Live For Today... Tomorrow will take care of itself

Fun in a Tunnel

A tunnel is the perfect place to hide in...

though walking can be tuff...

I'll pose and take a picture...

but I think I've had enough!

Meet the newest member of our family. Our first "child" Dextrose, received a brother of his own last week. Dextrose was a lonely soul and we felt he would do well with a companion. We looked, and looked, and looked but could not find the right dog... enter Willis. Yes the dog's name is Willis. He's a mix of who knows what. He looks like a German Sheperd with Bassett legs and Doberman markings. We met him on a sunny Saturday morning. I took the boys and the dog to Petco to check out some prospects. We came walking up to the front of the story and all the dogs in the cages start barking like mad. Dex was freaked out. We walked one dog around the store and much to my dismay the dog was just as unruly as my two kids around the fish tanks. I was perspiring with frustration by the time we came back to the cages. Cue barking dogs. While shouting at my kids to not stick their fingers in the cages, and shouting at the lady in charge that we didn't want dog #1 I saw Willis. Amongst all the hyper maniacs he was sitting quietly looking around with a "what's the big deal?" look on his face. We decided to give him a go. What a great little mutt. He is only a year old but I was able to train him to sit on command within a five minute walk around the store. The boys loved him and Dex liked him too. We decided he had to be ours. He took to our house as if he has lived here all his life. He wrestles with Frank, Ollie and Dex and can keep up with Dex when we play. Who knows why someone gave him up all I know is we're glad they did because now he's ours.

Let's RIDE!!!!

We are now a motorcycle family! As you can see the boys haven't taken to it as well as we would hope but they are getting use to the idea:) Their favorite thing to do is to hop on Daddy's motorcycle and "cruise". I have never been too fond of motorcycles. The crashes and ER stories that I have been exposed to as well as seeing some of the after math made me a little skitish when Jesse was thinking about it. I told him he could get a motorcycle when pigs fly. Wouldn't you know it, a pig landed in the branches of our sycamore the very next day! I don't know if I halucinated or not but what was real were the sky high gas prices and his commute in a gas guzzling truck. We did the math and it would cost us less to buy a bike, insure and put gas in it than it would to keep fillin' the tank on a truck. Jesse was all too eager to agree with my figures and I put him to work to finding a bike. He found a V-Star cruiser. He now loves to run errands and will find any excuse to go "down the hill" into town for me. As one can see from the picture there is room for two on the bike and that second seat is not wasted. This is our date night vehicle almost all of the time. There's nothing quite like cruising down a winding road on our way to do something else fun:)

Arabian knights

Say hello to our Arabian travelers. This is an authentic "hat" from Iraq. We were blessed with this piece of the world by our friend Jesse Coyne, a touring soldier who came home on leave to see his family.
We were at a barbecue a few Sundays ago. The Coyne and Wattson family are practically mirror images of one another..in certain ways. Both men are named Jesse, both women are out spoken, our first born sons are 6 weeks apart in age and bossom buddies and our second born sons are also 6 weeks apart. We had a great time hanging out. The older boys began playing together almost instantly and even the little ones began to interact with one another. Wattson Jesse decided it would be a good idea to bring our marshmallow shooters with us. Many battles ensued and I can't say that anyone really won. As we were leaving Coyne Jesse gave Wattson Jesse this head dress. With mashmallow shooter in hand and Arabian wear on head Jesse came bolting out the front door ready for action. I had to convince him to abstain from more marshmallow wars for fear of another invasion (of ants) on Coyne Jesse's house. After collecting our ammo, what we could find, and loading up the boys we had to head home. No, Wattson Jesse did not drive with it on.

Kids and cleanliness are the two most opposing things in the world. Who wouldn't try to capture the fleeting moment? Between the beach and our dirty yard they are brown and dusty. What a perfect way to pass the summer.

My garden

There is something about destruction and chaos that attracts me. I live on 3/4 of an acre. When we first moved in it was nothing but weeds, overgrown plants, a dry coy pond (no fish thank heavens) and unruly trees. I took it as a personal challenge to make something of this wild land and though my children loved swinging on the vines and playing in the dirt I began. Ice plant has been the biggest jungle to conquer. Using a stiff rake I machete my way through the years of overgrowth. I do this about once a month on a different part of the property. It is wonderful therapy and for some reason I can always find more to hack away at. My small conquest of the ever raging "garden vs. wilderness" battle is a little patch of green on one side of the house. The once hillside has been leveled out, mulched and laid with sod. I am slowly cultivating plants around it. The funny thing is, we put the grass in so our kids would have somewhere to play. I was tired of seeing dirty little raggamuffins walk in the door and realizing they were mine. Once the grass established itself we took down the fence around it. I was so excited to see the boys enjoy the grass. We went outside with toys and a blanket and where do they still play? In the dirt. Whenever I feel like I haven't made a dent in the fire hazard of a yard around me I look out on my patch of green and remind myself to take it one step at a time.

Applesauce anyone??

Ode to applesauce
Applesauce is so yummy.
It satisfys my tummy.
It's squishy and mushy as
it drips down my chin.
I can eat it all by myself and
when I feel like being a mishcevious elf
I take a big bite and ....Pppbbbb!