My kid is quick...

Tonight I cooked dinner...

(yes, I stoop to that level sometimes)

(Come on, we live in the country...at least 10 min to McD's and farther for real food!)

(Oh, and I was still in PJ's...)

(I don't want to give you the impression I'm totally on top of it all the time...or ever!)

Here is what happened.

I prepare two plates of PW Chicken Spaghetti...

add extra cheese, which increases the liklihood of it being eaten by Miss Picky

Place forks on said plates

gather cups with prefered beverages

Milk and Juice

Present dinner to Bug and Ace...

Me:  Ok, guys it's time to eat...

Bug:  What is it??

Me: It's Chicken Spaghetti.

Bug:  Do I like Chicken Spaghetti??

Me:  Of course, you LOVE Chicken Spaghetti, it's yummy...eat it!!  ;)

Bug: (takes a bite)...Wow mommy this is great I love Chicken Spaghetti...

Me:  (smile and get my own plate)

A HUGE HIGH PITCH GASP SOUNDS AT THE TABLE...

I'm thinking GEEZE what is going on over there...

Me:  Geeze what is going on over there Ace?!?!

Ace:  "Dares" Chicken In HERE!!

Me:  Yes, dear...it's Chicken Spaghetti...it has Chicken in it...

Ace:  Wow, I yub Chicken!

I'm predicting a rocket scientist here :)

What do you think!

War...

Right after Christmas we enjoyed a visit and dinner with our friends from Missouri.

J and I have been friends since we were born about 4 wks apart and grew up around the corner.

She and her husband met at the same school Hubs and I did, and actually I have her hubby to thank for meeting Hubs...he invited him to come shoot pool at the BSM where my mom works, which led him to meeting back-from-fancy-snooty-college with bad grades me :)

Oh, how God works his little miracles!

Anywhoo!

J&J moved away after they got married many moons ago...we really miss them!

Hubs and I try our best to go visit them at least once a year, and since they have 2 kids, a girl and a boy about a year each behind our kids, it is always an exciting thing for the whole family!

Between our visits to them, we usually get to hang out when they come home on holidays to visit family.

Anywhoo, anywhoo...sorry if that's too much background...

can't help it sometimes.

As of late, I can't talk much...ACE seems to be a neverending source of words and noise.

If he's not talking he's just making noise.'

CONSTANTLY!

Geez!

Ok, story...title War...

ACE recieved what I call his arsenal for Christmas...

It's nerf guns galore at our house.

I will be finding small orange darts randomly around our house for the next 30 years I'm afraid.

And what's better than a nerf gun war, especially among friends?

Nothing!

And since dad's can't stand to miss out on the fun...and of course since they are both super fun dad's,

this is what happened after dinner!

Hey, guys, what's going on??

Oh, I see...Hubs and his 30gazillion-shot super nerf gun...

What are you guys going to do??

Yikes, it's a charge!!

Run, kids, run!!

What you may ask did my living room look like after this exciting war?

After J did a running, sliding, super maneuver onto the kitchen tile.

So nice of you to ask...

Darts everywhere!

It's what they do for fun :)

Here's a few shots of the kids...

all but the one that our dear friends are expecting.

Yes, a #3.

Did you hear that Hubs...

a family of 3 kids.

What a concept!

I love you Hubs :)

Honey, Have You Seen The Kids??

Ever had that thought run through your head when it got a little too quiet?!?

Ever started to wonder throught the house quietly to catch what's going on?

Well, the week after Christmas...

while Hubs and I were doing some last minute touchups to the house before some friends from out of town arrived...

Hubs ended his search at the back door...

**it happened to be around 35ish degrees outside**

to find this...

Geez, what kind of parents does that kid have?!!?

(Never to fear...we found that kid's parents, and the pantsless, sockless, coatless problem was fixed immediately!)

:)

Wordless Wednesday...

A Sentimental Surprise...

Three years ago our family was devastated when Granmother and Pop's house was struck by lightning and burned to the ground.  Most everything was lost, but we are eternally greatful that Granmother and Pop (home at the time) were able to get themselves out safely.

You can't help, after an event like that to wish for something that was lost.  There were countless antiques, heirlooms, and memories inside those walls...I mean, geez, think of your own grandparent's house!

Thanks to the wonderful Volunteer Fire department, a few things were saved, but damaged badly.

I hadn't really given much thought to this in a while.

But, evidently, a few members of our family have been hard at work.

Grandad, who passed away just 2 months after Hubs and I were married, was a farmer and avid hunter.  I have great memories of riding the tractor in his lap, picking grapes, and hearing stories of the dear lease.  The boys in our family were most upset about Grandad's gun cabinet, which was not fireproof.

My uncle, "Big D", surpised the 4 grandsons with a random drawing and each one recieved a restored gun that had belonged to Grandad...

they were surprised and greatful.

We all enjoyed Granmother's retelling of which one's she'd used to shoot armadillos and coyote's with,and explain to the boys when Grandad had obtained each one.

They, of course, had to promise never to try to shoot these because they were so badly damaged, and were all thankful.

Then it was the girl's turn.

I had heard wisperings of gun restoration, but was completely floored by this...

 

Those are all pieces of one of my Granmother's hand crocheted bedspreads.

Granmother taught me how to crochet...which springboarded my knitting later on.

She ALWAYS had a crochet project going in a bag next to her recliner.

My amazing aunt...AKA "Granny Lin" has evidently spent a good part of the years since the fire salvaging these pieces and restoring them to give to us.

I can't imagine how she did it, but they are amazing!

(Just like she is!)

Sure, there's some smoke damage and singed areas, but they are intact...and I am truly greatful to have mine!

And, because I KNOW Granny Lin is an avid reader,

I'll say again, "Thank-YOU!" again!

This was truly the most kind and thoughtful thing!

And proof that our family is full of some "Wicked-Cool" not just knitters, but crocheter's too!

One Crazy Christmas...

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before that Hubs and I have crazy schedules...

We've learned to go with the flow.

Last year we both worked Christmas Day, so we were pampered with 5 Christmas get togethers on 5 different days, it was great, just a little confusing for the kids on day 6 when we weren't headed anywhere to open more presents.

Well, this year...not so fortunate.

5 Christmases in 1 day is not ideal.

Yes, I did say 5.

Who do you tell no...if anyone can answer me that, I'll bring you some homemade ding dongs!

So, while we were blessed and excited to both be off this Christmas Eve and Day, it had it's drawbacks.

The excitement was palpable at our house Christmas Eve!

Unfortunately our Christmas Eve service at church was canceled due to inclement weather, but we celebrated at Nana's house with our family and headed home to get ready for Santa.

Bug was particularly excited because we have a chimney this year!

So, those cookies we talked about earlier were carefully laid out by the mantle...

Note the assortment of milk?

Bug and Ace each got to pick out their favorite cookie.

When it came to milk, there was a little disagreement on which kind Santa liked...

you see, Bug is a milk purest...she only takes hers white and cold,

Ace prefers chocolate, doesn't really care for white milk at all.

So Santa was a winner this year, a little of both!  :)

For those of you wondering if the Transformers bike Ace said Santa "stole" from Walmart ever surfaced...

It did indeed!!

Along with a Hannah Montana one for Bug!

Everyone was super excited!!

helmets were placed...excitement was high...

UNTIL...

they realized that our house looked like this...

and our driveway was a sheet of ice.

Anyone excited about the first "White Christmas" in our area in decades...

didn't get a bike for Christmas!

Thankfully our livingroom is big enough for some beggining bikers to take a few circles before it's time to shower and move to the next place!

Next stop was Granny and Poppys, then Hub's Memaw...

We beat the crowd to Memaws and were able to get a good family picture!

and a couple of sweet ones too...

my kids love Memaw's and do a great job of entertaining her by dancing, singing and being generally goofy for her.

It reminds her of two other goofballs who are all grown up:)

Next stop was my Granmother's

where the kids were greeted with a snowball fight with my cousins...one of which was visiting from Sunny Florida!

(yes, my Granmother has her own park! She as a huge swingset in the front yard that is very popular with the great grandkids!)

Which, speaking of, were all there this year together.

That is proof that they all sat still for at least 5 seconds all day!

We wrapped up the day at Gram and Grandpa's.

Anybody who's been present for that experience...14 of us in one room, is testimony to it's sheer fun and chaos...I'll spare you pictures of the fun!

Imagine a 4 ring cirucus :)

 Hope you had a Crazy Christmas too!

The Return of A Long Lost Blogger...

It seems I'm back!

 (For any of those who might still be checking in on us after a computer induced hiatus.)

So, I'm going to try to post everyday this week in an attempt to catch you up on the happenings of our family...we'll see how that goes :)