Prepared?

I sure hope we don't have any stormy weather tonight... or for a few nights... it may take CHRISTOPHER and EMMA LEE that long to clean out the storm room!

Happy Belated B-day Nick

A few weeks BEFORE Nicholas's birthday we talked about having a friend's party versus a family party. He stated that he wanted to invite EVERYONE from his class, just like some of the other kids in his class do. (I do not like this concept!) I asked him if he was GREAT friends with EVERYONE in his class of 21. He didn't say much. We kinda' decided on a family party since we all felt he didn't really know anyone that good yet.

The day of his birthday came and he stated, "Mom, I think I'll invite Noah and Josh from school, Austin from church and Joshua from gymnastics to my birthday party today!" I kinda' choked up and said, "Great! But we'll have to do it next week or a bit later than TODAY!" I explained to him that we need to give them time to get presents! :)

So, last Friday we had a hum-dinger of a birthday party at The Canyons Of Frisco. It's an indoor rock climbing facility! It was a lot of fun!

BIG BLUE BALL

Last month, Christopher (5) and Emma (3) and I were on a bike ride in the neighborhood. A big blue toning ball was rolling in the street ahead of us, so we grabbed it and began "knocking doors" to see who the owner was.

After about 8 knocks, one of the ladies said to us, "Just take it home and have some fun!" (That's what we needed to hear!) We took her advice! Let's just say we have had a lot of fun with it - just ask the boys!

So, this morning we were on our way to the store in the van and once again, in the neighborhood (a different part than before) a big white toning ball goes rolling in front of us. Christopher was elated, he nearly jumped out of his booster seat! "Mom, Mom, get it! Don't let it get away! Can we keep it too? Oh please Mom!"

I pulled the van over and picked it up. I went and knocked on a few doors, but no one was at home. I stood in the street for a bit, but heard no one yelling at me... so, we now have TWO big toning balls!

I wonder if this is a subliminal message that I need to do some toning! Grrr...

Update On The Bees

The bees did not "take" to Doug's hives! :( This is saddening, for when we found this out, we had to get out the soapy water and blast them away! Dish soap (10%) mixed with water in a squirt bottle is all you need.

So, Doug went into the attic and I stayed right outside the door and he went to work and I got anything that snuck by. We killed about 200 bees, but there are still some hovering around outside today! (Bees have a 30-day life cycle.)

The verdict: Doug does not know! His only concern (and mine too) is that the bees are trying to make a hive in between some styrofoam insulation and the outside wall.

Glenn's next job is to take off the styrofoam insulation and check-it out! (Uncle Brent, do you make house calls!) And, I need to get a shop-vac and suck up all these dead bees! (That was NOT included in the $20 I gave Doug!)

What NEXT??!!??

As if tornados and snakes are not enough... let's just throw in some BEES!

As we pulled into the driveway last night from Christopher's t-ball game, the next door neighbor came running out of her house. "There was a huge, swarm of bees flying through the neighborhood and they landed in your eaves!" I kept thinking to myself - what? slow down lady? ultra vez?

"I pulled into our driveway and was unloading the boys when I suddenly heard a loud motor running, or someone revving up an engine, or something like that. I grabbed the boys for I saw this black plague coming through the sky. We ducked under our sideyard for cover. It was a swarm of bees! They landed on/in your house. I quickly got the boys inside and haven't seen them since. But Cindy, it was black, black I say!"

OK - so I call Glenn who was working late... we are also in a severe thunderstorm watch and it's nearly 8pm and none of us, let me say that again - none of us have eaten dinner yet.

I went into the house, but nothing is around. I hear nothing either. I get the kids inside and look up to the ceiling - they're either in the attic or have moved on!

Glenn got home in a few minutes and we got everyone down for dinner (thank goodness for the crock-pot). Still - no sign of bees. It's dark now and everyone is in bed. The severe thunderstorms move on and everyone is asleep - ACCEPT ME! (BEES IN MY ATTIC!?!? Could it be... bee...?!?!)

The morning arrives (Nick's b-day) and we move on with our day. We'll just pretend that the conversation with Teresa was just a fluke. Moving along... we got the boys to school and then made a Costco run. Moving right along... as we pull into the driveway around 11am... guess what's flying around our beautiful home - BEES! NO NO NO

NOW WHAT? I give Glenn a call - "let's just get them taken care of before I get home... you know my Dad is severely allergic to them, and I may be too - but I've never been bitten." Thanks honey, that helps a whole lot!

It's now time to go get the boys from school. But I really need to find a bee keeper. The bees can wait, they've waited all night... we get the boys and come back home. I begin calling and talk to Doug.

Doug is a part-time bee keeper for the past 30 years. He is a TEXAS native and you can tell. "Well missy, I thought you said that there eave was about 13 feet off the ground. That's more like 30 feet!" Oops! "They're definitely in your attic! Ya' got 2 options: Set-up a hive in your attic and once they've settled in I'll move the hive, probably next week. And you're lucky 'cause right before ya' called a lady dropped off a used hive and I stuck it in my '57 Chevy. It's still got honey in it!" (WOW - my lucky day!) "The other option is to fumigate them outta' here but that's kinda' against the law and I don't have my license anymore 'cause I'm kinda' retired and all!" Doug is probably 75 but was referred to me by the Frisco Police Department. See, I called Animal Control for I didn't know who to call at the time.

So, we have a hive (a big box with about 8 combs) in OUR attic for the next few days. Please move in, please move in, please move in... so we can get you OUT OUT OUT!

And as for all my great friends who have considered checking out Texas, and any visitors that were planning to come and see us all - bring your bee nets, weather alert radio and snake bite kit and you'll be JUST FINE! JUST FINE WE SAY!

COME ON Y'ALL! ALL Y'ALL COME VISIT US NOW, 'YA HEAR! :)

Tornado Season Approaches

As we got ready for school this morning, Glenn commented that there could be some "crazy" weather this afternoon. I agreed and knew that there was a good chance (70%) of rain during the day. We decided NOT to ride our bikes in the AM. At about 10am, the rains began to fall (just as Glenn had said) but they were done within 10 minutes.

The afternoon came and we decided to ride our bikes at 2:45pm to get the boys from school. Then we decided not to because of all the wind. Wind is very very normal for around here. I have begun to wear ponytails daily... it's just part of the wardrobe!

As we pulled into the garage, the clouds started gathering and we came inside. THEN the rains fell and fell and fell and fell and poured and poured and poured so hard you could hardly see anything outside! The kids were AMAZED! So was I. Then Ben commented, "Man, I wish Grandma lived close by. We could go get some cinnamon rolls." (Grandma Thomas always makes cinnamon rolls whenever it really rains.) Then the hail began to fall. Christopher was really amazed by this sight and commented, "Mom, look at the ice balls. Do you think it will snow next? Mom, what is that stuff anyway?" I commented that it was hail. It hailed for about 7 minutes and then within 3 seconds, it just stopped. IT WAS DEAD SILENT! (It was so so noticeable.)

We began doing homework and Christopher stated, "I'm putting on my rainboots to go collect ice balls." I told him to have a great time! Then I remember hearing a siren, but I didn't think much of it. (I believe this siren rings the 1st Tuesday of every month at noon.) I'll give you just one guess what that siren was trying to tell us... duh. Duh Duh Duh... WHAT KIND OF MOTHER WOULD SEND HER CHILD OUTSIDE TO GATHER ICE BALLS WHEN YOU'RE IN A TORNADO WATCH! Tornado Watch means that a tornado has been sighted and is near! Duh Duh Duh! I called Glenn on the cell and he said that the "red squares" on the map are right on top of us! (Glenn always always always has his trusty map out. He really should have been a meteorologist.) He then states, "You need to get the kids and go under the steps." Like a dummy I said to him, "Do you think I should tell Chris to come in?" What the ##*$ was I thinking? "Of course," he said!


So hear we are, sitting under the stairs and I'm talking on the cell to Glenn and Ben and Zach are very very serious now. Chris is complaining because he can't be outside picking up ice balls. Emma has no clue what's going on - just complaining because she forgot her baby and fancy shoes. Nicholas was our GREAT example and he was praying.

Well, the tornado was 8 miles away and going in the opposite direction of us! Phew! It never did hit the ground but was sighted in the air near Dr. Pepper Ballpark which is 7 miles away. On the way home, Glenn stopped at Radio Shack and bought one of these:

Busy Weekend

Last night was the Western Hoe Down at Pink Elementary School (named after a famous doctor in the area-Dr. Pink). It featured games, petting zoo, cowboy magician, bounce houses, velcro wall, rock climbing wall, cake walk, old time photos - do you get the picture?



So, we set out for an evening of fun and had exactly that. Here are a few pictures of the gang!

Here's a shot of Ben AT THE TOP of the Rock Climbing Wall! Nice job Ben! (None of his other brothers made it to the top - very surprising! It was tough and TALL!)

After a long wait in line, Zach is ready to go through the maze! It ended with one of those BIG TALL SLIDES!


Here's Glenn on the mechanical bull. He lasted an awfully long time (compared to others) - and really lost it once the bull started spinning and spinning and spinning...


This is Nicholas going through another bouncy-thingy.


We went inside the school to eat our burger dinners, but we were tooooooo late! AUGH! Glenn had mentioned when we first got there that we should eat our dinner. Well, we were all so excited to do the activities that when we finally got really really hungry, there was no food left (somebody miscounted BIG TIME)! So, we went out to eat instead! Not a bad deal really!

Today we're busy with baseball and projects. I was the lucky one to do the baseball games. (Glenn's busy working on THE PROJECT.) Ben's started at 10:30am and they lost to the #1 team in their division - the VOLCANOES! (Zach and Emma went along to play at the park.) Final score: 5 to 13. We actually played this team in the pre-season tournament where they ended up 1st and we were 2nd. When we played them in the pre-season tournament we were not able to score. This time - we scored! (I didn't get any pictures; I forgot the camera.) Ben has been playing 2nd base and has been doing a GREAT job of course!

After his game was over around noon we headed home to pick up Christopher. His t-ball game was at 2pm. At t-ball level one plays ALL the positions! This was Christopher's week to be catcher and pitcher.


The opposing team's coach kept picking up the ball and putting it on the t-ball tee. After the coach did this for the 3rd time, Christopher went up to him (this coach was the size of Uncle Brent - 6'7") and kindly but firmly said to him, "Um hey, that's my job!" The coach acknowledged him and GOT OUT OF HIS WAY! He did great!


Now for THE PROJECT: We have a new screen door on our back door (off the kitchen). I will no longer have the kitchen door open, letting all the snakes come in! Thank you honey! (BTW - he really knows what he's doing, he just checks the instructions from time to time.)

As for tomorrow - I'm sure glad it's Sunday! There is not much to do besides go to church and STAY HOME!