Little Monkey

That's Brady. He's our resident shoe tester. If we happen to leave our shoes where they shouldn't be, this is what happens. He'll stomp all over the house saying, "I did it!" "I'm wearing Daddy's shoes!" This time he just happened to do it with no pants on. Actually, he's started doing a lot of stuff with no pants on. They boy likes to be free in the wind. What can I say, he takes after me.

Tonight we had spaghetti for supper. Jake calls it basketti. Brady calls it sketti. Cindy and I call it,"Oh, $#%@!" Somehow, we always forget just how disgusting little boys can make a nice meal. They'll start by slurping it up as loud as they can. Next come the bites that are twice the size of their mouth, thereby depositing half of a spoonfull on their lap. Then the flinging. My God, the flinging. Enough already. Finally they'll finish up with a little reverse slurping. Yes, that is just what you pictured. Not spitting, slowly releasing a noodle from their mouth while Cindy and I look at each other in disbelief. "How did we get so lucky?"

Far too long...

I apologize to all the faithful checkers-in at JB Central. I've been a tad busy this past week or so. I promise to be more faithful now that things are getting back to normal. An explanation follows;

Long story short, GW has deployed. I had the opportunity to spend a few days and nights with him at Ft. Campbell and I feel blessed to have done so. We both said what needed to be said and then some. I also got to meet his friends and fellow soldiers that are deployed with him. They all shared stories, thoughts and feelings with me that I will never forget. My friend is in good hands, as are his men. That is all I went up there needing to find out, and I did. Please say a prayer for these men before you rest your head at night.

Now, the boys..they are just...perfect. Jake has become the incredible thinking man lately. His memory and intellect are constantly making me feel like by the time he is 6 he will be smarter than I am. Maybe. Ok, fine..he passed me up six months ago. Can we move on? For example; used to be I could tell him something and he'd forget it within an hour or so. Like,"You can watch a movie after your bath." Tonight, LSU was playing a big game so I promised him after it was over we could watch a movie. That was about 4PM. So, we had supper, he played with Brady forever, blah, blah..then took his bath. The game went on until 8:30 or so. Forgetting my promise, I tell the boys it's time for bed. Jake just about came un-glued. "NO! You told me we could watch a movie when the football game was over!" Phew...a promise is a promise so we compromised and watched a little Wiggles action before bed.

Brady is quickly becoming a candidate for his own extreme-stunt reality show. Pain for him, is just not a factor in daily life. It seems to make his life more exciting and fun. Great. Super. If he makes it to 3 without braking something on his body or someone else's, I will be shocked. He's a happy little cannonball, but still...take it down a notch dude.

Happy Birthday Buddy!

3 years old today. Wow! You're getting too old, too quickly. We had such a great time today. What a cool party. What a cool kid. The whole house was Shrek green. You even had a Shrek cake. Mommy and I stayed up real late to make it for you, but it was no trouble at all. Anything to make you smile. You got to play with a bunch of your cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Everyone had a great time. We had hamburgers for supper and then lots and lots of Shrek cake and ice-cream for dessert. You got so many presents, I have no idea where we are going to put them all. Nice haul pal. It pays to be a cool dude.

I'm so proud of you Son. I love you more than clouds love the sky. Happy Birthday.

Look what we can do...

The weather was pretty darn mild this morning. A few more days of this and it's a trend. A few weeks of it and..no..can it be? Fall? Already? I don't think I'm that lucky.

Me and the boys took advantage of the situation and got outside for some fresh air. As soon as I told the dudes we were going outside, it was all I could do to unlock the door, before they ran through it. I turned the misters on and just sat back and took it in. Watching them play is one of the great pleasures in my life. They go at it like it's their first and last time to play together. One of them will discover something new to do, and the other one wants to learn how right away. They must spend 90% of their day smiling or laughing. Makes me tired just thinking about it.

After our romp in the great outdoors, we came in for lunch. They scarfed down their tuna sandwiches, pickles, and chips and salsa. Yep, chips and salsa. My boys like what I like...go figure. Now if I can just convince them that ESPN is more entertaining than the Disney Channel...all we be right with my world.

Wits end

So, tonight at supper we had a grand ole time. The battle for control of the supper table is still raging. They will eat...in between fits of hysterical laughter at one another's jokes. It's getting down-right ridiculous. It got bad tonight. After the umpteenth time telling Jake to stop joking around and eat his green beans and chicken, I was at my wits end. My brain must've been tired of it too, because at one point all I could say was,"Eat'em green." I guess I was trying to say,"Eat those green beans." The boys laughed at that order for about five minutes. Someone tell me this is a common thing and that unruly children cannot cause mild strokes.

Otherwise, the Dudes had a good day. Jake got busted for swiping a finger-full of pumpkin pie in the fridge. When we questioned him on it he laughed and said,"Yep, I did it." His honesty earned him a sizable slice of the good stuff. After he finished his green beans of course.

I also gave the boys haircuts tonight. Whoever invented electric clippers, or more importantly the plastic attachments...you rock. Without those things, I think we'd have to pay someone to do it. I can barely cut a straight line on construction paper with scissors. These thick fingers just weren't meant to do that delicate work. With the clippers though I can make their hair look at least Wal-Mart quality. Sometimes, even Super-Cuts cool. Just one of my many talents. Yeah, right.

The hunter and his prey...

We took a trip to Toys R Us today. The boy's birthdays are coming up so we had to find out what they really NEED. If you have ever been to our house, you know they don't need anything. Our little house is just a large toybox. There is not a room in here where you can take three steps without bumping into something that squeaks, beeps, plays music, or is just plain squishy. What the heck though right, one or two more can't hurt. Much.

Brady found this huge Nemo. He looks like he's on his way to do something violent to him. Look closely and you can see Nemo's not too excited about Brady's disposition. The picture is deceiving though. Nemo is Brady's favorite aquatic creature at the moment. I don't think he would do anything to hurt him...intentionally.

Sometimes bad things happen...

Boys, something happened this week that will never be forgotten in this Country. In Louisiana, where Daddy is from, there was a big storm. There have been big storms there before, but not like this one. This was the biggest to ever hit Louisiana. The storm was so big it even hit Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida too.

When I lived in Louisiana I saw it rain a lot. Sometimes for a lot of days on end. One year, the water got so high that I couldn't go to school. I thought it was pretty neat. We lived on a lake and we had a boat dock in the back of our house. The water was so high that the boats were touching the ceiling of the dock. When you're little, water is just fun. Lots of water is lots of fun. Sometimes though a lot of water is a bad thing. A very bad thing.

That's what happened this week. A huge storm called a hurricane, came ashore early in the morning last weekend. Lots of people packed up what they could and left their homes to go to safer places. Some people didn't. The people that stayed, did so for different reasons. Some were too sick or too old to leave. Some people didn't have cars. Still others, just thought the storm wasn't going to be that bad, and didn't want to leave their houses.

When the storm hit the coast, it did very bad things. Lots of people lost everything they had. A lot of the people who stayed, didn't make it. In one big city, New Orleans, the whole city was flooded. The water was so high, people had to be rescued with boats and helicopters. Some towns just got washed away all together. The water messed up everything. People had no food to eat, or clean water to drink. There was no electricity for TV or telephones, so lots of people didn't know what to do or where to go for help.

A lot of good people came to help, but it was hard to help everybody. Sometimes, when bad things happen to people, it makes them think and do bad things too. That made it harder to help the other people. But, still more good people came to help everyone. They gave the sick people medicine. They gave the hungry people food. They gave the thirsty people water. They put people on buses, helicopters, airplanes, and boats to get them to safety. There were soldiers, policemen, firefighters, doctors, nurses, and regular people who all came to help their friends. They all did the best they could.

Eventually all the people will get out of danger and things will start to get better. I don't know right now how long it will take for things to get all better though. There is a lot of work to do. Hopefully, you boys will never see things like this happen in your lifetimes.

Boys, if you ever hear thunder and see lightning, go inside. If it starts to rain while you are driving, slow down and be extra careful. If there is a big storm coming and somebody warns you to get away from it, leave everything where it is, and just get to a safe place. Along the way, if you see someone in danger, stop to help them if you can.

Remember what I said about testing your Mommy? The same goes for testing Mother Nature. You can't beat either one of them. You can always make more money to replace everything you will ever own, you cannot replace your life, or the lives of the people you love.

I love you boys.