Happy Birthday Grandpa Rick!

Today would have been my dad's 60th birthday. If he were still here, he would not have wanted to have anything big....only a trip to the river boat! So, off mom and Glenn and Jane went to the boat this morning. They had a great time AND left their money for the next person. Me and boys went to Gerbes to get some balloons for Grandpa to send to heaven. Hunter wrote him a note, 'grandpa, I really miss you. I hope you always remember me. Happy Birthday! Hunter'. Dawson however didn't want to write a note, 'because its a birthday balloon mom', apparently that says it all and there is no need for extra letters and such!. I thought the boys wouldn't care to much but kids are surprising. We took the boys out and they let the balloons go. And you know what, they watched the balloons until they were out of site, they wanted to make sure they made it all the way to heaven. What was also neat is that the balloons stayed right with each other, like they were on the same mission. We thought with Hunter's having the note on it that it would fall behind, but nope, right on up they went. And what was also special, is that there went right towards this big puffy cloud with a hole in it, and right through that hole they went. Now Hunter the worrier was concerned that they wouldn't make it to heaven, I however reassured him that because they had grandpa's name on it, it would go right to his mailbox. The boys thought it was neat he had a mailbox:-) Now Dawson the thinker was concerned that someone with a parachute could jump out of the plane and grab the balloons and take them. I however reassured him that that would not happen since we put grandpa's name on them.

Now tonight before bed Dawson asked if Grandpa Rick slept on the clouds. I said I'm sure he does. He said, 'ya, and I bet he covers up with a little angel blanket, just like baby Mathew'. Yep, I'm sure Heaven is the best place to be if you can't be here with your family. Happy Birthday Dad, we miss you........

Pics of the party, I LOVE having people over!

5 years ago today, I can't belive it.....

It almost makes me cry typing this, my baby is 5, the big 5, 5, 1 year older than 4, 5 years away from being a baby, 1 year away from kindergarten, 13 years away from moving out and going to college, oh too much. Well, today is Dawson's 5th birthday and we partied the night away. We hade out friends over and 12 other kids. Dawson got a water slide for this birthday and the kids just love it. We had the water slide going and the slip and slide. The kids did the water stuff from 6:30 to 8:15 when their teeth started to chatter. We then did cake, a super hero cake, and all the kids sang Happy Birthday, Hunter started. It is so funny to see Dawson though, stuff like that makes him so shy. But, Dawson then hit the presents and they were a hit. Wayne and Melinda brought the best gift, a much needed brush hog. Dawson has really been wanting a hay cutter, but its late in the season for that and they were sold out. So, the next best thing, the brush hog and Dawson and his friend Luke tested it out. He also got some new swim trunks and 2 muscle shirts. Dawson doesn't feel like a man if he isn't wearing a muscle shirt. I thought it was just a last year faze, but its carried over, he owns about 15 now. After that the kids ran off to play the Wii and hit the dress up box. I turned around though and Dawson and his friend Corin were opening the cards. So, I have no idea, but Dawson scored $5 and a $15 gift card to Toys R Us. He fell asleep on the couch at 10:30 pm with the money in hand. The perfect end to a perfect day. Ok, starting to cry again, I need to toughin up.......

I just want butterfly stiches....

Well, my first baby got stitches. Mr. Dawson had to get 4 stitches on Monday. I was at the park walking, and got in the car and Mike calls, very odd, he never calls. You need to get to High Hill, Dawson fell. Ok, on my way, very patiently, because my thought is, if it was horrific, they would have called the ambulance. As I'm driving Mike is saying, 'apparently Heather tried to call you and couldn't get you, want's up with that?'. Well, I don't walk with my phone, it is not a part of me and I sometime take a break from it, uh, men!. So, I go to pick up my baby and he has blood over most of his forehead, so I'm thinking, scrap, stitches aren't going to help, but maybe some butterfly ones will keep the scar down. So, we're off to the Dr's office. Dawson is freaken out the whole way because he doesn't want stitch's and I'm trying to make it not sound so bad and tell him, 'we're probably just getting butterfly stitches and not the big ones that mommy had to get when she was little. Because everything that goes wrong with Dawson, falling, getting sick, not being able to ride a bike, all of those things have to be run past me, 'did you get sick when you were little?'. Everything has to be verified that it happened to me once upon a time and he is not the first to fall. So, we walk right into the room, 'note, if you want to get right in to the office, spear some blood or ketchup, whatever is handing on your kids and the nurses get you right out of the waiting room, possibly a little scary looking for the other patients waiting'. So, we get in there and sit down and Dawson says, 'I just want butterfly stitches, not the big ones'. Well, once the nurse cleaned it off, I knew it, stitches, the big ones! So, the Dr. comes in and says, 3 stitches and Dawson flips out. We were the people in the room next to you that you wondering what the hell is going on in there. So, the nurse is holding his arms and I'm laying on his legs going, 'its fine, your great, we're almost done'. Well Dawson is believing any of that crap, 'stop, it hurts, your choking me!'. So, they let him up after the numbing shot and they we have to talk him in to laying back down for the stitches. Promise # one, we'll go to Target for a toy when we're done. Well, the numbing wasn't enough and we had to hit him a again, 'no, i need a hug, let me up, I just need one more hug!'. Promise # 2, we're going to the ice cream shop. So, we start stitching, 'great job guy, we have 2 done, you are such a big boy, only 2 more. Here is where you think maybe you shouldn't send them to school, 'you said only 3 stitches, not 4!'. Promise #3, special bandaids for the stitches, whatever kind you want. So, we get them taken out tomorrow, how much do you think that visit is going to 'cost'????

This is my brother Dawson.........

Where ever we go, who ever we meet, they all know, that 'Dawson is Hunter's brother, he's 4, almost 5, Hunter is 6". And so once again the scenario plays out. The boys played against each other the other night and here they are on 3rd base, Hunter telling the 3rd base coach, 'this is my brother Dawson, he's 4, almost 5, but I'm 6, I'm older, I'll be 7 soon, he's still in preschool, I'm in 1st grade'. And you can guess what the coach is saying, 'turn around, watch the ball...........you know the one that could hit you in the back of the head at any moment!". You got to love T-ball, almost the same number of men to boys on the field saying, 'watch the ball, stand up, run, stop, throw it to 1st, 1st base, run, stop, stand up, throw it, stop talking, pay attention, get the ball, hold it', funny stuff, very funny.

Another fescue season gone, and we're still married!

Whew, we made it through another fescue season, and all 4 of us still live in the same house! This fescue season wasn't much, so Mike didn't take a week off work. Good for the checkbook, hard on finding the time to sleep. With Mike starting work at 5:30, (this means I get up at 4 am to make breakfast and pack his lunch and get him up at 4:15 am), working on a roof all day in 100 degree temps, then coming home to jump in a combine, rolling in at 9 pm or later, and then off to bed. Usually this is tough on me too, but this year seemed worse. Usually it would just be me and boys at home, me making supper for them at 6 pm, then playing, cleaning, running fescue errands or picking up guys and taking them to a field, then putting the boys to bed and then making another supper for Mike at 9 pm. Well, as the boys get older, you know, the running starts. Dawson played T-ball and Hunter coach pitch. So, our evenings consisted of running home, eating, running to a game, running home, running to the shower, then bed, then fix Mike supper, get to bed hopefully at 10 pm, and then up at 4 am. Seriously, after 2 weeks of that, by that last Thursday at work, I would have paid someone to let me sleep out in the landscaping under a tree, heck I would have paid to sleep under my desk!!! That Thursday I drank at least 6 diet cokes, maybe more, and still could have crashed my head on my key board! But, it's done and we came out on top and Dawson got to dance in the fescue, not all kids can say that!

Happy Father's Day!

We had to do Father's Day the night before Father's day as you know fescue season takes precident over everything in our lives for a good 3 weeks, sometimes longer. Hunter made his dad a paper tie at school and drew pictures of him and his dad on it. Dawson made a picture frame/magnet with his hands and a picture of himself. The frame said, "I love you this much", too cute. And I went out and bought dad a new pair of Oakely's, which he liked! Usually I have to go back to the store 2 or 3 times with returns but this year, I guess I just got lucky, or else Mike just really needed a new pair. Either way, it was good for me as time seems to be of the essence during the summer.

Imaginative or redneck.......

The other days the boys were playing outside. Most of the time Hunter gets bored but if you let him turn the water on he'll stay outside longer. Well, in the country you don't have to check on them every second, so after about 10 minutes I looked out the window to see what was up as noone had screamed or yelled, "I'm telling!", sure enough, the little red neck genious had made their own water slide. Very creative, yet muddy as you can image what the ground at the end of the slide turned into after 20 minutes of water and stomping. Good think Dawson is getting a inflatable water slide for his birthday on the 24th. Shhhh, it's a secret:-)