Meet the cleverest Boy in the world

There are so many reasons to love this Boy. One is he knows how to spell loose. On a good day
I struggle with loose, lose,loss.
He had been playing quietly in his room for hours when he told me to come quick, he had something I HAD to see. He runs into his room before me and lays on the floor.
He spelled it all out using his magnets.
When he was getting up he said," Look I even remembered to put a period at the end of my sentence."
This Boy is hilarious, he had no idea why I was laughing so hard. He's a genius, I tell you.

Merry Christmas

Christmas beauty at the Galt House

If you're ever in Louisville at Christmas time, it's worth the stop.

Elf Trouble

The Boy was not amused.
He is a rule follower to say the least.
It is forbidden to write on anything but approved paper with magic markers.
When he got up to find that To-u had drawn on his picture with markers, he just
walked by it and said, "I wouldn't want to be you To-u. I hope that comes off"
I nearly lost it. I said,"To-u's magic, dont' you think he can get that off?"
He said," He could have messed up my present to Daddy." (We did the photo shoot for
Father's Day last year) The Boy was so upset I had to promise to make sure Santa knew
To-u MUST get the marker off his pictures.
I thought it was Hilarius. The Boy, not so much.

It's Cold outside

Every Elf Has to Do It

To-u, making the prerequisite elf snow angels.
Poor Elf. He's been through alot these few weeks.
I bet next year he may not come so early.
Cool his heels in the North Pole for awhile longer.

Reading Is Fundamental

Even for an Elf on a shelf.
Please note even the Elf has to have a cup of coffee in the morning around here!

I think I love you Elf

 I looked at that elf and thought I can't do anything else with you. How stupid is this, that a grown woman is running around trying to figure out what other outrageous thing to make him do.
Then I remembered there are parents out there who would literally give anything to be able to run around and do ridicules things to make their babies smile.
So I put that To-u up on the cabinet with a "popper" from the dollar store.
And I laughed right along with The Boy and thanked God again.

After what happened yesterday at the school in Connecticut, I decided I needed to grab at whole big bunch of grateful.

100 ways to love your Elf

Give him lots of Fruit Loops.
The Boy liked this one too.

Elf on a Shelf....day 3,625

Today finds To-u playing Go-Fish with the Reindeer.

To-u Take 17 or so

I guess all the Lego people were kinda mad that To-u was getting all the attention
around here.
So they took matters into their own hands...they tied him up on a pole made of Lego's
and stood watch to make sure he couldn't get away.
So far, this had made The Boy laugh the hardest!

Flash Back

Very rarely do I go back and read my old posts. But I saw that someone had googled,"smack a duck" & came to my blog that way. I thought, "WHAT?" and went to the post it took them to, and this is what I found...

 

Vintage Boy:

 

 

Monday, June 23, 2008

I HAD TO SMACK A DUCK!

I had to Y'all. I had to!
I am not a person to around smacking ducks and stuff, but do you see those ducks/geese, whatever they are?
I took The Boy to a local pond with 3 bags of stale bread in tow. We sit down to feed them and all the sudden honking duck-geese swarm us! Pecking & biting! The Boy had a piece of bread in his hand to throw and a duck-goose pecked him. What's a mama to do? I did the first thing a mama thinks to do when her baby is being threatened, of course. I reached over and smacked the duck-goose across the mouth and said "NO BITING"! I realized I had just smacked a duck and looked around to see if the duck police had seen me. We were alone. Thank God! Then I gave the duck a talking to about biting other people's kids. I think he understood

Underwear Alert!

Just an FYI underwear is involved in this photo.

To-u took one of The Boy's SpongeBob house shoes make it into a bed and cover up with a pair of his robot underwear.
The Boy laughed and laughed.  It made all the racking my brain worth it!
He said,"Mommy, we must have got the craziest elf at the North Pole."
I believe we did too.

Word Genius

Cindy Bowdie is a Word Genius. She does so have the knack of putting what I feel into words I could never come up with. If you're not familiar with Cindy, you can find her at  http://thebodiebunch.blogspot.com . She's genius I tell you.

Today she said,"I wish I could tell you that I'd be a foster parent when my children are grown, I have room, knowledge of trauma and can speak enough Spanish to get by, but I won't do so because of the heinous way I've too often been treated by those who should know better"

Since we've moved here and people find out we were foster parents, they always ask if we are going to do it here. There is a huge need here (As there is everywhere) for  foster parents. I see the ads in the paper, the signs on the roads. But I can't or won't do it again. Seven years was enough. I could never quite put it into words why we would not, even though the need was great, we had the physical resources, etc.
It's very difficult to answer that question for people who have never DONE foster*care without going into a 2 hour ramble session, which they won't understand anyway. So I think what I will say from now on is this, " I no longer care to be treated the way most agencies treat foster*parents. "
Short,simple,true & to the point.
 

Captain's log Star date 2818

Here I tried to capture a photo of the beautiful full moon. We'll assume it's not going to win any
prizes. But I tried.
This elf thing is killing me. I feel like I've been at it for years instead of days.
To-u just isn't a very imaginative elf. He's got to come up with something better.
So I guess that means I MUST go spend hours on Pinterest looking for cute stuff I can never pull off.

Sometimes An Elf just has to be wild

To-u living on the wild side!

A special Elf visit

Yesterday To-u dropped in with a little something from the North pole for The Boy's birthday. He wore his ribbon the school. I had to take it off him at bedtime.
Do you think The Boy liked his birthday present? He was one happy boy.
We took credit for the 4 wheeler, To-u claimed the ribbon. 

The Elf & A 7 year old

Today the most adorable Boy turned 7.
Seven years old. How is that possible?
The same way an Elf straps himself into Buzz Lightyear's rocket.
It 's by magic or a joke.
The day's may creep by, but the years sure fly by.

Have you hugged a Marine today?

To-u did. Two infact.
The Boy found To-u in my doll cabinet this morning. Arms around both my Marine figures.
I just noticed the look on the Cupie doll's face. "Like, is that a for realz Elf on my shelf?"

Just because

This Boy makes me laugh!
Elf stuff to continue...

Crazy around here

The Boy woke this morning to the aftermath of a wild night.
It seems To-u invited Woody & Buzz over for popcorn and late night movies.
Kinda looks like Buzz fell asleep during it all.
It just gets all kinds of crazy around our house!

Day 2 with the Elf

Day 2 finds To-a/To-u riding a mystery reindeer. Please note the thumbs up sign. I should
get extra brownie points for that.
This may get pretty boring for you guys. But The Boy carries on like the little guy brought us
the winning lottery ticket or something.
In other news...It got COLD here. I would just now be feeling a crisp coolness in the air. Starting to wonder if I should bring out the jackets. I am not cut out for cold weather.

P.S- This will not be the last time you hear me complain about how cold it is here. Yes, I know I'm not in Alaska or anything, but still. It's COLD.

Our version of Elf on a Shelf

To-a (pronounced To (then u as in umbrella) To-u. I have no idea how to spell that.
To-u came when The Boy was 3 about to turn 4. Which kinda explains the choice of names the poor thing got stuck with. No cutesie CandyCane or Mr. Magic for us. The Boy was having fun making up nonsense words at this point in his life. So To-u it was. This is his 3rd year with us.
I am much too cheap to actually buy Elf on a Shelf. So I bought the ever cute AnnaLee Elf.
I Wrote the rules & story on a rolled up piece of paper and it's been fun ever since. He comes on Thanksgiving day/night.
The first time To-u came I had put him in the light fixture over the kitchen table and wanted to see how long it would take for The Boy to spot him. As luck would have it (& it was pure luck) later that night we were sitting at the table making an ornament and To-u fell down right between us and the little rolled up "introduction" paper fell down after him. The look on The Boy's face was priceless!
I must say I was a little stunned myself. I couldn't have made that happen even if I'd thought of it.
I've been meaning to document To-u's actions for the last 2 years, but always forgot to take pictures and there was ALOT of forgetting to move him. (Lazy Elf, anyways landing in the same place.)
This year I have good intentions. So hopefully I will be creative enough, remember the camera, actually take the pictures & then put them on here.
Here is To-u's grand entry this year.

As I read the paper and see the look on To-u's face, I think I can understand how this might cause some issues later in life. Maybe it could have been worded a little less creepy. I'll have to work on that.
(you can click on the picture for a close up)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I am so very thankful for all God has given me. The most wonderful husband, who loves his family.
3 Beautiful daughters & 1 handsome Boy. And  to date 5 gorgeous MeMe babies (grand kids) The list could go on forever, but I'll give you a break.
I hope you have a wonderful day!

All is Well

The Boy spends his evenings playing Legos and riding his plasma car in the basement.
He loves his new school. Two report cards periods in and he has straight A's on both. I'm not proud or
anything.

Do you know how long it's been since I've had McDo*nalds? A long time and that's a good thing.
One thing about our New Normal...You better have what you want to cook for dinner or anything else for that matter, because it's a good hour round trip to the closest grocery store.
I spend my mornings shuttling The Boy to the next county over to school. My thoughts  usually along the lines of,"Wonder if I'll win the Not behind a tractor load of tobacco, Disker,Plow,or Hay Baler, Lottery this morning"? Then I play the same game in the afternoon when it's time to pick him up.
After twenty odd years of NOT having a fall or spring for that matter, it's kind of nice seeing the beautiful colors of fall. It has been absolutely beautiful around here this year. It is very likely I will not be so fond of the cold. I DO NOT like cold. But how much more beautiful I know it will make the Spring be. I just have to keep telling myself that.
The husband and I both like the New Normal.
As a side note, to let you know how ingrained foster*care is in my mentality. I stood in front of a sale isle of a store contemplating if I should buy the diapers on sale. For about 10 minutes it didn't strike me that I DON'T NEED DIAPERS ANYMORE. Even if they are on sale!!!! The husband had to go out of state for a few days for work, we thought about going with him to see the sights while he worked. My first thought was, "we can't do that, the social*worker would have a fit on such short notice." I'm a big girl, I don't have to answer to anybody else about what I want to do or when I want to do it!!!!(unless you count Harper Dog, and he must be answered to) I am FREEEEEEE.
I still think these thoughts will come at me at the craziest times though.

I Have a Tiger Cub

I am told they must practice living in their natural habitat.

Which is evidently a tent set up their back yard. Just in case they need to come into
the house, when the cows Moo too loud for them to sleep.Or they just want their mommy.
I'm told Tiger Cubs are very tough though. This one sold 800.00 worth of popcorn at a Lowe's, with the power of just his cute chubby cheeks.

Random Cute Things

Bet you didn't know The Boy was there?

Don't call *dfacs*...but before we moved one of our grandsons loved to play in
Harper's crate.

Our newest grandson born last Jan.

This Boy is a character. I don't know WHAT kind of character, but a character none the less.

Last, but certainly not least in his eyes...Harper Dog!

I don't want to O.D you on cute, so I'll leave you alone now.

We've had visitors

I've only ever had the privilege of smelling skunks along the roadside. You know, as driving down
the road and the whiff of skunk hits you for the next 5 miles, and you realize you just passed a dead one.
The guy/girl was merrily skipping through my backyard as dusk one night. At first I thought it was a huge cat. The closer it got, the more I realized there was no way that huge thing was a cat. Then it turned and I saw the white strip down it's back. Beautiful creature, but the husband said he could smell him the next morning when he went out to get in the car. Talk about leaving a lingering scent!
Does anyone know how to keep skunks away? With my luck, it was scouting a location to set up housekeeping.

Can you see this guy?
I was minding my own business, sitting on the porch swing when I noticed a brick moved!
On closer inspection, it was the biggest gray preying mantis I've ever seen.
It was so big even the Boy didn't want to catch it. I even think I heard it say,"leave me alone Boy".

THEN the very same day I went to deadhead some flowers and this guy scared me to death.
He was long and skinny and blended right in with the greenery.
Who knew preying manis' came in so many different colors?!

Here's hoping the next visitor isn't a bear or something.

No changes around here

Keeping Busy

Thanks to my brother-in-law, a gentleman farmer. I have been keeping pretty busy.
I call him the produce fairy. We come home to see this on our door step.
But you will never hear me complain!

I've made Jalapeno Jelly.
It turned out good & hot.

And I have made spaghetti sauce

Do you see all those tomatoes in the first picture??
Who KNEW all those would boil down to ONLY about 2 quart bags of sauce?
I will never complain about the price of spaghetti sauce again. And that was a whole
days work. It was really good and will taste very "summery" this winter, but that's a lot of
tomatoes and work!
No pictures of the corn. but I bought a bushel of corn to cut off the Cob and put in the freezer for the winter. A lot of work & messy, but well worth it in winter.
Just getting use to my new normal.

Harper Says

 "HEY ya'll"

"I like the new house too.
This woman is always taking my picture when I'm trying to sleep."

(I wonder what a 1 year old Yorkie would sound like with a human voice?)
OK, it's evidently late and I should go to bed now.