Keep Your Hands on the Wheel!

I was out watering my mums when Lewis disappeared into the garage. This is where I found him. I had left the driver's side door open and all my stuff on the front seat. He climbed in, got my phone out of my wallet, flipped it open and began talking. He has a thing for my cell phone. Last week he called Aunt Tomi at work!

That's My Frog

I am getting a little freaked out about how often I blog about frogs, but I can't help it. It has been a very froggy year.

The above frog is a special one because I caught it. ALL BY MYSELF!! I was so proud that I had to call Corey at work. -I don't think he was as impressed with me as I was.- The frog was just hanging out on my day lilies and our frog habitat happened to be empty and the big boys were at school, so I knew it was up to me to capture this cute little tree frog.

He is now the pet of the boys' club which convenes at random times and random places, and consists of whatever neighbor boys happen to be out playing at the time.

The Joke is on Me

Yesterday afternoon, Carter and Owen came running into the house.

"Hey mom. We caught a HUGE bull frog. It is gigantic. You have to come see it."

Now, I have seen my fair share of frogs this summer as I have testified to in previous blogs, and I would even venture to say that some of them are almost pretty. The toads are all ugly, but some of the frogs are really not bad. So, I follow my boys out to the front porch where our neighbor, Ian, is standing with a bucket, surrounded by an army of other neighbor boys. He lifts the lid off the bucket, and I leaned over it to see a SNAKE!!!!

I jumped back and I think I let out a little scream, which sent all the boys laughing down the street. On to the next unsuspecting mom.

Happy Boy

Lewis sitting in the Lincoln Log box.

For all of you....

...who have asked what I do with all of my time now that Carter and Owen are both in school. I follow around a very cute, though very disastrous, little blonde human tornado. Notice my bathroom floor in the background.

The New TeePee

Our dinner table conversation on Thursday night went something like this.
Owen: Dad, can you build me a teepee?
Corey: A teepee?
Owen: Yeah, you know, one that I can go in. You just need some big sticks and some sew (Owen calls fabric sew, and he thinks that if he can picture something in his head, mom or dad should be able to whip it up in a jiffy.)
Corey: Umm, I think Grandpa knows how to make a teepee. I think you should ask him. (Corey is always making things out of wood for the boys, swords, guns, treasure boxes...but I guess he decided this was one challenge he didn't want to take on.)

Well, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Nelson's house this weekend, and this is what we came home with. Grandpa saved the day! Notice the bike rack Owen made out of bricks.

Big Brother Little Brother

The Race Is On

This was our incentive to help the boys get through their first full week of school. We told them if they made it we'd go miniature golfing and go-carting. They made it, so we went. I'd prefer to erase the mini-golf experience from my memory (we had one boy who got a BIT frustrated), but we had a blast on the go-carts. I was trying so hard to keep up with Corey, but just couldn't quite do it. Speeding around those curves freaked me out a bit! He let me pass him a couple times though, so Carter wouldn't be bummed that he was with the slow parent.

Gustav in Haiti

I was emailed these photos today of some of the devastation caused by Hurricane Gustav in the town of Ti Goave, Haiti. Most families in this town were left with nothing, homes and crops were destroyed. They found shelter during the storm in a brick/concrete church. If you are interested in more info or in giving to Mission to Haiti (a wonderful Christian mission organization) go to www.missiontohaiti.org. It makes me stop and think about how much my "cup runneth over."

Another Day - Another Frog

I'm seriously thinking of changing the name of my blog to frogs and toads and puppy dog tails...
These four bullfrogs belong to the neighbors down the street, and Carter, Owen and Lewis all thought they were pretty cool! They are gigantic! As I write, we have two leopard frogs, two toads and a caterpillar living in our garage. A couple days ago, my boys and their friends ended up with 6 frogs and 3 toads to divide between the three homes. It makes me have compassion on those Egyptians living through the frog plague!!