And in this corner....

I bought two sets of boxing gloves the other day for Kelby and Nellysa. They needed a way to civilly take out their sibling rivalry. Little did I know what a popular sport this would become at our house. Clancy and Levi decided that they needed to give it a try, so they moved the rug and made a boxing ring in the middle of my LIVING ROOM.

It was quite loud with the boys challenging each other and the peanut gallery coaching them.

Today, I went and bought two more sets of gloves so they each have a set. We have a pool frame on the ground in our backyard. We haven't set up the pool yet, so the frame became a boxing ring. They put chairs in each corner so they can all have a spot to rest between matches. At least they moved it outside and my nick knacks are safe once again.

Making it look good for the camera.

Much Needed Advice

The other day Levi came up to me and in a matter-of-fact tone, told me that I needed to GROUND my children! I said "Oh, why should I ground my children?". He went on to explain that he had left a can of yard paint out back by his yard equipment, and "somebody" had painted initials on the tree, painted the grass, some lattice, and a few other things. Anyway, this "mysterious person" had used the whole can of paint. Levi was not happy.

It is kind of weird being told by your own 16 year old that "You need to ground your children". I guess I had better keep an eye on "my children"!

New Fascination

"This is fascinating"

"I wonder if I can catch it?"

Bloomin' Flowers

Levi is planting all kinds of plants in our backyard and it reminded me of my little "flower picture" phase. My kids hated that phase because everywhere we went, I had to take pictures of flowers. They got to the point that they would make fun of me and act excited when they saw dandelions or weeds with flowers on them and then they would pretend that they were taking pictures. Some day... I am going to make a book of flower pictures and give one to each of my kids! In the meantime, here are some of my "crazy flower " pictures.

Jasper and the Tattle-tell

Well, we learned what a wimp Jasper really is. He acts all tough, and thinks that he's getting away with something when he sneaks outside, but he had a wake-up call this week. Every time Jasper sneaks out, we hear a big commotion in the front yard. The other day I looked out the window to see a female blue-jay sitting on the mailbox squawking loudly at Jasper, who was half under the car. I went out the door and called Jasper and he meowed and started to run over to me. All of the sudden, this bird dive-bombs him until he ran back under the car. I called him again and he came running while I ran interference with the bird. I opened the door to let Jasper in but he would not go in the house, so I came in and left him outside. He immediately started to meow at the door, so I opened it again. He wanted me to come outside and protect him from the bird so he could be out in the yard. You know, I don't go out anymore and sit and watch the kids play, but I found myself sitting out on the sidewalk so I could watch the CAT. Man, I have some spoiled kitties. This big commotion happens every time Jasper gets out. I can always tell when he sneaks out because the bird tattles on him and attacks him. I suppose the blue-jay has a nest near-by and will probably leave the cat alone when the babies leave the nest. For Jasper's sake I hope it is soon.

Roller Coaster

It seems like I am going backwards with my blogs, but I evetually get the story told. This year for Spring Break, we decided to go to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. It is a theme park and has roller coasters, and other rides. All six of us went. We finally got into the park after waiting in line forever for tickets, and then we began the process of waiting in more lines. After we got there, we asked the kids if they wanted to go on one of the roller coasters. Every one of them said "No, we don't like roller coasters". Here we are in a park famous for their roller coasters and not one of us would ride them. SO .....what are we doing at an amusement park??
Well, as you can see from the picture, the cotton candy was one of the main goals for this day. The kids were more excited about spending 50 cents to try to win a stuffed animal that they will toss in the corner of their room, and eating cotton candy, than going on rides.

See the roller coaster?? See the stuffed animal?? I'll let you guess which one the kids didn't have to wait in line for.
Here is a view of Clancy (who got stuck carrying the stuffed animal) and Kirk visiting as they walked to the next line. After the park closed, we went to the motel (which had an indoor pool, hot tub, and gym) and spent two hours playing in the pool with a silly little football. You ask the kids what they remember most about the day, and they will tell you about the cool motel with the nice pool.

Kelby's Soccer Season

The Throw-in.......

Walking the ball down the field....

Twist that body!

Control the ball!

Stop!..... Reverse!

High kick!

Shoot it into the goal!

GOAL!!! (That tied and ended the game)

YES!!! PIZZA PARTY!!

Season Complete!!!

Landscape Improvements???

Now that Levi works for a garden center, he comes home every day with new plants that "they were throwing out". I was okay with that, because I have someone who wants to plant things and take care of my yard. Today, Levi mentioned that he was going to get a load of compost. I didn't think anything of it until I walked out front and this is what I saw. Apparently, he is going to spread it out and put new seed down to make the lawn nicer. I thought it was looking pretty good --- it was green. I'll keep you posted.

Habit or Tradition?

Habit is a funny thing. Sometimes you don't even realize that you are doing the same thing and letting that activity become habit. We discovered this when we took the kids out to eat. We went to "IHOP" and the kids immediately asked "How long will Dad be at sea?" We realized that we have gone to "IHOP" prior to deployment since the kids were toddlers. They will probably never be able to eat at "IHOP" because they will associate it with Dad leaving.

We also realized that we had formed the tradition of going to watch the ship leave port and waving good-bye.

We weren't going to do that this year, and the kids were going to go to school as usual, but we all woke up and just couldn't miss our traditional voyage to watch the ship leave. Didn't realize how strong those traditions have become.

"Fair Winds and Following Seas"

Now we need to replace the......

It's interesting how when we do one home improvement, it always leads to another. We just replaced our front door and storm door. It was needed. You could see daylight through the crack in the old wooden door and the storm door was literally falling apart. Kirk replaced both and I don't think he wants to do it again anytime soon. For our door, we had to choose the door handle. The choice was between a door knob and a lever (like the one on the storm door). I wanted a lever. We could not get a lever on the main door because (and I can't believe that this was the reason) our cat Jasper can reach the door knob when he reaches up and he really tries to turn the knob to let himself out. If we had a lever on the main door, he would be opening the door whenever he wanted to. Anyway, I really like our new doors, but now we need new siding, ...and new shutters,...and......