries off first, and then I can eat."

Walky Baby

I know I said that Chunk would be walking by Thanksgiving, but he's a little ahead of schedule. He still "drops into 4 wheel drive" as Jmk says, when he needs to get somewhere quickly, but he'll pull up and walk first before trying to crawl now. And this morning, he walked from the living room back to our bathroom while looking for me. So, we'll call him upright and mobile.

Although, it IS the incredibly cute sort of non-bended knee bouncy baby walk that precedes the more sure footed locomotion. So, he's not completely uncatchable. I love seeing his progression, but I can see the little baby slipping away!

In other news, John Kerry is a complete and utter twit. I'd like to cordially invite him to come down South, and say the same thing in between the 1st and 2nd quarters of the MSU/Alabama game. The subsequent reaction THERE ought to cause a re-engangement of his obviously defective brain to mouth filter.
There isn't enough education in the world to take the contemptible out of some people.

Feh.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY!!!

Or, should I say Happy BOOOthday?!?

lol...... I know. Don't give up my day job.

You are an absolute gem and truly one of THE sweetest people that I know. What a blessing to have you as a sister! We love you honey - have a wonderful birthday today!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBERT!!!

To a most wonderful brother AND friend. (And diving buddy!) And to a most excellent Uncle.

And to the fabulous to-be-father of my future niece or nephew!

We love you so much - have a GREAT day, despite the Monday'ness of it all!!!

Ammendment #1

Well - I just talked to my mom. I don't want to misrepresent anything, so I feel like I ought to add an ammendment to my last post! We don't go to evening services right now because the kids have such an early bedtime, and they aren't good about sleeping in church, so an evening church service tends to make them extremely unruly the next day. We'll be able to enjoy evening services before too much longer!

However, because we weren't there, we missed the actual very last service in the old church building last night. And, from what I just heard, it WAS very emotional and sentimental. And probably very, very beautiful and memorable. I most certainly don't want to make light of any aches in anyone's heart!

I just know that as long as the body is together, then joy and fellowship will be together always. And, truly, that's what will give the new places that same old comfortable and reliable feeling.

And the Holy Spirit will give us the same all-encompassing joy in worship in the new places. We could meet in a pup tent, and the Spirit would fill us with joy. The comfort level, of course, would probably be seriously lacking. ::ahem::

I just wish I could hug everyone who had tears in their eyes last night!!!

***For all of those who don't know, we have a small, close-knit, PB church, and we do everything together. Worship, teaching, singing - everything. We even have "family pews" - no church daycare even. So, a move like this is a bit like moving a regular family.***

But, y'all, it's going to be wonderful! And we'll all still be together!!!

Time Change Church Change

I never really cared that much about the time change before kids.... now? - don't get me started on the subject! Why in the world do we fool with changing the time nowadays??? It serves no purpose and it messes up the kids' schedules SO badly.
(And I don't appreciate having kids stirring at 5:45 in the morning because their little bodies think it's 6:45).

We had our last meeting at our old church building yesterday!!! It was sort of sentimental (I was baptised and married in that building), but I think most folks are just so glad to not have to drive that far to go to church, that I don't think I really saw any tears. I know I was more excited than sentimental. It was a strange combo of feelings.
We'll be renting for a few months while our new building gets finished, and we are going to have some nice temporary digs!
The cool thing for me - for the first time in my life, getting to church will take 15 minutes or less.
We explained things to Poodle, and I think she mostly gets it. But I know that when she gets into the "borrowed" building and then again into the new building and sees all the people that she recognizes, then she'll know that she's at her church.

And isn't that what the Church is anyway? The people? ::smile::

Who Doesn't?

Seriously, who doesn't like Chicken Noodle Soup? I mean, it's not my favorite thing to come out of a can, but, still - when I'm sickly, it has a comfort factor to it that is nice. Especially when it is served with lots of "oh, poor baby" and "here, this will make you feel better".

Both kids are under the weather...... Chunk is full on sick, with a decent cold, and Poodle is starting to get a runny nose now. (Although, if you ask her, she feels "goot").

So, I figure - give her some chicken noodle soup for lunch. Preventative medicine, or whatever. (I know it doesn't actually work that way, but I did anyway).

Y'all - she does NOT like CNS. I tried! And, I'll try again. But this girl does NOT like it. Weird, huh?

When Coats Don't Vote

In this election season, I thought it would be fitting (get it - post about coats?) ::cough:: to show what happens when coats just laze about in a coat closet off of the kitchen. When they think that it is not necessary to cast their vote about what they want to have happen in their own closet.

These coats seem blissfully unaware of the impending changes ahead, don't they?

Yep. Don't vote, and your closet will get turned into a pantry. And it will happen in a single day, too.

Btw, honey, I LOVE the pantry. Thank you so much for doing that for us. And, yes, we probably should have done this when you first mentioned it waaaaay back when we moved in. I'm not saying that you were right and I was wrong, though. ::clearing throat::

heeeheee!

But I love you!

Or something like that

Have you ever made up words to a song, just because you felt like it? Or, maybe, you couldn't remember the exact words, so you just sort of filled in with whatever came to mind first?

Poodle most certainly decided to do just this very thing the other day. Jmk had just gotten home from work, and we were sitting on the floor playing with both the kids. Poodle breaks out in song, with an Etta James'esque delivery, and gives us this new (and not exactly improved!) version of Jesus Loves Me.

Sing with us everyone! (and please, for the full experience, sing really loudly)

JESUS LOVES ME
HIM'S TELL ME WHAT TO DO
WE'RE GONNA BE HAPPPY
HE TELLS ME SO.........

Thank you, thank you ladies and gentlemen, thank you. She'll be here all week. Try the veal! Goodnight everybody!

Website Update

The Website has been updated with the latest picture link! For September. If my calculations are correct, then you'll probably be getting October's pictures sometime around mid December. ::ahem::
The address is the and our last name with an "s" dot com.

Thanks for visiting!

Um, yep, that about covers it.

We have this book of Bible stories that Poodle love love loved when she was little. It isn't really geared towards little children, because there aren't a lot of pictures, and no color on the pages. But, what she liked was for us to read to her as she was being rocked to sleep. Gosh, she was probably somewhere between 2 and 2 1/2 before this book wasn't a necessity at night.

So, anyway, I've started reading the stories at night to Tooter when I'm putting him down. And even though she hasn't asked for her "stories" in awhile, Poodle saw the book in Toot's room and asked about it. I told her that I was reading the stories to him at night, and he was so glad that she was sharing her book with him.

She thought about that for a bit, and then she opened the book and said "I'm going to read the stories to him. Sit there Tooter."
"Okay. God loves you. And you need to be nice to people. Okay. That's all".

:-)
Yes, my darling girl, that's a good summary.

Potty Talk

Poodle was remarkably unconcerned with the potty when she was little. Don't get me wrong - I rarely went to the ladies' room unaccompanied. But the results of said action weren't interesting to her. We never had to childproof any toilets, and never worried about things being flushed into oblivion.

Well.......
lol........

Not so with Tooter. I discovered yesterday how very much interested he IS going to be. He didn't manage to get a hold of anything, thank goodness. But we're gonna have to keep an eye on this one!

What A Friend

Friends. Blessings from God, and important to our hearts. Friends are like the contents of a library. Better to have a few really good books, then shelves full of nonsense and tripe. At some point, we all may have picked up an acquaintence who would be prone to sending a drive-by email on some random Monday, meant to kick you in the shins. (yikes!)
However for any of the above one might acquire during his or her life, I hope you all have twice the number of the type of friend who did this Good Thing for me a couple of days ago.

I was having a Day. One of Those Days. You KNOW what I mean, yes? I sent a quick vent-my-frustration note to Patty who is a seasoned veteran in the SAHM Army, and who is brilliantly sympathetic. That late afternoon, as I was carting my toddler and baby off to KayRoger for some can't-wait items, she calls me on my cell phone. Why? Just so I could hear HER littlest one crying, complaining, and fussing loudly in the background. Can you think of a better way to tell someone "I understand your frustration, and I'm walking the walk with you!" ?

Thank you for that Patty - you couldn't have "said" it better!!!