Rain

I just wanted to show you how much rain we've been getting. I don't have my rain gauge up so I have no idea how much exactly but I do know it's been raining on and off for a couple of days and the rain has no where to go.


Just so you know, this is not a creek. The closest lake is about 12 miles from us and this is not normally running with water. In the month or so I've been here, there is no standing or running water in the little town we live in.

When I usually drive over this bridge, it is usually over run with grass and weeds. I guess I now know why there is a bridge there huh?

When my husband left for work 30 minutes before I took these pictures, the water was running over the road and the sheriff wouldn't let him through. He had to go down another road.

The park is now under water! It's weird to see places like this under water. It kinda throws off your sense of direction and understanding.

Look at those picnic tables would you??? This park is actually a place where RVs can park. Those poor RVs were halfway under water!

This is the corner at the end of my street where our mail box is. Guess I'll be checking that later...heh.

Welcome to our swamp. It's our front yard. This morning, as I was walking my husband out to go to work, we were hearing this funky whining noise. My husband thought it was a couple of cats but we discovered these little frogs in our swamp. It was sorta like nails grinding on a chalkboard. Very disturbing!

We will definitely be mowing grass as soon as the rain clears. The boys will be so excited!!

Small Town Celebration

Happy Fourth Everyone! Hope you all had a great day of celebration, family, friends and food. We had family visiting and my husband invited some friends from his work.

Even though we had close to 20 people at our home, it was a fun and relaxing day!

Our small town was throwing a huge get together that included a small parade down main street, food booths, bounce house for kids, and a dunking cage!

Here's Trey enjoying a banana snow cone.

My niece downed a watermelon snow cone.

This man was nice enough to volunteer on the dunking cage. Now you see him...

Now you don't! He was quite the sport.

Then we all gathered on main street for the parade. We didn't know what to expect. Parades in the big city consisted of decorated floats, people dressed up and bands playing as they march through the crowds. This is what we got in the country...

Farmers riding their tractors down main street...

Old pickups decorated with the American Flag...

Trailers hooked up to four wheelers decorated with balloons...

More tractors pulling trailers...look at those scouts on the back!

Local motorcyclists. Just look at the face on that boy! Hahahaaa! This is serious business!!

Bicyclists, scooters, mopeds and more four wheelers. Next was the burn out. I had no idea what that was. My husband told me it was a contest that involved those who could turn their wheels and burn rubber the longest and produce the most smoke. I laughed and asked "What the heck do you take me for! Just because I'm from the big city doesn't mean you can poke fun at me! Seriously baby!! What is it???"

Well dangit!!! Guess what it was???

I HATE it when he's right!! I'll post some video of our Burnout Contest because honestly, the pictures don't do it justice!

It just isn't the fourth without some baseball.

Here's my husband's friend giving the boys a taste of what tonight holds in store for them...

They can't wait!!

Y'all remembers smoke bombs? The weather was real wet and the rain was holding off pretty well. I felt better about a bunch explosives going off in my back yard with everything wet.

Popping black cats in the burn barrel was super loud and fun! Whoo! Look at all that smoke!

Fireworks in the city is banned so the only fireworks my kids have seen are sparklers and the ones that pop in the controlled areas. It was a new experience for them to be able to light them and experience the thrill of exploding things on their own. As a parent I want to make sure my children are well rounded and experienced...(that was sarcasm there if you didn't catch it).

Roman candles...

Here's Brittany shooting off a roman candle.

Sparks and fire!! This is what the fourth is all about...right???

Brandon could have cared less about those fireworks. All he wanted was to ride that four wheeler through all the mud holes he could find. He even brought his cousin in for the experience.

He thought he died and went to heaven. What is it with boys and mud???

All I could think was...

My poor washer....

We talked him off the four wheeler because it was getting dark and it was starting to sprinkle a bit. We were hoping the rain would hold off long enough to get the big ones off.

This is a trick my husband's friend likes to do. Those are sparklers taped to the top there.

That is the sparklers on fire...

It was like looking at the sun...

Then our little town threw on a big fireworks show. We had the perfect view. By this time, the rain was starting to get a little heavy. But the show was great and lasted for about 20 minutes or so.

Everyone really enjoyed themselves. The parade was great, the food was wonderful and the company was awesome! We all had a great time. Well...all of us except Buzz that is.

We had to give poor Buzz some medication to help keep him calm. He was a mess...poor guy. He wouldn't even look at me! Poor baby...

Boredom

As I've mentioned previously, I have my niece and nephew visiting for a couple of weeks. Well, now that they've been here almost two weeks, they will be going home soon. I'm sad to see them go. It's been nice having them here.

Something all parents hear about 2 or 3 days after school is out is the dreaded, "I'm bored." So most parents try to find things to occupy some time. Usually I try to throw out a couple of ideas. Things like, "Why don't you read a book?" Or, "The floors could really use some vacuuming" which usually results in eye rolling, more sighing and and shuffling off with slumped shoulders and hanging head while I reply "I'm sorry but your boredom is not my problem." This usually happens when I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to cram a thousand different things into the next couple of hours! What I would give to be bored!!! I have no sympathy!

The problem with boredom is it usually results in fighting or something getting broken. My children have learned for the most part to not complain more than once or twice that they are bored. But my poor niece and nephew. Poor, poor niece and nephew. Muhahahahahaaw!



This is one of the many activities to cure boredom. Brandon is playing video games. We have many thanks to grandparents and birthday gifts. We also have a couple of TVs and a couple of computers. Please note that my husband works in the computer business so we have a few he's built for the kids to play on. Anyway, electronics can provide temporary relief from boredom. But the kids are only allowed an hour on the computers to alleviate the fighting. I can't stands the fightin'. I try to go to the library once a week to encourage reading material and we also try to get out of the house a day or two depending on the weather and the goings on of the week.

Brandon seems pleased at veggin' out. He actually works, this one. He works hard for a woman who is showing him how to work with horses, paint barns, repair fencing, ride tractors, cut grass and anything else she needs help with. So this is his down time.

By now my poor children know that if they complain about boredom too much, there are plenty of chores that need to be done around the house. Chores that are just waiting to torture, er, I mean provide healthy activity and character to children looking for something to do. Hehe...

Would you just look at my flower beds? I've not had a chance to even play in them yet and now they are overgrown with grass, weeds and vines. Well, my poor nephew complained about being bored yesterday and his cousins immediately began shaking their heads vigorously and throwing out warnings like, "No Dylan!! Don't say it!!!" But it was too late! I grabbed that bored boy and presented him with the overgrown flowerbeds.

He took one look and begged, I mean BEGGED to mow the grass. So who am I to keep a kid from doing what he really wants in life?

Muhahahahaaw! So here is my poor nephew mowing the yard.

Mow that yard boy!!!

Didn't he do a great job???

This is a result from boredom. We have plenty, I mean PLENTY of boxes around here. So Ryan helped my niece build a fort. They have a whole room filled with cut up boxes. Yay!

She was quite happy and entertained. Have you ever bought your kid a big expensive gift only to have them play with the box for hours? What is it about empty boxes that delight children for hours on end? It was good to see these kids using their imaginations for once instead of zombied out to video games, computers and TV shows. I would LOVE to declare our TV off limits for a month and see what happens but am afraid I would totally get voted off the island!

And this is what ended my day. Ahhhh.....