Ungrateful Brat

Since I have spent the proceeding posts poking fun at my home's expense, I feel that it is now time to try to make it feel better. I love my home very much and feel very happy to live where I live. I also feel lucky because I have about 2 acres and only live a few miles out of town. It is very unusual to find so much space this close to town.

In true blogging fashion, here's my list of things that I love about my home.

This yard has been home to many fabulous Easter egg hunts. We have been known to find eggs long after Easter is over.

It provides a great space for playing in the water hose. One summer Jonathon and a friend were playing in the water hose when the pump on our well broke. Josh actually accused me of letting the kids run the well out of water. I think he was just mad.

Josh and Jonathon have plenty of room to practice whatever sport is going on at the moment. Right now, it is baseball and we are learning to catch pop flies.

Do I even need to mention the camping out that I'm sure will be taking place here in the next few years?

There are only two houses on this end of the road so there is not a lot of traffic down our street. Which makes me a lot more comfortable letting the kids play outside.

Mostly, our house was a good deal. My husband is very smart about looking for good deals. (remember the toilets?) Our house was more than we ever would have hoped for with the amount of money that we were able to pay. So, we have a beautiful home and the ability to sleep well at night because we did not buy more than we could afford.

How cute is that?? He was left out of the last shot and I couldn't go without letting him (remember I don't know really what he/she is since there has not been a part check done) be seen, too. I've had two takers on my puppies. Anyone else?

For Scrappysue

This is a reply to Scrappysue's comment on my last post. She is either a psychic or really lives up the street and is just making all of that New Zealand stuff up to sound cool. I think the degree of my white trashiness was just not clear enough from the last post. Turns out I am the person that has a broke down car in the yard. Only it's a truck. You could all make me feel better now by saying there is a difference. 'Everyone needs a broke down truck in the yard, what if there is an emergency?' An emergency where you need to be able to load the back of the truck up and just sit there?

The lawn 'ceramics', as you all so graciously put it, are there because my husband can't pass up a good deal and they were free. We do have rentals, but I am not really sure what the plan for those toilets is. Maybe I should plant something in them. What do you think it should be?

Free Puppies

Or at least that is what the ad in the paper is supposed to say. Yes, our dog had puppies. Six of them to be exact. Jonathon has already named them. They are Sam, John, Charlie, Toto and Frufru. Yep, you counted right. Only five of them currently have names. I haven't really inspected them to find out if their names match their parts but I really don't even want to have to think about that. I just want them to go to a good home.

How is it that my dog has not been fixed, you ask? Well, obviously we did not take Bob Barker's advice to fix her. Josh bought her because he thought he might want to breed her. She is a purebred lab and has papers to prove it. We never ended up breeding her. But we never got her fixed either. Then one night she snuck out and the rest, they say, is history.

It wasn't until I started trying to photograph the new babies that I had an epiphany. See if you can tell what it was from that picture.



I'm White Trash. Did you guess it? Did the puppy playing by the toilet that is sitting outside clue you in? I don't say this to garner any sympathy, I just realized what our little place must look like to the neighbors. Not that it matters to me what anyone thinks, I'm just sayin' that I can see where one might drive by and think that a man in a wifebeater may come out at any moment, beer in hand, ready to pick a fight. Below I have included a little more evidence of my social standing, just for you're enjoyment.

Exhibit A: A baby walking around the yard in her diaper.

Exhibit B: Beach chairs folded out in the yard.

And last but certainly not least, the Dora doll that has been lying on my driveway for days now.

**I would like to go ahead and apologize in advance to all of the people who have been personally offended by this post. I realize that while it is very funny, it is not politically correct in the least. Thank you very much.***

Pre K Here We Come!

I can't believe that Jackson will be four years old in July. It seems like just last year that I ordered this picture. Well, I did order that picture later than I should have. I didn't order his hospital pictures until he was over a year old. When I finally got the pictures I thought they sent me the wrong picture. I thought, "How could they have mixed my baby up with a little Mexican baby?" I was on hold waiting to speak to my customer service representative about how they could have possibly mixed my baby up with this one when I took a closer look at the hospital bracelet. I thought, "Wow, I've never met a Mexican lady named Amanda..." Then I saw the birthdate and decided that was my baby. He changed so much in one year. I couldn't believe it. He was such a little chunk and look at those gigantic hands.

But none of that was really my point. My point is that today I went to the local Pre K school and registered him for next school year. I am so excited. Jonathon went to that school and did very well there. They have changed things around a little and Jackson will actually get to go to his Pre K class at Jonathon's school. This is very good news for me. I will only have one school to drop them both off to.

Some people have reservations about starting school so early. I do not feel nervous about it at all. Jackson is ready. He needs to be challenged. I understand that some women manage to have organized time at home to challenge their children, but I just don't feel like that's the best choice for me. I have two children under two in my house so to try to concentrate on teaching him seems almost impossible. I have nothing but the upmost respect for women that are able to manage that.

Jonathon seems really excited that Jackson will be going to school with him next year. I'm giving it two weeks before he decides that it is the worst thing that could have ever happened in his life.

Jekyll Island

This is not Jekyll Island. This is a picture facing the opposite direction. Jekyll Island is behind me. That distant land in the picture is Brunswick. The area that I live in is known as the 'Golden Isles'. Which really just means that there are barrier islands lining the coast. In case you didn't know a barrier island is nature's way of protecting the coast. The barrier island takes all of the brunt of the bad weather from the sea. So, why one would opt to live on a barrier island is beyond me. I think many people start rethinking their own choices around hurricane season.

I live on the mainland. It doesn't keep me much safer, but I am perfectly content over here. Living on one of the islands does offer a different culture than the mainland. You can ride your bikes around, walk to the store, and there are always people out and about. I guess that's because you're all sharing about 14 miles of space. Living in Brunswick doesn't really allow for riding your bike to the store. (Although, the store is only a minute away for me, but what would I do with all these kids?)

St. Simons and Sea Island are the main tourist attractions around here. But they are definately not my favorites. They have lost their natural island feel. My favorite is Jekyll. Jekyll was a vacation spot for some of the country's richest people, including, but not limited to, J.P. Morgan, William Rockefeller and William Vanderbilt. Then in 1947 it was purchased by the State and was made into a National Historic Landmark. The effort to perserve it's history has helped it keep it's natural appeal. It is a beautiful place to visit and just enjoy the serenity of nature all around.

Well, now that you know what Jekyll is, let's get back to the important stuff. My pictures.

This is Jekyll. Sort of. I was standing on top of the bridge that goes over to Jekyll. That's it over there. I'm thinking maybe that spot where everybody is fishing is part of the old bridge. Don't quote me on that, though.

Now, here is Jekyll. Click the picture and see if you can see that blue and yellow slide. If you can, then you can officially say you have seen Summer Waves. That's a water park that we all go to over the summer.

We went to Driftwood beach for these pictures. I'm not really sure how this happens, but it is a beach filled with dead trees. It makes for a great playground.

Here are all of the shots I took. Let me know what you think. I still have some editing that should be done on some of them. I'm learning.

Those last one's are my favorites. And I swear that picture of Jonathon jumping seems much higher than it was in real life.

Professional Photographer

Today was my first attempt at trying to take my own professional type pictures of the kids. I am trying to teach myself to use this really nice camera that I have. The only problem is, it is not a digital camera. I had to take 6 rolls of film. A lot of them turned out really great and some of them, not so much. I'll try to take some time in the next few days to post more, because I would really like your opinion. But right now, I have so many pictures and can't figure out how to upload them to blogger from Picasa2. And I'm tired.

Straight From Heaven

She sure looks like an angel doesn't she?

I mean, does it get any cuter than that?

Oh, she's just a dream. She is a complete and total joy to be around. All the time. She never fusses. And she looks just like that every minute.


While she is a joy to be around, I would definately not say that she is angelic all the time. I've not seen too many angels but I can say pretty positively, that angels do not throw themselves to the floor when they are not allowed to suck on crayons. She's doing that now. Throwing herself to the floor. And she will try to bang her little forehead on the floor, but then she realizes that it really hurts so she gets even madder. When it's time to eat, she wants to be able to use a utensil but she doesn't really know how so I am hesitant to let her. She ends up pushing all of the food to the floor with the spoon. Then I have to take the spoon away and then the tantrum ensues. Why is this happening so early with her? Is it because she's my last baby, so subconsciously I'm treating her differently? You know. Spoiling her? Whatever it is that I'm doing, it is certainly not intentional. I think she just sees all of the big kids doing things that she wants to do. I just get so frustrated because I don't know what to do.

What do they say, ' This too shall pass'? We'll see.