They've got a little Gump in them

3D

If you have a child in elementary school, you quite possibly know that the Hannah Montana movie was on this past weekend. It was kind of like a documentary of one of her concerts.

Nathan had been asking for weeks when it would be on. Saturday was finally the night. We found 3D glasses at Wal-Mart and the kids were stoked.

As I said yesterday, Nathan is in Pierre at his grandparents house. We met them on Sunday so that he could stay the week with them. Saturday night Justin had a security job that he worked. I let Nathan choose what he wanted for supper since he'd be gone for the week. He, of coarse, chose McDonald's.

We ate supper and got ready to watch the movie. About 4pm that day he started asking me almost every 20 minutes when the movie would start. That was TONS of fun. (Sarcasm, sarcasm, sarcasm.)

Finally - what he'd been waiting for.

Jack was in bed, but Peach was there. Of coarse, Peach was there.

When Natey was invited to go to his grandparents house, he jumped at the idea. He was super excited. Then came the next day when he totally fell apart. He cried and cried and cried because he wanted his dad to go with him. Over and over we explained that it would just be him and his cousin going. He wanted to go, but he didn't want to leave Justin....and Jack. (Um...what about the girls you live with, Son?)

He had a brief melt down the night before leaving which made me believe that it wouldn't work out. I didn't think he'd even get in their vehicle.

I was wrong. Not a tear was shed between either of us. Justin wasn't sure he wanted me to go with to drop him off because he was sure I'd fall apart. It went fine though. He didn't really want to give us hugs or kisses. We didn't really push the issue. Short hugs. Small kisses. He was being strong.

He called 3 or 4 times on Sunday to tell us various things. Yesterday he called Justin and Claire called him. Then he called again at 10:30 to say goodnight. He's having a good time. He's almost too busy to talk.

It's only Tuesday and I miss him to pieces. I think I just might start to count sleeps for his return. ;)

My new friend + some funnies

Look at it. Gaze at it. I can feel myself tearing up. Ok, so that's not true.

Friday morning I had an extra hour at work, so I went next door to see what kind of phone I could get. My phone had seen better days. I went out for supper the other night and the girls, Amber and Tracy, made fun of my phone. I was able to get a new phone as of November, but just hadn't done it yet. Friday was my day.

I'd been wanting a BlackBerry, but didn't know much about them. Something about the Internet on your phone makes me warm and fuzzy inside.

So, this is the phone I came home with. Excitement doesn't quite explain my feelings. Elation? Maybe. I super duper love it. Maybe I should name it. SNAP! MAYBE WE SHOULD NAME IT!!!!!

One of Justin's co-workers has had this phone for a while. He came over and gave me my own private lesson on the how to's. Seriously, this phone probably brushes my teeth - I just haven't found out how yet. There isn't much I can't do on this bad boy. Did I mention that I love it? Not yet? Well let me make it clear..... I LOVE IT!!!

Moving on...

My kids said some funny things this weekend that I simply must share. Saturday night I was at the computer when Claire came over to me. Something fell off the floor and she said "Is that mine?" I was in the middle of reading something and didn't answer her as soon as she thought I should so she raised her voice and said "DUDE!" I busted out laughing. Imagine this face saying Dude to you.

Yeah. It was all kinds of funny.

Nathan's spending the week with Justin's parents out in Pierre. I'll talk more about that tomorrow. Yesterday we were watching a Dateline that I'd taped a while back about the top 10 most unforgettable 911 calls. This little girl was talking about being kidnapped and being held hostage. Nathan said "What does hostage mean?" I told him it was when a stealer (what he calls them) takes a child and won't give them back, the child becomes their hostage. He said "Oh. I know an animal like that. A Hostrich." I cried because I was laughing so hard. I told Tracy and my sister, Shannon, that story yesterday and did it again. FU-NNY!

And last but not least, we were having lunch with Justin's parents and Nathan's cousin, Spencer. Nathan said "Spencer! My mom has a choke cherry." I looked at Natey very confused and said "What?" He said "What's your phones name?" in a whisper. HA! I said "A BlackBerry". Ok, so maybe I talked about my phone all weekend long. Get over it. It's almost my birthday and, once again, I helped Justin out with a gift.

Oh, Teresa, you asked what Justin's response was to my picture on his background. Well, he opened it up, talked to God, rolled his eyes, and laughed while telling me I was retarded. I told him it was Christmas in July. :o)

At least I think I'm funny

I've said it before and I'll say it again; I crack myself up much more than I crack anyone else up.

Last night I was on the computer and Justin wanted to jump on to check his e-mail. He's always screwing with my pictures on my cell phone, so I thought to myself, 'Self - I think Justin would [sarcasm] LOVE [/sarcasm] it if you changed his desktop background picture for him'. And just like that - I agreed with self. =o)

Usually he likes nature pictures on his background. I thought he needed a change.

So, I changed it for him. Here it is.

That's right. I put a big fat picture of myself on there. My face filled the whole screen. He's quite lucky, really. It could have been Keith Urban's face that filled the screen.

I just showed Nathan and he said "My dad is going to be mad at you!"

(giggle) You're welcome, sweetie!

Because I think you should know.....

THIS is why!

ANY QUESTIONS?

Fun weekend

We had a fun weekend. On Saturday after I got off work, we headed over to Tracy's house to grill out. Auntie Chell was home and it was finally our time to get to be with her.

On Wednesday, she took Nathan and Dawson to Sioux Falls to hang out. They had a really fun time. I'd seen Chell here and there, but we hadn't really gotten to hang out. Saturday was the day for our families to get together.

I was a bit worried because earlier in the day it rained - hard! Thankfully, Mr. Sun (as Claire calls it) came out and finished our day off right.

Lets get to some photos - shall we?

Here are Jack and I playing around before going to Tracy's for the night.

Once we got to Tracy's, Natey talked Dawson into swimming with him. They run from the end of the driveway to get MAD AIR only to do a belly flop. OUCH!

Claire, Caymen and Jack were playing with the riding toys.Claire and Caymen gave each other rides on the Trike. Jack got in on the fun too. Claire was going VERY fast and I was scared she was going to dump him off. Thankfully, she didn't.
We even had our own bartender at the party.
Shut up! I know! I know taking a picture of your baby with a beer can is ghetto. I know! (...but it's also a little funny...)

Before we made S'mores, Tracy gave us a show on Dizzy. I gave her an 8 1/2 and she thought she deserved more for sticking the landing. I couldn't help her out because the scooter fell. Better luck next time Trac. =o)
And last, but not least, Tracy, Chell and I looking as thin as ever in a side pose. Well Done!! (Sorry folks, it's an inside joke.)

The farm

Last week one of the ladies that I work with needed a ride home. She lives 20+ miles from Madison on a farm. She asked if I would give her a ride and, of coarse, I said yes.

I told her it would be fun because we could see her animals and the kids would enjoy it. She said "OH! We have 2 new baby lambs...but I'm not sure if they're still alive. Don't you think someone would have told me if they were dead?" To even appreciate that statement you would have to know this lady.

Some of you local people will know who this woman is. She's one of the nicest people I know. She and I instantly clicked. Thankfully Linda knows her and told me a bit of her background before I started working at the salon. Seven years ago this woman's husband was killed in a farming accident. Someone accidentally ran him over. This was her 2nd marriage, and his family, at his death, treated her like an outsider.

A year later, one of her children, her oldest daughter, was killed in a car accident. Can you even believe that? That's too much for one person. She said she went off the deep end - she drank too much and decided to raise sheep. Thankfully, family and friends cared for her other 4 children, because she was just mentally unable. Anyway, she's just a sweet and kind person and always fun to be around.

She was going to work until at least 5:30 on Friday, so I went and got the kids from Tracy's and told them about our trip to the farm. The kids were excited. They wanted to know what kind of animals would be at the 'barn'. Then, apparently, I made the mistake of saying 'we're going to run through McDonald's, go get our friend, and go to her house'. Natey freaked out and got tears in his eyes. "YOU SAID WE COULD GO TO HER FARM!!!" he said. Wow! Step back, Cowboy. "We are going to her farm" I said. I didn't realize that I'd said house when I SHOULD have said farm. My mistake. (You better believe I'm rolling my eyes.)

We had a fun time and I realized that my children are indeed city folk. They were scared of the dogs. They were scared of the sheep. They were scared of the calf. Ok, so the calf has a tongue a mile long and tried to lick them because he thought they were going to bottle feed him. Still, get over it city children. He's in a pen! They were scared of the donkey. But! They weren't scared of the chicks. Yeah, they weren't scared of those freaky little chicks that ran around the coop like they had a destination in mind. They freaked me the heck out.

Here are some pictures of the farm. By the way, Claire was very disappointed that they didn't have a pig. I'm sure she would have been terrified of it, but nonetheless she let my friend know of her disappointment. Oh right! There were horses too, but we didn't get out of the van to see them. Enjoy the farm!

A compliment in a 'not really' kind of way

Update: Claire just got up and is very cranky. She looked at me and said

"Your hair is making me choke"

Nice!

Sleepy girls

More pictures....

Ok, here are the last of the pictures. This first one is of me and my step-mother, Cora.Here are a couple pictures of Jack eating some birthday cake. It was CRACKING me up. He was eating like a little bird or something. Here he is getting ready to open up.O*P*E*N! Ohmygosh that cracks me up!

Here are the kids playing on the swing set. The kids all got along so well. It was such a fun time.
Here are Dad and Cora wit my kids....and their dog.
Doing some fireworks.We drove out to the lake to watch the fireworks this year. Izzie fell asleep on the ride, so she's MIA for the pictures.
I have no idea what Evie is doing in this picture, but it cracked me up. Looks like something her mother would do. =)
Ok, so tomorrow I have some video of Evie and Izzie falling asleep at the table that made us all laugh. Then I think my 4th of July celebration will be over.