Too funny!

I mentioned earlier that J said fewer and fewer "lost in translation" things as he masters using the English language. But the last couple of weeks he has had quite a few funnies. Maybe his vocabulary is expanding? I don't know but last night he was telling me all about this new school fund-raiser he's supposed to be involved in. I hate school fund-raisers. And I don't have any extra money at the moment but he was trying to get me to buy a candle. He said, "Look at dese candles. Smell dem. Dey have scratch and sniff, here, smell dis one. You want to buy it? You can write a check." I declined and he mused whether or not to ask nanny or aunt S... He kind of gave it up for a while and then out of the blue he said, "I need to take dose roman candles to church." I asked him what the heck he was talking about and he said, "You know. Dose tings I am selling." I said, "Honey, those are Yankee Candles, not roman candles. Roman candles are fireworks." He said, "Whatever." Bahahaha!! Yankee candles/roman candles. So close!

Sunday evening, for some unknow reason, we were talking about thong underwear and A quipped, "There oughta be a weight limit on those things." I thought that was funny and texted R and she texted back that her friend said, "that would be worse bc then they wear spandex type pants and the cover the butt type underwear cuts the butt in half, creating four butt cheeks instead of two." Only she hit the wrong letter on one very important word and it said, "creating four nutt cheeks instead of two." Nutt cheeks. Bahahaha!!! We had fun with that one! A said, "If that creates four nutt cheeks you have bigger problems than spandex and thongs!" J said, "Dat makes me uncomfortable to tink about." Life is funny!

Times are a changing

Wow, it was like upper 70's and low 80's and sunny all week and then Sat was c-c-c-cold and dreary. And there was some wind. And all the leaves fell off the trees. And I'm thinking about the flannel sheets. And we've had two fires in the fireplace in two days. And....J untwisted his hair! He has very. big. hair. And all the girls at school like to touch it. And that's the way he likes it.

A couple of J-isms

As J gets better and better at using the English language the "lost in translation" stuff he says gets less and less. There are still those times though...

You know that slightly sarcastic way we have of saying "obviously" when someone says something which is very obvious? J was going for that one day only he said "eventually" instead. In that sarcastic way. It was too funny. We now use eventually in place of obviously. Captain Obvious has become Captain Eventually at our house.

Last night J decided to untwist all his hair. He now has really. big. hair. It's fine with me as long as he keeps it picked out. On the way to school he said, "Dude, if I fell on my head I don't even tink I would feel it!" Ha! I suggested not trying out that theory though. Funny kid.

He's going to be in a Christmas play at church. He was very monotone and struggling over the words at first but he's really getting it now. It's sounding good. I will keep you posted.

Trip pics!

Oh, it's a gorgeous day here in TN! The sun is out and the temps are just right. We had an awesome trip and saw and experienced lots of really neat things but it sure is good to be home again. I mean, look at this sky from a couple weeks ago. How awesome is that?

Or this?

I put more food in the tin before I left. Diesel has discovered the joy of eating right out of the tin.

We started out near Mobile, AL close to T's sister's place. This is nephew's redneck boombox.

We went to Lambert's Cafe, home of the throwed rolls. Obviously, there's a lot to see there.

He caught a roll! They startled us with pretending to squirt mustard on us and pretending to spill a pitcher of tea on us. It was a big party atmosphere here and we all enjoyed it.

Nephew and his fiance.

From Mobile, we headed towards Louisiana and went on a swamp tour.

Click on this pic to blow it up. There's a big gator sunning himself.

Some damage from Isaac.

The swamp. We learned that a swamp is a flooded forest and a bayou is a waterway.

This was at the state park we stayed at. You can see the boardwalk in the back of the pic. They have over a mile of boardwalk which shows all the different eco systems in LA.

Tickfaw state park.

Turns out those little stumps are "breathers" for the cypress trees.

Me and my young guy.

Me and my older guy.

We were fascinated by the swamps.

This is the fishing pond at the campground/state park. There was a small gator in it.

The pyromaniacs.

We made it to the French Quarter in New Orleans. It sure reminded us of Haiti.

Only cleaner.

Two redneck goobers with their hands in the fountain.

Jackson Square.

They wanted their teacher to know they saw the Mississippi river.

Street performers.

The boys got picked to be part of the performance.

One of the guys jumped over the whole group. And since I have a dumb phone and not a smart phone, I missed the pic.

We played a lot of cards and T and I shuffled a LOT of cards because these two couldn't shuffle to save their souls.

Our last view of the Louisiana swamp.

So far, so good

Hello from Louisiana. We had a nice time with family near Mobile, AL and today we headed towards LA. We went on a swamp tour which was a lot of fun and now we are at a nice campground. The boys are being pretty good and having fun. There's a nice nature center here and a mile of boardwalk we may explore tomorrow. The weather has been pretty good. I will post pics when we get back. If I had a smart phone I could post some now but I have a dumb phone.

2 posts in one day....

...but don't get used to it. This is a pic that T made on his phone. It's 3 pics from our Fall Creek Falls camping trip made into one cool pic and I just had to share.

Th-th-th-that's all folks.

A shout out to all my "loveys"

Yes, we are busy as always. It seems like I'm having a hard time keeping up. We are looking forward to fall break next week. The doc called about my wrist MRI. It's another cyst, though not exactly the same kind and he's thinking it's tangled in some scar tissue and a tendon and that's why it's painful. Guess what the treatment is? Live with it and see if it goes away or surgery. I have another appointment in Nov and we will decide for sure then but probably surgery.

I thought I might do a shout out to all my "fambily", you know, because I love them. And I happen to have a moment. I really should be doing some schoolwork but family is first.

Of course, I love my parents. I love my mom's laughter and my dad's zest for life (even though he drives us crazy sometimes in his zeal). I pray health and happiness and peace for them.

I love my hubby, T. He never ceases to amaze me with his ability to fix things, to think outside the box and to problem solve. He loves me dearly and I love him dearly. I pray that you will seek to honor God in every part of your life, just like your name says.

R, my first born. Your talents and determination are astounding. I love that you can sit somewhere and write stories and feel like you've spent time with people that you've just made up in a story. Lutrine, TX, baby. We are going to do it some day. I love your fierce love for your hubby and critters. I pray peace for you as you await JT's homecoming.

JT, you are not my own but you are my son just the same. I love your creativity and enthusiasm. I love that you can take a few words and make up a song right on the spot. I miss singing with you and your wife. I pray that you return home healthy and whole, physically, mentally and spiritually and ready to take on life.

A, oh my goodness. What would life be without my A, my Lulu? Your motivation to succeed is awesome. You are creative and beautiful and full of life. I pray that you will keep God the center of your life and all that other stuff will fall into place.

J, my son. We waited for you to get here longer than you've actually been here. What an awful wait it was but I think that it taught us all things that we will carry with us forever. I love your big heart and your thoughtfulness. And your way with words and that you can laugh about it. I pray that you will seek to put God first in your life. You are loved.

And P. Though you are not officially a part of the family, you are a part of the family. I love your work ethic and your willingness to do what it takes to get the job done. You have such a goofy sense of humor that we all enjoy. I pray that you will be a man after God's own heart.

You are all loved. And that's my shout out for today.

October already?!

Wow! This year has flown by. I can't believe it's October already. I'm ready for fall but I haven't gotten out a single fall decoration. How awful is that? Oh well. We've been busy. My online classes are "at your own pace" and I've been cranking it out as fast as I can. I'm not wearing myself out but just working as fast as I can.

We celebrated J's birthday this weekend. He went rollerskating with some friends. Two of them were really good skaters and two were beginners. J has only been about 5 times and he does pretty well considering. So he was kind of in the middle.

Please pray that A passes her math class. She struggles with it.

Will be sharing some good news for JT as soon as we can.

Both of our daughters are able to drive a standard transmission now. Mostly without killing their cars. Mostly.

I have a stew in the crockpot. I love crockpot cooking.

This was the sky on my way home from work last night.

This is the apron we made for J. It says "Chef Pazowski's Haitian Cuisine". T made it on paint.net and we printed it on transfer paper and ironed it on. J likes it. He calls himself Chef Pazowski when he's in the kitchen. He also asked for Hollister shirts for his birthday. He scored 4 of them, 3 fedoras, his apron, an itunes card, other clothes and some money. He's a happy 15yo.

Here he is in one of his fedoras with powder sugar from a donut all over his mouth. Got donuts?