wish i could find my digital camera. they should make clappers on those things. at any rate, if i could find it, i would take some pictures of my gladiolas. purple papery thin things that usually blow away out here, and are somehow surviving this spring. they are really pretty right now.

so if i could find my camera, i would take the picture and caption it, "hey mom, your flowers are peeling."

classic little j.

right now, both boys are outside playing with rocks. seriously. this is what i love about kids. they have been playing Rock Store for two days. they collect pretty rocks and then wash them and dry them and set them up to sell in their store, so they are all lined up across my downstairs patio. in between Rock Store they are playing Cat Wash. this is a little more tricky, since it requires a cat and a bucket of water.

wish i had a camera so i could take a picture of that, too.

sigh.

so the big camping weekend is upon us. as you can see, the weather isn't exactly cooperating. the boys slept outside with the husband on wednesday night and made it through until morning, but last night the monsoon rains came along with the hurricane winds and the camping adventure was moved indoors.

hey, at least there are no bugs.

sigh.

this summer vacation thing has been crazy so far. i don't have time to share all the stories, but i do have time for a couple of my favorite quotes...

so the other day i'm putting my explorer through the automatic car wash, and right before we go in, i notice that my little j has his window down. i say, "uh, buddy? hello. what would happen if we went through this car wash with your window down?"

he grins wickedly and says, "that would be AWESOME."

last night after vacation bible school we stopped down at the ball game so i could drop the boys off with their father (just in time for a date with scrubs reruns in a nice quiet house...like i said, the week has been crazy) . the husband was tossing the ball around on the field and hanging in the dugout, so after a few minutes i told the kids, "how about you guys just come home with me tonite?" to which big j replies, "yeah, dad's not even watching us right. he didn't ask if i was hungry, or cold, and i'm pretty sure he couldn't save me from a fly ball from in there!"

this morning big j says "mom, what day is it?" i said "wednesday." he said, "oh. it's hard to keep track when it feels like every day is a weekend. i guess i better buy a calendar."

well, our summer starts today at 1 pm. last day of school. my first grader is a second grader...holy smokes. where does the time go? i'm excited about this summer but a little apprehensive too. we decided to go 'daycareless' this summer...which means i do my work around the boys. they are pretty good about entertaining themselves, and i have about a six-hour attention span when it comes to work. so, i figure if i work from about 7 am until 1 pm every day, we'll have every afternoon free.

of course, i decided to start this plan today and i'm blogging at 9 am...but we'll just call it a coffee break.

anyway, i had the boys write out a list of everything they wanted to do this summer. it goes like this:
swimming, Wild Water West, Mitchell pool, Faith's slip n' slide, Omaha zoo, butterfly house, playing at the park, going to the lake, library, Barnes and Noble, McDonald's, golf, tennis, baseball, Chuck E. Cheese, movies, sleepovers, camping, animal shelter (?) and catching frog and toad again.

sounds pretty good to me. wanna come along?

there is one person in south dakota who isn't complaining about all the rain. that's little j, the mighty wormcatcher. if it's creepy and crawly, he's all over it. fortunately, his best girl loves the slimy stuff too--she's his partner in crime when it comes to bug hunting, frog catching, snake holding and worm farming. last night she comes breathlessly to the door and says, "there is a snake in our yard." the two of them were gone before i could say "supper is ready."

at any rate, we've got a five pound bucket full of worms smelling up the garage.

fishing anyone?

pied piper season is here.

every night since spring officially got here (5 days ago), our yard has been full of kids. they come from near and far for the main attraction: my husband.

i know it's my husband because they only show up after he gets home. right now the big theme is baseball. i think there were 9 kids playing here last night, catching, throwing and batting. not to mention various neighborhood dogs and the adults who casually stroll past and then stop to chat. good thing school is out next week, because it's getting harder and harder to come in the house before 8:30. after baseball, there were relay races around the house and then a huge "Awww, Mannnn" when big mean ME said it was time for the boys to come in and get ready for bed. after the kids all went home, i went around the yard and collected a pink baseball mitt, a yellow flip-flop, a Dora ball, a purple whistle and some plastic "jewels."

that's when it hit me. all the kids that come over here to play are GIRLS. every one of them.

i brought this up to the husband who laughed and said, "no kidding. i don't think i could ever coach little girls--did you hear how many times they chanted that "scoot your booty back" song? it would drive me crazy."

i just had to smile. i guess he doesn't realize that he already HAS been coaching little girls. and he loves every minute of it. i think he secretly even loves the scoot your booty back song.

it IS pretty catchy.

awww. how do they grow up so fast? last night my little man graduated from pre-school. it was quite possibly the most exciting pre-school program i've ever attended.

the event was held in the fire station. about halfway through the songs, the sirens all went off. some firemen were in attendance, and all their walkie talkies started chattering about a tornado. the kids kept on singing over the siren blast, until a fireman told us that a tornado was spotted 7 miles south and was heading our way.

um. yeah.

the ensuing chaos included my son not wanting to leave his graduation ceremony without a balloon or a cookie. someone snapped a helium balloon loose for us and handed it to me as we raced for the door, grabbing some cookies and a "diploma" along the way. it was raining hard, hailing and lightnening... and as i reached for the car door, the red balloon escaped and flew off to "get destroyed by the tornado."

not good.

we hauled butt home with little man crying all the way. partly about his balloon, but mostly cuz it was scary.

the husband asked big j to help his brother feel better. he said simply, "well, actually dad, i'm a little frightened too...."

the storm blew over and we got to eat the soggy cookies. as you can imagine, little j has been talking about tornadoes all day long.

i told him not to worry. it's supposed to SNOW again tomorrow, and tornadoes never mix with snow.

but knowing this spring, they probably will.

sigh.