PUPPIES!

A little background. My dad is into hunting dogs.  He has about 5 German Shorthair dogs.  He is very particular about the breeding of his dogs.  They all go back to some kind of dog champion on both sides of the dog.  He is also particular about who he sells his dogs to.  So it was supposed to be a big compliment when he offered to give Preston one of his puppies.  That was 3 years ago. Around the the 4th of July this year, our dog got out of her kennel and ran away.  She was gone for 3 days.  We found her wandering the streets and put her back in her kennel.  Okay, so lets bring you back pretty close to the present.  A week ago, I sent Kayson out to let the dog out and give her water.  He came running back in all out of breath.  he brought me some pretty surprising news.  PUPPIES! Sprinkles our dog had had puppies. (Yes her name is Sprinkles.  Kayson named her) I had no idea she was pregnant. Six cute little brown puppies.  Apparently she must of had a pretty fun 4th of July.  Here are the puppies a week old.

Not a very good picture, but still really cute. 

 

Here's mama Sprinkles. I am not a dog lover, but this seriously is the best dog.  She is a great hunter (from what I hear from Preston), she fetches, is really good with our kids (never jumps up on them), doesn't bark or howl, and goes to her kennel when called.  She is a really mild dog.  I have to admit I kind of like her.

So here's my little plea.  These cute little puppies are a week old now, and in 5 more weeks will be needing a new home.  I can't have 7 dogs. If you want a puppy or know someone who does, they're yours.  I'm sure with a mom like they have, they will be good dogs. Come on, look how cute they are.

So enough of the promoting.  On to everyday life.  Along with school starting, soccer started too.  Kayson and Peyton are playing soccer.  This is the first year we've put them in it.  I don't know why we waited.  They are naturals.  It is so fun to watch them.

Here are a couple of pictures of Kayson playing in his first game.  I couldn't find the camera in time for Peyton's first game, so next game I'll get some pictures to share.

The BIG Project

I have been wanting grass in our backyard so bad.  And it looks like my wish might actually come true.  These are some pretty boring pictures, but I have to show our work.  Not too long ago, all this dirt used to have huge weeds in it.  They were so big and so thick that we had all my nephews and nieces come over and play night games in them.  All they had to do was duck in the weeds and they were gone.  Preston has been working so hard trying to get it ready for the sod.  My dad came over and used his tractor to help smooth out any bumps. 

That little thing in the ground in the back is the trampoline.  We decided to bury it while we were doing all the other work.  Just a little advice for those thinking about it.  Harder than it looks.  Our sod comes a week from tomorrow.  We will be pushing it to get everything done on time.  Any prayers are appreciated.

While helping, my dad decided to give Tyson and they neighbor kids a ride around in the bucket of the tractor.  They loved it.

Hopefully next weeks post will be some pictures of the new grass.

After party party

I forgot to post a few pictures.  About 5 minutes after we got home from the birthday party, we had a little rain storm. It only lasted 5 minutes, but it poured.  We live in the middle of a hill, so we had a lot of water running past our house.  The boys were letting their toys float down the water until the water got too full and fast and swept their toys away.  Then they just decided that it would be fun to lay down in it.  Pretty gross, but I let them do it anyway.  They had fun.

Tyson's pants got so wet and heavy that they were starting to fall down.

Happy Birthday Kayson!

Sunday was Kayson's 7th birthday.  I can't believe that I have a kid that old.  It makes me sad that he's growing up so fast.  But on the other hand, I have 4 kids and if they all stayed little I think I would go crazy.  I'm already border line crazy as it is.  Since it's his birthday, I thought I'd brag and give a few little highlights on his life.  He was born on August 15th 2003 by C-section after 31 hours of labor.  He learned how to crawl at 11 months.  A little slow, but learned how to walk the next month.  He learned all the names and sounds of the alphabet at the age of two after watching "The letter factory" only 3 times.  At the age of 3, he taught himself how to read.  At age 4 he had gone fishing enough times with his dad and grandpa that he knew how to cast an open-faced reel all by himself.  At age 5, Kayson learned how to ride a two-wheeler.  At age six, Kayson finished top of his class in Kindergarten.  He also got interested in math and started to learn his times tables. At age 7, Kayson is the big helper around the house.  Every morning when his baby sister wakes up, he runs into her room, gets her out of her crib, brings her down to her mom, and then makes her a bottle.  He also changes the laundry from the washer to the dryer for his mom.  That is just a few little highlights of his life.  Kayson you are amazing.  We love you so much.  Happy Birthday!

  

I just noticed that these are a little out of order.  Here's the birthday boy with his brothers with all of his gifts.  He really was a lot happier than he looks.

Kate loved watching Kayson open his presents

On Sunday we had all the extended family over that lived in town and had cake and ice cream. 

Kate liked the balloons we had all over the house.

We were all beat from all the fun, especially Dad. 

Birthday party # 2

Today we had another birthday party.  Sunday was for family, and Monday was for friends.  I was a little frazzled trying to get everything ready and I forgot my camera.  Lucky for me, my sister-in-law Jennifer came and saved the day.  She came first thing in the morning and helped bake, decorate and babysit for me.  She was a life saver.  Thanks Jen!

We played pin the baseball on the catcher's glove.  I don't know what it is, but Kayson really likes this game, so every birthday we make a new poster and something to pin on it.  Last year we played pin the eye patch on the pirate.  I'm glad he's not that picky about what the picture looks like because his mom isn't that great of an artist.

I think the party turned out really well.  The kids all seemed like they had a good time.  We had a pinata, ate more cake and ice cream, and each of the kids left with a bag of party favors and a whole bunch of candy.  I was a good day for everyone.

Today's "Tyson of the day"

I don't have any pictures this time.  Preston has my camera at work.  I thought I would write a quick blog to tell about the "Tyson of the day".  I thought I would do something besides watching TV, so I turned on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and then went outside to mow the front lawn.  My kids are TV zombies, so I figured the show would keep them busy long enough for me to get it done. We don't have a very big front yard so it only took me about 15 minutes.  When I came back in, I found the "Tyson of the day".  Apparently the show didn't distract the one I wanted it to.  I went to my bedroom and found that Tyson had gone to the fridge, gotten out the left over creamed peas, and had taken them back to my room to eat.  They were spilled all over my comforter on my bed.  Besides the peas, there was some other white smears.  Those same smears were on the nightstand and the recliner.  On the floor by the recliner I found the half empty tube of toothpaste.  From the bedroom I walked into the family room to find Kate's saucer filled with salt.  The salt trail continued from the saucer to the bench of the fireplace.  From there it continued into the kitchen where it ended and the empty salt container lay.  He dumped out a full container of salt.  By this time I was pretty frustrated and went and found Tyson. When he turned around to see me, he had a white skunk-like streak from his forehead to the back of his head.  In his hand he had my deodorant.  It's amazing what a 2 year old can do in 15 minutes.  The other 2 kids didn't even notice he had done anything because they were glued to the TV.  I guess that's what I get for using the TV as a babysitter.  From now on, I'll leave the lawn mowing to Preston.

Preston's Rough Day

I guess the nice relaxing weekend had to end sometime and real life would start again.  Preston has been playing basketball every morning at 5:30.  This morning he came back limping. He came down on someone's foot and sprained his ankle.  That was the way the day started.  A few hours later, I went outside in the backyard and started weedeating.  Preston put on an ankle brace and thought he would help me by mowing down some of our weeds. (For anyone who has seen our backyard, you know we have a jungle in our backyard made of weeds.)  I heard the lawn mower make a funny noise and stop.  I looked over to see Preston turn it off and turn it over to look at it.  Then a minute later, I heard him yell.  Long story short, the mower was off, but when he moved the thing that was caught in the blade, it came down and sliced 3 of his fingers.  After a trip to the hospital and some medical super glue, this is what his fingers looked like.  The picture doesn't do justice to the injuries.  The cuts are pretty deep.  Each one cut down deep and cut through where his fingernails were growing under the skin.  He's starting to really feel it now.

  I had let the kids turn on the hose and play with the water while they jumped on the tramp while I was working on the yard.  So when we had the little accident, I had forgotten all about the water.  My sister had come over to watch the kids while we were gone.  Kate was asleep in the house, so my sister stayed  inside with her. When we came back from the hospital, we went outside and this is what we  found.

They had made their own little backyard mud pond

Every inch of them is covered in mud

They had a ball

I tried to take a couple of pictures of Tyson and right when I snapped one, he put a muddy spoonful of water in his mouth.  Yuck!

So that was our day today.  Pretty rough for Preston.  But fun for the kids.

Roughin' It In The Outdoors

We have been wanting to go camping with our family and we finally made it work this weekend.  We went up to Pole Creek.  When we got out of the truck, we were attacked by mosquitos. They were really bad.  I took Kate and we went and hid in the trailer. After a while of hiding out, we decided to go fishing with the whole family. 

Preston and Peyton tried to catch a few fish

Kayson  loves fishing like his dad and is getting pretty good at it

This is Tyson fishing.  We couldn't keep him out of the water.

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Preston kept making fun of the hat I made Kate wear.  I was just trying to protect her from the sun and the bugs.  But she didn't mind the hat at all.

After a day and a night at the campground, we decided that the mosquitos were too bad and we decided to pack up and move a little lower on the mountain.  We found a really pretty place without the mosquitos.  It was perfect. 

We brought the boys' bikes with us and the new place had a nice soft grassy road for the boys to ride on.  Preston took Peyton's training wheels off and he caught on really fast to the two-wheeler.

After riding bikes, we decided to go for a little stroll. 

After the walk, we hung out at camp.  The boys ran around, Kate hung out on the blanket, and we started our tin foil dinners.  It was really nice and relaxing.Day 3 wasn't quite as nice as day 2.  The wind and the rain came so we all hung out in the trailer.  Here are the boys trying to make funny faces since we were stuck in the trailer.

Here we all are in the trailer.  After a little while being all together in a tiny space, we decided to pack things up and come home.  Dispite the mosquitos, the rain and wind, we all had a great time. It was really relaxing.  Just what we all needed.

A quick "Tyson of the day"

 

Just had a quick "Tyson of the day" to share.  This morning Tyson went straight for the kitten and played with it.  He knows it isn't allowed in the house.  So he'll put it up by the door and opens the door.  He thinks if it comes in by itself then he won't get in  trouble for bringing it in.  Anyway, he was outside playing with it, and I told him to leave the kitty outside and we needed to leave to go to swimming lessons.  He put the kitty down and came in.  I went in the other room and put Kate in her carseat.  I came back in and asked Tyson where the kitty was. He told me it was outside.  I thought I had better check so I walked around outside.  I couldn't see it anywhere.  So I came inside and did a quick walkthrough to make sure it wasn't in the house.  I couldn't see it.  I thought it probably got smart and ran and hid outside.  So we left.  We came back about 3 hours later.  I checked outside to see if the kitty was around.  It still wasn't where I could see it.  I came back inside and started cleaning up the kitchen, and then I heard a faint meow.  It was somewhere in the kitchen.  It meowed a few more times.  We tried to be really quiet so we could hear where it was coming from.  It was like playing that "you're getting warmer" game that kids always play.  We checked in all the cupboards and pulled out all the drawers.  We couldn't find it.  Finally after a lot more meows, we decided it was coming from under the dishwasher.  In the end after getting the screwdrivers out, we got the kitty out from under the dishwasher.  Tyson didn't want to have the kitty outside and had tried to hide it.  It ended up not being so bad. The kitty is fine and is outside. And things are back to normal.  Hopefully that is the only "Tyson of the day" today. 

New Addition!

New Addition

It's a kitty!  I'm not sure Preston and I are as excited as Tyson.  He never puts that kitty down. Our neighbors have a kitten, and for the past 2 weeks Tyson has been sneaking out the door and going over there for the kitten.  I bet I go over there to get him at least 8 times a day.  It only took Preston one day of watching him to decide we were going to get him his own kitty.  So here he or she is.  (We haven't found out yet)

The kitten is grey and white.  Here are a couple of names that the kids have thought of.  Peyton's names: Rainbow, or Brownie.  Tyson's names: Cat, or Meow.  Kayson's names: Silver Bullet.

I'm not sure we've all agreed on one name yet.  I'll have to update when we decide.

Evening Trampoline Fun

Almost every night the boys beg their dad to go out and jump on the tramp with them.  All the boys have been working on their flips.  Even Preston has been getting in on it.  That's what these next 2 pictures are of.  It looks like they are going to land on their heads, but they landed alright.

This last one is a picture of Preston giving Kayson a "Super Bounce".  This is their favorite part of jumping with their dad.  He bounces them really high in the air and sees if they can land on their feet.

Dinner Time! The "Tyson of the day"

I can't remember if I have shared "Tyson of the day" before.  Tyson seems to always keep me busy  and usually does at least one thing every day that really frustrates me.  My sisters think it is hillarious.  They started calling them the "Tyson of the day".  Some past "Tysons of the day" have been covering the whole frige in red and blue permenant marker, turning on the full blender without the lid on it, and flushing a lemon down the toilet. So here is today's "Tyson of the day". Here is a picture of the victim. Kate just started eating baby food.  I had just given Kate some peaches.  She ate them, and then I cleaned her up.  I  put her in her saucer and walked into my room.  A minute later I heard her crying.  I walked in and Tyson had gone into the kitchen, gotten the rest of the baby food and had tried to feed her.  I don't think she got any in her mouth.  There was a trail of food from the kitchen table to the saucer in the front room.  The smile on her face is relief to see someone that was going to save her, not that she was enjoying the free food.Here's the suspect with no remorse what-so-ever. He was pretty proud of himself.