Think like a 4 year old

So, apparently I'm not pretty unless I have a ponytail? This morning Jacob just out of the blue says "Mom, you're not pretty". I give the look and he says "well, you don't have a ponytail" Really all you can do is smile and shake your head.

We attempted to go to the library this morning and for some reason it doesn't open until 1pm on Wednesdays, so I was going to try to stick it out and stay in town until it did open. So, we went to the light house and went for a walk and then to McDonald's for lunch. Jacob gets the same meal every time. Plain cheeseburger happy meal and 4 chicken nuggets. Today though they messed up his meal. "Mom my cheeseburger isn't plain........it has meat and cheese on it!" Again, smile and shake your head :)

Butterflies Galore!!!

I know I all ready 'blogged' about the butterflies, but I just can't believe ALL of the butterflies that we are getting here. At one point this evening, there were FIVE tiger swallowtails on 1 bush at 1 time!!! Along with all the little ones,some skippers, a painted lady, and hummingbird moths. One of the tiger swallowtails looked like he was posing for the camera. Enjoy the pictures :)

Pop Pop Mark bought Rileigh a kiddie pool and boy does she love going "swmin" It's the cutest thing. Today she tried out surfing in her little pool. Jacob is a baseball FANATIC!!!!!!! I must have pitched 6 different games and now he's pretend playing with a splash bomb in the pool! He really does live and breath baseball. But had pop pop not bought that kiddie pool, there wouldn't have been time. It is the first time out at the pool in forever that I didn't have to catch Rileigh 300 times. I actually got in the deep end and swam for a bit!!

WHAT'S THAT SMELL??!!??!?!?!?

Okay, It's time to go in for lunch. OMG, WHAT IS THAT SMELL?!!! Hanna!!! Yes our good old furry friend decided to roll around in some kind of POOP!!!!!!!!!! Back out we go, let's give the dog a bath! First we have to hook up the hose...same old story, turn it on....NO sprayer...turn it back off....put the sprayer on...turn it back on....WHERE THE HECK IS THE DOG!!!!!!!!!! Yes, she had to be lured back into the yard with treats with her brakes on. If you don't have a dog this is something that you have to see in person at least once in your life time. Just imagine being dragged by the collar with all 4 feet sprawled out in every direction but the way you are supposed to be going. Give her a bath with the hose and the suave coconut shampoo that we always use for her beautiful coat. We go in and have lunch while she barks for 30 minutes because she can't understand why a wet dog DOESN'T belong in the house. We go out....yes this is a family affair you know, brush her, so that she might dry faster and we wouldn't have to listen to her bark like a manic and SHEW WEE!!!!!!!!!! She STILL STINKS!!! So, back out to the hose and this time we use lavender Palmolive....this should work.....okay as I'm squirting off the soap from the drive way...turn around and yes our furry friend is rolling around in the grass AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!! If she stinks again.........she will have become an outside dog!!! Keep in mind the visual in this event....Jacob and Rileigh have to both "suit up" in their rain boots and it's only 90+ degrees outside.

Success

WOW!!!!!!!!!! We planted a butterfly garden and some extra butterfly bushes and all I can say is WOW!!! We actually accomplished something as planned. We had tiger swallowtails, red admirals, skippers, sulfurs, painted ladies, black swallowtails, monarchs, and 2 different types of humming bird moths, and a whole slew of little butterflies.

Over Time

Vacation is definitely NOT vacation for the adults when you have a 4 year old and an almost 2 year old. It just simply sends your life into over time. We went to Ocean City, MD for 4 days and I can't tell you how exhausted I was every night.

Rileigh is a toddler on hyper drive ALL THE TIME!!! You would think that after 4-5 hours at the beach she would crash from pure exhaustion but NO.......don't even think that she would take a nap and the port a crib, well that's useless.....our little Houdini can get out of that contraption in less time then it takes to get to the bedroom door and close it behind you. EVERY NIGHT I had to take her for a ride....so I'm guessing that we spent $20 in gas to get her to sleep for the 4 nights that we were there and that was at 9:30 or better every night. So, you're thinking that at least we got to sleep in......you're kidding right!!! Up before 7am every morning out of the port a crib and asking for "breafas".

Jacob Finally got in the ocean on the second day...you would think that seeing his 'little' sister in the ocean he would get in. I picked him up and ran in with him kicking and screaming.......and yes I'm sure that there were several people staring at me torturing my kid, but it worked and he fell in love with racing the waves.

I really don't think that the ocean is the draw for them, I think it's the GIANT sand box and all of the "snacks" that they love.

Mike and I looked like a couple of pack mules to spend the day at the beach. 4 chairs, 4 towels, a wagon of toys, blanket (to change diapers on), cooler complete with "snacks" and lunch, umbrella (that no one sat under), diapers, wipes, camera, sunscreen, bug spray, phone, magazine (that was funny!!) and who knows what else. In addition to carrying all of that, we had to carry Rileigh!!! She just wouldn't move!! Even with bribing her with snacks, she just wouldn't walk up the beach! Jacob was supposed to be in charge of the wagon, but that didn't quite work either. The deal with the toys was if you can fit it in the wagon and pull it, it can go. Deal broken.....first steps on the beach. So, we're bent down to pull a child size wagon in addition to all of the other stuff.

42 pictures taken and not one really worth a dime!! Jacob at one point said to me..."Mom, I don't have time to say cheese"!!

Jacob and Rileigh definitely had a vacation, but I think it will take a few days for the adults to recover.

A hunting we will go

Off we go butterfly hunting. Poppy helped Jacob with his shoes and socks...(look closely at the picture)LOL!! We all ready know that their mommy dresses them funny, but now they are getting help from poppy!! We went to Elkneck State Park today. We're feeling HOT HOT HOT!!! BOOM!!! Holy Moly!!! We could hear them bombing at APG all the way up here! Jacob says "we've got to go NOW!!", he has been freaked out by storms. Luckily last week we actually visited the ordnance museum on the proving grounds, so after I explained that it wasn't thunder we were good to go.

After looking like the butterfly hunting fools that we are, we went to pick up my truck. $326!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on the way home....got to filler her up....$100!!!!!!! That's were the pumped STOPPED on it's own (I guess they only pre-approve $100 at a time). I'm speechless....

6' 2"

I do have to say that at times it is quite nice that your husband is 6'2" and 240lbs. We live in the sticks and until we had children; that most of the time go to bed around 8pm (which is the reason that I may still have some sanity left)we really didn't care about the hoodlums who live around us. Now, they are pretty good hoodlums and they are just having fun....I wouldn't mind joining them some time... BUT they have been having TOO MUCH fun (I can't believe there is such a thing). For the 4th night in a row....ATV's going full force right behind our house on the dirt road....not to mention the gun fire and fire works that completes a redneck 4th of July...again not putting them down as I am part redneck myself. However after 3 nights of your children NOT GOING TO SLEEP UNTIL 10PM or LATER!!!!! It tends to get old....So I was going to march down to the dirt road and have a chat with them....TOO FAST....they were gone. I come in put some of the 3,000 things that is necessary for a family outing away....here they come again. Mind you this is 8:30 or so. Mike made it down to the road for their return trip and all he had to do was stand there....they whizzed passed, but wouldn't look back and we haven't heard them since. It's not what they are doing....it's what time they are doing it.

Let me update you on my truck! It is now sitting at the dealer so that they can fix the "receptor?" for the air conditioning. After it not starting a few times and I had to jump start it MYSELF one time, we went to Autozone.....which is actually a whole story in it self...$90 and 20 minutes of Jacob, Rileigh, and I cooking in the July heat THE FIRST TIME we started it up; the air conditioning wasn't working properly!!! No air out of the dash........only the defroster!!!! Murphy's Law is REALLY PLUCKING MY NERVES NOW!!!!!!

Today we spent the day watching a parade which the parade itself was just okay. Jacob and Rileigh actually liked it and thougt the best part was the fire trucks...good thing, because that's about all that was in the parade.

Happy 4th of July

2 outfits trashed, 1 lost earring, the first fish of the day, and priceless memories. That's the summery of our 4th!

Rileigh ABSOLUTELY loved the kiddie pool and her 1st taste of watermelon on the Rhine! All though the 2 outfits that will never be the same didn't fair the watermelon so well, Rileigh thought that was the BEST!!! Jacob who couldn't wait to see the fire works..........couldn't get away from them fast enough. He finally stop screaming enough to sneak peaks at them and on the way home he said "I saw a cool fire work"!

I pretty much wear the SAME jewelry EVERY day....but today I decided to wear my garnet studs....because they were red and festive....on the way home from the entire day of running around a yard, in the house, and Ripkin stadium, I noticed that my earrings was GONE!! Of Course we found the back of my earring.......the part that every women has fifty of!! HUGE BUMMER!!!

The crabs were awesome............I never thought that I would be using a patio umbrella for RAIN, but some how it worked out. The rain started pretty much the moment my butt hit the chair.

Jacob, Rileigh, Kelly, and Ryan decorated "drums" made out of coffee cans....Thanks Pop Pop Mark for saving those........and had a parade. It was really cute! The parade route was straight through the food tables and around the big tree....about 12 times! With a break in between for at least 3 Popsicles...shew it was a tough parade! Parade....popscicle....parade....popscicle

I thought of Kathleen......who's birthday is on the 4th in the shower....call her when I get out.............DAMN IT.............didn't have that thought again until the drive though at Wendy's (OOPS...........forgot to feed the children dinner!!!) at 11:26!!! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Kathleen!!!

I do hope everyone enjoyed a day filled with family and friends!!