Frump Family Randoms

While cleaning out our Jamboree the day after we got 'er home, I found these:

The ones pictured at top are dated April of '09, the ones below were of unknown factory origin.



The hot dog buns were hard as a rock, but still looked exactly the same as the day they were bagged up.

I was thinking that the old 'sliced apple in the bread bag' trick might just bring those babies back to life.

Totally kidding.

But it just goes to show what a person is putting into their systems when eating starchy white, over-processed bread. Still not broken down after a year! It might as well be wallpaper paste. Ugh.

The hamburger buns...well, they, too, were hard as a rock, but covered in a greenish-black powdery mold. Yum.

Hamburgers, anyone?

:: :: :: ::

Oh, and while speaking of the Jamboree...see the lovely dent?



See the fallen roof tiles?



See the corner of our roof?



Oh, yes...I did.

However, upon inspecting the roof from a ladder, I found that no real damage had been done. Nothing to file an insurance claim over or anything. Just a small split in the facia board.

Plus I found a dead baby bird up under the roof tiles that simply must be disposed of.

So see? We wouldn't have known about the decomposing baby bird had the little snafu with the Jamboree not occurred, and we simply can't live with a decomposing animal up under our roof tiles, so I'm pretty sure it was destiny.

At least that's how I have chosen to look at the whole incident.

Well, that and reviewing some the First rule of camper ownership: NEVER back up a camper without first pulling back all curtains so that one can see where one is going.

Second rule: NEVER back up without first adjusting all mirrors for best view.

Third rule: NEVER rely on taking your (four-year-old) son's word for it (while he watches out the back window of the Jamboree) to be sure you didn't take out the heavily fruited plum tree nearby.

Yes, my bloggy peeps, whilst backing up the camper for the very first time, I took off a couple of corner tiles in our roof...and didn't feel a thing! Seriously...no bump and no scraping metal sounds or anything.

In my periphery I just suddenly saw something fall and thought, "Hmm...what was that?" and stopped to look.

My heart pretty much plummeted to the bottom of my stomach when I realized it was roof tiles.
It didn't help matters that when Judah heard my exclamation, he came running from the back to the cab of the camper to look out the nearest window and said, "You broke da house, Mama!"

**cringes**

I'm still not entirely sure what happened exactly, because I'm really a very excellent driver.

:: :: :: ::

Some of our Awana and youth group kids were showing livestock in our county fair's livestock auction this year.

We hadn't ever been to an auction before, rounded up the fam and headed down to watch.









It was a lot of fun.

Judah was thrilled to see so many people he knew there.







And of course the animals.







When it got to the poultry portion of the auction, I got a real kick out of how this farmer was holding the turkey to hand him over to his daughter who was trying to keep her pristine 4H uniform nice and clean until just before it was time to make the sale.



Later, when some friends from church showed up in the back of the arena so that their children could get a feel for what belonging to 4H or FFA was like, Jeff tossed a wave their direction.

Their son was making a goofy face at us which was why I took the following photo.



The father (seated on the straw bale in white) waved back.

And suddenly, the auctioneer shouted, "300! Do I hear 3 and a quarter? Three twenty-five? Anyone for $3.25?" along with a bunch of that whole stuttering kind of mumbo-jumbo they do in between.

My mouth dropped. Did I just see what I thought I saw happen?

Our friends eyes went wide.

There was a sudden moment of panic and confusion in which he shook his head and did a frantic (low) shake of his hands as if to say, "No, no...there's been a mistake!" His wife, too.

When I glanced at Jeff I saw that his hand had covered his own mouth in a big giant, "Oh, NO!" kind of a motion...and I knew...it was all true.

Yes, my friends, and if that wasn't bad enough, the amounts they were calling out were the price per pound one would have to pay for the animal being shown...currently a 300+ pound hog!

Um, can we say, "Ooopsie"?

Fortunately for them, just then from further back in the arena, someone held up an actual paddle and the auctioneer said, ""3.25! Do I hear 3 and a half? Three fifty? Anyone for $3.50?"

Immediately our friends rushed over to where we were standing and we all laughed in relief as he said, "You very nearly cost me a $1,000!"

Yes, we newbies learned a very important lesson at that livestock auction this year...NEVER ever wave (or even raise your hand) during an auction!

:: :: :: ::

While finishing up breakfast one morning recently, Judah called to me, "Mama...lookit! My toast looks like a animal!"



And by golly, it does! Move over Texas Toast...Buffalo Toast is in the house!

:: :: :: ::

We had our end-of-the-year Awana Carnival recently.

I was responsible for the face-painting booth. For boys, we did mostly snakes, lizards and spiders.



For girls, we did butterflies and flowers.





We also painted hands and arms, because some children opted to come back more than once.





At one point I had to put up my paintbrush for a time as I was locked into the jail.

As were several of our other Awana kids and leaders.



Jeff, too. For a very long portion of the day, I might add. Someone was totally gunning for him.

Judah, however, refused to go, cleanly evading the authorities.

He's been on the lam since, though on-site cameras did catch him at a watermelon eating contest around 1:25 that afternoon.





His brother, too, was said to have taken 2nd place in the contest with 7 large slices of watermelon.



:: :: :: ::

On his last day of school, Jeff always does some wild and crazy haircut.

He'd been growing his hair out since February, and this year decided to go with a mohawk.

He really wanted Liberty spikes, but his curly hair made that a bit of a stretch. Even with toothpaste as his styling medium.

We've since learned that Elmers glue works best.

On the teachers last day of school (the day after students are out for summer), the teachers children are allowed to come to work with them.

Judah couldn't have been more excited about going to school with daddy.

To do so, not only did we decide to cut Judah's hair to match daddy's, but he had to look all official and carry a backpack and everything.

But alas, it is hard to look appropriately tough and intimidating when one wears a "Lightneen MaKeen pack-ack".



Or later, while sitting in time-out for whining about not getting candy.



Really, if you ask me, neither one looks too terribly intimidating.





Somehow, I'm thinking that a guy who wears a GI Joe t-shirt doesn't pose a serious threat to anyone.

Did I mention that he also won Teacher-of-the-Year for his school?

AND that he's in the running for District-wide Teacher-of-the-Year.

You da man, Jeff!

**Ahem**

Now we're off for what I believe is the last thing on our list before our summer officially begins...a college graduation ceremony for our friend Lo.

Congratulations, girl! We're so proud of you!!

Oh, and lest I forget, I must give a congratulatory shoutout to her parents, our friends Steve & Chrissy as they have just celebrated their 25th Wedding Anniversary!

Catching Up and Randoms

Last month, we had our annual church picnic in a local park.

It was a wonderfully relaxing afternoon of fellowship and fun and catching up with our other 'family'.



This was one of the few pictures I remembered to take during the picnic. I totally missed all the hilarious relay games and the pictures of the older kids riding peddle-boats in the water there.

This park has horseback riding available at their equestrian center on certain days. It wasn't open on this particular occasion, but Jeff picked up a brochure about it on the way into the park thinking the boys might enjoy it as a family outing one weekend.

Just before leaving that evening, we stopped off at the edge of the park so that our suburban children could get their fill of gazing at the cattle grazing in the fields.





Jeff remembered the brochure and asked the boys if they'd like to come back to the park to ride horses one day.

Judah pipes up, "Dose are not horsies, daddy...dey're cows!"

:: :: :: ::

Recently, Judah came into me while I was working in the kitchen and said, "My nose steens, mama."

"Did you bump it?" I asked, wondering if it was still smarting a bit as sometimes happens when door knobs the whole house over are 4-year-old boy nose height.

"NOoooo...I have to AH-choo!"

And then I remembered that yes, from time to time when a sneeze is threatening, there is something of a stinging sensation that occurs.

:: :: :: ::

We bought our dog a cozy new bed which fits perfectly inside her house.

We may have a bit of a problem wresting it away from someone else in the household, however.



:: :: :: ::

In spite of my best efforts to train my boys to empty their pockets before taking off their pants or shorts, I still find some of the oddest things in the laundry.

This one beat all.

While changing the lint filter, I was stabbed by numerous 'quills'.

Turns out a little refill container of cartridge pencil graphite had miraculously made it through the wash cycle intact, but had obviously come open in the dryer and somehow made it all the way to the lint tray, most still whole.

Unlike the numerous hard candies, chapsticks or restaurant crayons that have ended up scenting or coloring our clothing over the years, the lead, as fine and delicate as it is, made it through the tumbling of clothes and it's journey to the lint filter relatively unscathed and usable. Go figure.

:: :: :: ::

This picture I just had to throw in because naps are gradually phasing out of this boys daily routine.

When I spotted this one afternoon a few days back, my heart gave a little pitter-pat that it could be one of the last opportunities for such a sweet little 'sleepy boy' picture before he's all grown up.



**sniff, sniff**

:: :: :: ::

Cross country was cool. Jericho didn't have any problem with my coming to watch each and every meet while taking pictures.

Nor did he have a problem with my calling his grandma and aunts to come along from time to time.

Wrestling, however, is a different matter.

I'm not supposed to take pictures. Something about looking like a doofus in a singlet. Or maybe it's the whole not wanting to risk 'losing' a one-on-one match in front of anyone he knows.

However, what he hadn't counted on was that his Awana leaders (a husband and wife team) from church would show up. Not just for him, but for all 3 of the boys on the team that attend our club.

And he can't say much about THEM taking pictures, lol.

I may get some photos yet...and without having to sneak taking them myself!

In the meantime, I got a kick out of watching Judah jump in to help roll and stow the mats after the first meet.

Yes, I do believe he thought himself central to the whole operation.



:: :: :: ::

Today I'm heading out to pick up fondant ingredients and other supplies to make a wedding cake.

Yet another of our youth group kids has grown up and decided to take the plunge.

Jeff always volunteers me usually offers my services as wedding cake baker as soon as we hear the first whisper that a wedding is on the horizon. Though why he I do this to myself time after time I'll never understand.

Especially when my forte is the less-stressful area of wedding invitation design.

Well, except that we love these people and not everyone just happens to know someone who makes wedding cakes and will make it for free as our gift to the special young people in our lives that are just starting out.

This was not a last minute deal. I've known about this cake for a couple of months, and have sketches on my fridge where I see them every day to remind me.

My cell phone even has a couple of staggered warning reminders programmed in as back-up, yet still I stress over making wedding cakes.

I actually woke up in a cold sweat early last Saturday morning thinking I'd somehow gotten the days mixed up and that I was to have a completed wedding cake delivered that afternoon...one which I hadn't even shopped for the supplies for yet, let alone baked and decorated.

And I still gasp for air momentarily just thinking about the panic that ensued before realizing, "Oh, wait...that's not until NEXT weekend!"

The anxiety factor comes not from making the cake itself (that part is fun), it's the transporting of the completed cake to the location of the reception...the responsibility for getting it there without mishap falling squarely on my shoulders.

It's the very reason I couldn't do this professionally. I'd be a nervous wreck all the time!

Because in the desert, even in November, you just never know when you'll have some freak hot weather, causing the icing to drip or the layers to slip-slide all over the place en route, and the last thing I would ever want to happen would be to ruin the cake for someone's big day. I mean, what wedding album would be complete without a cake photo?

If you think about it this coming weekend, pray for me please? That we'll get the cake there and set up without any problems?

Thanks, I'd really appreciate it.

Friday Night Lights & Frump Family Randoms

Our family loves football.

My husband relives the glory days enjoys the sport as well as the sights, smells and sounds that bring back so many wonderful memories. Our oldest son dreams about the day when he can wear the uniform himself, and our little guy just loves getting out and about...especially if it involves junk food from the snack bar.

I love the ambience...the lights, the excited and hopeful crowds filling the stands, the sense of small-town community, and the patriotism that a person feels when the high school band plays the National Anthem and the crowd stands in respectful silence, hands over their hearts.

Like this guy...a family friend of ours and World War II vet.



Normally he gets around by scooter due to a disability, but when that old Anthem plays, even he manages to get to his feet, pull off his hat and stand proud, wiping away tears of knowing...having fought for some of the freedoms it represents and which we enjoy to this day.

My heart wells up with gratitude and patriotic pride during that Anthem, especially when I see this old Vet and look down and see our boys holding hands over hearts. Makes a mama get downright choked up. Thank God for folks like him who continue to preserve our freedoms.

On this particular night, it feels wrong somehow to be at a game when the temperatures were in the high nineties all day.

For football, it needs to be so cold we have to bundle up and bring hot chocolate to keep away the chill. On this night, the only thing that would do was cold bottled water.

Last year, our friends' daughter was a Freshman, and they turned out at a few games bemoaning the fact that she was now going off to hang out with her friends instead of sitting with mom and dad like she used to.

This year, she's a cheerleader.







My heart used to give a little pang thinking that eventually, that would be our Jericho going to the games not for family time but to hang with his friends.

I just hadn't realized it would be so soon.

He came by a couple of times to say "hi" and told me, "Mom, this is so fun! I want to do this every weekend!" and left to catch up with the guys.

**sniff, sniff.**

The boy is growing up.

What I hadn't counted on, however, was that some of his classmates would be in the crowd.

Female classmates. Brazen hussies Girls that weren't afraid to call out to him as he walked past.

It was bound to happen sooner or later. He's a nice kid and makes friends readily, and the way those girls were acting it was apparent they thought he was cute.

While it kind of takes my breath away thinking that before long there will be talk of driver's licenses and cars and prom dates, I'm pretty sure we'll be okay for a while yet. Jericho still plays with Transformers and Legos, after all.

And though he is kind to everyone, he still seems a bit...wary where girls are concerned (as he should. Girls today are so bold!) He thinks the drama of pre-teen and teen 'romance' is just plain silly.

My hope is that we can keep him so stinkin' busy he won't have time to even think about such things until he's finished with college, lol.

So while Jericho wandered around with his friends, Judah and I sat with the extended family of our friends who turned out in support of their cheerleader daughter.



Judah called to her very loudly several times, as she's one of the girls that works in his Little Tots class on Sunday mornings at church.

She obliged by waving and smiling up at him each time she heard it. He was so "pwoud".

The game was exciting and the air held a hint of fall even if the wind was far too warm.

Once again this year, Jeff was announcing from the press-box.



Even though daddy announces the games, it all sort of blends in and becomes part of the ambience after a while.

It came as quite a surprise about midway through the game when suddenly, over the loudspeaker, we hear something that made Judah pull one of these Home Alone type faces:



"We have a special announcement this evening...there is a little boy in the crowd who just turned 4...Happy Birthday, Judah!"



"Somebody mus haf towd 'em it was my birfday!" he said with amazed delight.

One of the privileges of having your dad as the announcer, I suppose.

Later, another announcement came over the loudspeaker that produced quite a sensation in the stands in spite of the losing battle on the field.

"We have another special announcement this evening from two guys from [our high school]...Brad and Tony would like to ask our cheerleaders Katie and Ashley if they would like to go to Homecoming with them."

For said cheerleaders, it took a moment for the words to sink in. In fact, one of them had to run up to the other one to tell her what had just transpired.

The crowd watched her face light up...and you would have thought that they'd just been proposed to so great was their delight.

"I take it that the answer is 'yes'?" Jeff asked over the loudspeaker.

With typical cheerleader exuberance they indicated that "YES" they would love that, and hair ribbons and pom-poms fluttering, they ran back to get into place for their next routine.

The crowd went wild.

It was all very cute.

Those boys took a big risk, and clever as it was, I'm sure they have no idea that having done such a thing just to ask those girls to Homecoming has set a very high bar.

Should they ever propose to anyone on down the road, they're going to have to do something far above and beyond that...especially if it's a local girl, lol.

Judah, being a big 4 year old now, sat pretty still for most of the night watching the football game with interest.



With all the talk of football in our home this time of year, he was already bemoaning the fact that we'd forgotten his football at home.

One of the highlights for all up-and-comer kids at these games is that after the game is over, they can go out on the actual football field and play catch.

It's the stuff of dreams, really.



For some reason, while watching the game, I thought of Jeff up in the press box during the in-between moments of down-time, looking across that field and thinking about how one day his boys would be out on that field.

Probably because he bequeaths his vast knowledge of the sport to them nearly every afternoon as they play catch or practice other football related maneuvers in the yard.



I could also tell by Judah's observations exactly what he was thinking as he watched all the football players doing their thing.

He finally looked up to me and says, "Mama...I want to be one of doze guys."

I looked out at the football players, resigning myself to the coming years.

For some reason, in that split second I could suddenly see my own boys in those uniforms, could hear Jeff's shouts from the sidelines, and could picture myself sitting in the stands cringing as I watched my sons bodies being slammed around on the field, holding my breath when they'd go down with the ball...wondering if they'd get up again in one piece, or if it would require trips to the ER for sprains or broken bones...and I sighed deeply.

For some reason, God in His sovereignty gave me boys instead of girls. Boys that need to be trained up into strong men that can handle whatever comes their way. Likely, this will be one of the steps in that process.

I look back at Judah. He looks up at me with those big brown eyes and says, "I want to weow bwack pants and howd one of doze fings."

My attention snaps back. Black pants? None of the football players on that field were wearing black pants.

I scan the people in the general direction he's looking and my eyes focus in on exactly who he's referring to.



And I laugh my head off.

Knowing Judah, I suspect that the megaphone and not the uniform or sport was the real draw. He's been itching to try one of those things out for forever. Nevertheless I found myself replying, "Buddy...in this family, boys don't become cheerleaders."

He looked at me kind of surprised. "But dat boy is" he says pointing.

"Yes, but our boys play football and leave the cheerleading to the girls."

And suddenly, in spite of my fears about those future days of football, I realized that by some strange twist of fate, I'd become one of them...the football fanatics that are my in-laws. The ones that turn out in droves to see their boys play, and have for two generations.

How did this happen?!

Then I hear a little voice from beside me. "Do I git to weow a heowmet?"

"Yes, buddy...you will get to wear a helmet."

And I was rewarded with a huge grin.



Ahhh, not too many things come close to fun Friday Night Football with my boys.

:: :: :: ::

FRUMP FAMILY RANDOMS

After a long and busy weekend and early part of the week, I indulged in a much-needed nap on Wednesday afternoon.

I woke with a start remembering that I hadn't yet put together our "Crazy Hats" for Awana that night.

Jeff and Jericho had just arrived home from school, and as we were eating dinner I thought through the dilemma.

Immediately afterwards, I dashed around my craft room grabbing up supplies and depositing them on the table.

It was a frantic, shrieking-fishwife kind of an affair, but in just under 10 minutes and with the assistance of my trusty hot glue gun, we managed to make all four hats.





Unfortunately, the photos for Jeff's and Jerichos didn't turn out.

Jericho's buddies pulled off some of the dinosaurs we'd hot-glued to the top of his ball cap just before we remembered to take a picture, and Jeff misplaced his hat during the course of the evening.

His was a great dollar-store find from the day before which read, "Welcome to Korea, 2002" and I think had an Olympics logo on it.

What I'd like to know is where in the world have those hats been for the last seven years?

:: :: :: ::

So because of the festivities surrounding Judah's birthday weekend, we procrastinated on getting around to Jericho's science project until last evening.

His job was to construct a model of a plant cell from a picture in his science book.

We'd been shopping for supplies a week or two earlier, but hadn't been able to find anything to represent the large central vacule, which looked like a clear blob of jelly.

Miraculously, after a quick trip to Michael's, we found some clear glass Christmas bulbs that were round from the front, but only about an inch thick on the sides. Their semi-flattened out ball shape was perfect.

So I helped him to cut open the styrofoam ball and then to carve out the spot for the vacule.

It was going pretty good but the bulb didn't seem to want to fit in the exact depression we'd made for it. I pushed, hoping the styrofoam would give a bit.

What 'gave' was the bulb, breaking into a hundred tiny shards of glass, some of which entered the tender flesh padding my thumbs.



On my right thumb, it managed to nick a vein or something, because it was spurting out pretty good.

As dashed for the sink holding my lacerated hands beneath the faucet and asking Jeff to run for tweezers and hydrogen peroxide, I could hear Jericho quote in an affected English accent his usual response to such injuries that don't concern him personally, "It's just a flesh wound."

Not exactly the sort of thing you want to hear when you see deep bleeding wounds on YOUR OWN HANDS and you know you have to pull the glass out yourself because only you can feel to know if it's all gone. **shudders**

Who knew science homework could be so dangerous?

Thankfully we had a backup bulb...and the model turned out pretty good!



:: :: :: ::

Shortly after we got back from our vacation a few weeks ago, I found a lost sticky-note on my desk which had been put there to remind us to send off Jericho's birthday thank-you's.

From the end of June.

Woefully late, I set the cards out on the table and told Jericho to get them all written out.

Here was what one of them said:

For a moment, I felt proud that he would incorporate such big words into his Thank You cards...until I remembered that THIS was his 'investment':

I'm thinking that hmmm, yeah...perhaps we need to clarify the definition of 'investing'.

Wii seem to be a bit unclear on the concept.