Scrambled Eggs...

Yesterday I was on the phone with Jon and going over some stuff on the computer with him. When I got off the phone, I realized that Magnum was being very quiet. Just about that same time, Kannon comes running into the office and says, "Mom, Magnum is making scrambled eggs!"

I said, "No, he isn't." and then realized what he had just said and ran into the kitchen. Much to my surprise, Magnum ran into the living room and the refrigerator door was open. I look in it only to find 6 eggs broken inside the refrigerator and running down into the drawers and all over the bottom shelf.

Of course I had to call my mom as I'm cleaning up this mess because that's always what I do when my kids do something crazy. Kannon decides he wants to talk to her and he is telling her what Magnum did. Then out of nowhere he says, "Well, I'm gonna kick Magnum's a**!" I hear my mother burst into laughter and I take the phone away from Kannon and tell him he may not talk on the phone if he's going to say "bad words." Of course at the same time I am doing my best to hold back my laughter.

I never know what each day is going to bring with these two. I told my mom that I never hear of my friends kids doing crazy stuff like this or like the time they dumped a gallon of canola oil all over the living room area rug and floor. I love them to death, but some days I could just scream! I am laughing about it now and that's why I started writing these things down.

I'm Living with Martha Stewart...

On Saturday we had a cook-out for Jon's employees so last week we were busy trying to get things done around the house. We had been talking about putting some wrought iron sconces around the carport to kind of jazz things up a bit. He called me on his way home from work Wednesday night and wanted to know where he may find them. I told him to try Michaels and then I offered to go the next day. He said that he would do it and he came home a while later with a truck full of stuff!

He got some really great sconces and a really cool one to go on the chimney. But, to my surprise he pulls out this brass cone looking thing and a bag of silk flowers. He hangs it up and starts making a flower arrangement in it! What's even scarier is that it looked really good. When he got done, I looked at him and said, "So, what's next Martha?" He started cracking up and said, "I am!"

Anyone who has been to our house knows that Jon does all of the landscaping and does an amazing job. So now, not only is he doing that, but making flower arrangements!? What's next.....baking?

Yes people, I am living with Martha!

Magnum's Language

The following are some words that Magnum says that totally crack me up. It is so cute when kids are learning to talk and have their own versions of words. The following is a list of some words that he has recently started saying. You will see that there is a pattern.

Pockset = Pocket

Ticksel= Tickle

Cooksie = Cookie

Kannon's is 3

Dear Kannon,

I'm sorry I'm posting this a week late, but I don't think you will really care. Things were crazy last week with getting ready to go to Ohio for Jonathan's wedding.

So, you are 3 years old and it is so hard to believe. The last year has just flown by and you keep doing more and more amazing things.

You and Magnum are best buddies, but at the same time you constantly fight. You're favorite form of torture, unfortunately, is still biting. Magnum will not fight you back for some reason, no matter how hard I try to get him to. He gets you back in his own time. You all love to play with your Thomas trains, your Power Wheels car and motorcycle and your playground. The newest thing you all have gotten into are Matchbox cars. How fun is that!

You are totally obsessed with chapstick and lip gloss. As a matter of fact, whenever we would ask you what you wanted for your birthday you would say, "Ummm, just some green lipgloss and chapstick." So, on your birthday, I took you to Wal-Mart to pick out your "chap and lip-gloss." Of course that was the first thing we did when we entered the store. As we were walking around finishing our shopping and you were holding your goods, you looked at me with this huge smile on your face and said, "Mom, I am a happy boy now!" Oh, you melt my heart! How could something so simple make you so happy. I just love you to pieces!

You love to talk on the phone to your grandparents and aunts and uncles. The first thing you always say is, "So, whatch you been doin?" It totally cracks us up because you sound like such a big boy.

Some other exciting things you did in the last year, besides speaking very well and potty training, is that you really learned how to drive. You can back up and go forward better than some people who have been driving for 20 years. I'm not just talking about your motorcycle and your car either. You can drive the mower without daddy helping you stear and you can drive the loader like a pro. I always joke around and say that you are going to be the next big Nascar driver because you really have a natural ability to drive things.

You are starting to want to do more things with daddy now, which is good. You love to work in the yard with him and help him pull weeds and dead head the flowers. You're a great helper when it comes to planting and doing anything that daddy is doing. I love to sit in the house and watch you two work together and daddy loves that special time with you.

As you can see, growing from 2 to 3 has been a busy year for you. You have made some great accomplishments and are just such the little man. You are still a mommy's boy, which I will always love, but you are growing more and more independant and becoming your own little person. I am so proud of you!

Happy 3rd Birthday Kannon! I can't wait to see what milestones and adventures the next year will bring!

I love you!

Mamma

Ohio Day Two...Jon's Big Day

We woke up and were anticipating the big event of the evening. After a quick continental breakfast, we headed over to the farm because we were sure that our help would be needed. Good thing we did! Jon ended up dragging old cars out of the way and helping Jonathan drag all kinds of tractor parts and stuff out of the field. Dad was still helping with the plumbing. I didn't have much to do at this point, but keep an eye on the kids and make sure they stayed out of the way. I helped Aunt Debbie carry some stuff up to Jon's apartment and littel odds and ends. Mostly, I was playing photographer.

Tina arrived with the food and we helped her unload the truck and figure out how we were going to store it all. It was Pizza Hut Tuscani Pasta's (SO GOOD!) and what a great idea! Once we got everything organized with that it was around 3 and we need to get ready for the wedding at 5, so we headed back to the hotel with kids who were WORN OUT!

We had a lot of fun pulling together with everyone trying to get stuff done and although it was a bit stressfull and chaotic, everything came together well.

Of course we got ready and headed to back to the farm and knew we were going to be late. As we run through the field, the bride was in the horse carriage almost ready to head up to the hill, but they waited for us. Wheww! I quickly grabbed my camera and started snapping shots!

The setting was beautiful, up on a hill in their field on the farm. The ceremony was perfect...short and sweet and I loved every minute of taking pictures. Jonathan and Angie looked so happy and excited.

After the ceremony, it was time to party. The reception was in tents that were attached to Jon's garage. It was a really nice set up, but it was as hot and humid as I have ever felt! Jon, Jason, Erin, my dad and myself ended up setting up the food while the family was getting photo's taken. By the time they were introduced and it was time to eat, everything was ready to go and it was so good! I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

Of course there was the traditional, cake cutting, flower throwing and garter grabbing. And who can forget the dancing. It was a fun and exhausting day.

I think the best part for me was being able to spend time with my cousins that I don't get to see that often. Tina and Jonathan are still in Ohio and I get to see them once or twice a year. Amber lives in California and I haven't seen her in years. Probably since my wedding in 2001! It was great to spend time with the family and introduce our boys to some of their relatives that they had never met before.

Congratulations Jonathan and Angie! Thank you for a fun trip!

Ohio Day 1

The day started off well. Jon and I woke up at 6am with plans of leaving by 7am. Of course, the kids were so amped up about going that as soon as they heard us moving around, they were both up. That's fine, I used to get excited like that too. We didn't have much to do, just load the truck up, get dressed and lock the house. We did pretty good and were out the door at 7:15am. Not bad with two little ones.

The road trip was pretty uneventful. Traffic was light and the kids were very well behaved. We stopped for breakfast and a couple of other "pee" breaks. It wasn't long before we realized that our GPS was taking us right through Wheeling, WV. Wheeling is the home of one of the Cabela's stores. We decided to stop. We've been to the one in PA several times and thought the kids would enjoy seeing the stuffed animals. Besides, Jon gets a lot of his winter work gear from there and we could see what they had in the bargain cave.

It was a good opportunity to stretch and the kids loved the giant fish tanks. Silly me forgot to take my camera in...can you believe that?! Jon found some things for work and we were on our way.

It didn't take long to get to Ohio from there and when we arrived at my Uncle's farm, things were pretty chaotic. My dad was helping Uncle Arthur put plumbing in for the toilette that was going to be used for the reception. Aunt Debbie and Amber had gone to get their hair done and my cousin Jonathan (the groom) was totally stressed because nothing had been done that he was told would be ready when he got home. We kind of felt in the way and Jonathan said that he didn't really need us to do anything so we took the kids and headed to the hotel.

The kids were so excited about the hotel room that they kept running back and forth in the room, like it was a big playroom or something. I don't think they have ever stayed in a hotel before. We've only stayed with family or rented a house for vacation, so this was a new experience for them.

We decided to go to Target, which was right next to the hotel to get some snacks and drinks and then head to dinner. That was a bad idea. We ate at Damon's and the kids were absolutely horrible. Jon said, "This is the reason we don't go out to eat." It was pretty bad, but I know it's because they were in the car all day and just amped up about being in a new place.

We went back to the hotel and the boys took a shower with daddy. Kannon hated it and Magnum loved it. They were still wired and ran and jumped around the room until about 9:30 when my parents came to our room to see the boys and say good night. We finally got them calmed down and asleep around 10:30. Jon and I were watching coverage of Hurricane Ike anticipating how much damage would be done to the poor people of Texas. I finally could hold my eyes open anymore and turned the TV off. Whewww....what a busy day!

Best Buddies

My mom asked Kannon the other day who his best buddy is and he he said, "Namum." That's Kannon speak for Magnum. It melted my heart. They are best buddies even though they fight 99% of the day. So sweet.

Yard Sales and Falling Off the Wagon

Last weekend we had a yardsale. We actually did really well and got rid of a lot of bulky stuff taking up room in our basement and storage trailer. The fun part of having a yard sale, for me, is all the different people you meet.

At our house, things can get very intresting. We have the nosey neighbors who want to see what you've got or check out our landscaping. We live out in the middle of no man's land so we don't really know too many of our neighbors. There were a couple of ladies who actually looked at our house when it was on the market. It was fun to see their reaction when we brought them inside to see what we have done to the place. They couldn't believe it was the same house. We had some bikers who were just our cruzin' and decided to stop for a break. They stayed and talked for probably 20 minutes or more. Then you have your hard core serious "yard salers" who come in and buy a bunch of stuff. Sometimes I wonder what they are going to do with it. We also had people just pull up in the driveway, look from their car and then turn around and leave. I'm not sure what that was all about.

Anyway, our yardsale was on Saturday and Sunday. (Jon will kill me if he knows I put this picture up!)Things are Sunday were pretty slow, so Jon hooked up the boys red wagon to the mower to pull them around for a while. The kids just loved it and insisted that I get in and ride with them. Fun! So I hop on in there and Jon takes off. We head back to the woods and Jon goes up a hill that I know doesn't have a trail that goes to anywhere. I was wondering what he was doing, but figured I was safe and he wouldn't do anything that would hurt the kids. WRONG! No longer had that thought entered my mind, when Jon starts trying to turn around...on the mower and BOOM! The wagon tips over. It was all in slow motion to me as I put my arms down on the ground to try to hold the wagon up and keep the kids from flying down the hill. Kannon goes diving over my head and Magnum was right behind him. Once I knew the kids were okay, I tried to get myself up and realized the back tire of the mower is on my knee spinning because Jon was trying to keep the mower from going down the hill any further. I finally get up and Jon felt terrible. He kept appologizing and it was an accident. The kids were fine, just a few scratches. My knee is still pretty sore, but I'm glad it was me and not the kids that got hurt.

Now the kids didn't want anything to do with riding back to the house in the wagon, so they sat on the mower with Jon and I rode in the wagon....by myself. I looked so cool! Especially since as soon as we got back to the house, we had some yard sale customers pulling in. Ha! Talk about a red-neck family. Here I come climbing out of this wagon, covered in dirt to greet them. I couldn't stop laughing, wondering what these people were thinking.

Anyway, our yard sale was a success and the boys experienced their first of many crashes. I know there will be four wheelers and dirt bikes in our future, so this was a good way to break them in. Now we just have to teach them to get back on when you fall off.