Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Rub a dub dub, in Heaven there'll be NO tubs!

Recently, my precious grand-mother was hospitalized then sent to rehab to recover from her third stroke. After explaining to the Storm that Great Granny could use some cheering up, we decided to make Get Well cards. While sitting at the kitchen table, coloring away, Lightning and Hail began asking questions...

Lightning: Is Gweat Gwanny gonna die?
Hail: And go to HEAVEN??
Me: Well, no the doctors don't think she is going to die right now. They think she will get all better and maybe even go home soon.
Lightning: I hope she doesn't die, 'cause den we won't have any mur gweat-gwannies.
Hail: Yeah, and that'll be sad.
Me: But you know, when ever the time comes and she does die, she doesn't want us to be sad. Just like Granny & Papa Scott, Memaw, and Great-Papa don't want us being sad for them because they're all in Heaven together, waiting for us to get there.
Lightning: Yeah, dat's wight. And in Heaven, in Heaven we will be ANGELS and have wings!
Hail: And, and, and we'll NEBER haff to take a baff!
Me: No baths, huh? That would be Heaven for you?
Hail: Yeah, 'cause in Heaven, there'll be NO TUBS!!
Me: Y'all are silly turkeys. What do you want me to help you write on these cards??
Hail: I want you to help me write my name, and that I love hers very much, and that I hope she don't die.
Me: Mmmmm-kay.
Hail: Hey Momma, what if Great-Granny finks I writed all dat stuffs by myself. What if she finks you didn't help me. Just don't tell hers that you helped, okay?
Lightning: No, Hail. It's not nice to twick old peoples. Dey can't help dat they're old.




Saturday, August 27, 2011

The Writing on the Wall

Flash Flood loves to "colo." For the most part he's pretty good to stay at the table and color in the designated areas... "PAPA ONWEE!" I make him promise each time he begs for the markers.



Coloring keeps his little mind and hands busy for several minutes at a time. Not much else does. So, I'm usually pretty happy to pull out a coloring book and let him go to town scribbling while I cook dinner/load the dishwasher/start a load of laundry/pee alone. Yesterday I walked back into the kitchen to find this...



Flash Flood, oblivious I was back in the room, jumped out of his skin when I said his name.

Then he did what comes natural to all Storm members, and began to lie like the dickens as the interrogations started...


Me: Did you color on the wall??

Flash Flood: No.

Me: Well, who did??

Flash Flood: Hail.

Me: Are you sure YOU didn't color on that wall??

Flash Flood: Hail did.

Me: I think YOU colored on the wall.

Flash Flood: No.

Me: Are you supposed to color on walls?

Flash Flood: PAPA ONWEE.

Me: So why did you color on the wall??

Flash Flood: No. No. Hail.

Me: Hail did NOT color on the wall. YOU did.

Flash Flood: No.





What can I say?? He comes by it honestly-- Here's the PROOF...




Oh, and this one: "Pray for me."

Then again, you could pretty much read any old post to see the proof.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

"..I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight. Ohh, back to school.."

~Billy Madison


~Her Highness and Thunder's first day of 3rd and 1st grades.
We've been back in school mode for two weeks. The Hudson Storm lost it's fearless leader between the hours of 7:30-2:30, and I lost my lil' Momma, to the world of structure and sharpened pencils, and walking quietly in straight lines, and square pizza with a side of corn. I'm always sad to see them go at the beginning of each school year. Another milestone to cross of the list. Another grade older, more homework, more spelling tests, and more letting go on my part, is never easy. But along with letting more go, I'm also finding more that I love about the adolescent years.

Her Highness is proving to be a responsible, and loving big sister. And it's even showing in her sensible fashion choices, which is one of the things I'm proudest of at the moment. She's a sweet friend to her classmates, and a big helper to her 3rd grade teacher, who might be her favorite teacher yet. Although, by September, she's said that about each and everyone of the teachers she's had so far. Thunder, who isn't a huge fan of school, is facing each day with a brave face, and going with the flow; even though he would clearly rather be home with his band of brothers, wreaking havoc on the house and our backyard, like Storm's do best. His first grade teacher seems to be a little more organized than I care to be when it comes to homework assignments, and parent initials, and putting worksheets in certain color-coordinated folders. But, then again, in her defense, it's not hard to be more organized than I prefer, since organizational skills are not something I obtain. Nor care to.





One thing the school year brings that I do enjoy is a little more structure to our daily routine. Yes, I love lazy summer mornings by the pool. But our laundry pile and stinky dishes rarely get tended to more than a couple of times a week. School schedules mean I'm up and at 'em a little after five a.m., so it sort of forces me to stay on top of things a tiny bit better. Unless, of course, Lindy calls and wants to meet up for breakfast, then play afterwards, which is absolutely the equivalent of a lazy day spent at the pool, in time spent and the fun that we have.

Lightning (read in his husky voice): Hey Momma, take my pich-a. I'm gonna make a mad face wike Her Highness and say, 'Top takin' so many dumb pich-as MOMMA!'

We were late the very first day. Might as well start the year out right, as to not be putting on airs, ya know? So, Her Highness became very frustrated with me for wanting to snap a few pictures. Lightning thought it was hilarious.

Keeping in theme with the start of a new school year, new school supplies and new schedules, we decided to give all the boys a new hair do. Flash Flood's still too little for a buzz cut from The Meteorologist, so he got to sit in a booster seat at the salon and get a "real" hair cut. I was shocked at how still he sat the entire time. He kept his head down, until the sweet girl cutting his hair would move it one way or another. The only time he spoke was after Her Highness said in her lil' Momma sing-songey voice, "Your being such a big boy! I'm so proud of YOU!" Flash Flood cut his eyes over at her and asked softly, "Whar my hands go?" Her Highness cackled, then sang back, "Under that big boy cape you've got on! So all your hair won't stick to your hands, sweet baby!"


~Flash Flood (20 months old), before and after. He was waaay past due for a good cut. But now he's lost his baby look, and I can't hardly stand it.


Thunder wasn't really supposed to wear that mohawk to school. Earlier in the summer, when I agreed to it, we had a deal that it was a SUMMER ONLY hair do, or rather a "don't." Somehow, he convinced me and Bert to leave it a few days. Actually, he only convinced Bert, who was hoping it would help earn him a little street cred, since he's a lover, not a fighter when it comes to public confrontations. I caved, rolling my eyes. This past weekend though, Barber Bert got a hold of all three big boys and shaved them clean. Some a little cleaner than others...




Bert botched Hail's cut pretty badly, so he had to buzz his entire head with a 1, to get it all even. Lightning began laughing hysterically when he saw it. And immediately calling him Bald-ou, after Hail's favorite cartoon character, Caillou (who for some unexplained reason is a whiny, bald 4-year old).

Lightning refused to heed Bert's warnings to hush, so he got a matching hair cut. But only after Bert gave him a reverse mohawk, and sent him on to take a bath with the rest of the Storm. Lightning waltzed into the bathroom, teased Hail again, which I thought meant he was aware of the hideous job Bert had just done. Hail began to cry again, so I said, "Buddy, look up! Look at Lightning!" Lightning then looked into the mirror, saw where Bert had just shaved straight down the middle, leaving the sides poking out everywhere, and burst into tears screaming, "DADDY! YOU'S DA MEANEST DADDY EV-A! DAT'S SO MEAN!!!" We all got a good laugh at his expense, which was only fair, since he had made his little brother, who is now truly a Caillou look alike, feel so bad. After convincing Lightning that his punishment was going to be a life of sporting such a horrible do, Bert shaved him down evenly. I, for one, love a shaved headed little boy. It's so much easier to deal with. I'm all about a low/no maintenance kinda hair do! Those who see me on a regular basis know how true that statement is.


I hope you all are enjoying August, and getting back in the swing of school/work/everyday life/whatever you're doing today. I've missed blogging recently, and I hope to make more time for it now that we are settling into a routine. Sending sticky hugs and sloppy kisses your way from The Hudson Storm!
Love, Big Momma

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Summer Wrap Up

I've been MIA from the blogging world for a couple of weeks now. Partly because my hormones are raging. In one moment I'll feel a super heart felt post that needs to be written to my children, so someday when they hopefully come back and read this, they'll understand just how much I loved and adored them.. even if I was squawking like a chicken over the mundane things that needed to be done, like picking up their toys and sweeping up the crushed snacks all over the floor. In the next moment, I feel as though they owe me a heart felt blog post, apologizing for causing much of my insanity. On top of the crazy mood swings pregnancy brings, I just simply haven't had time. When I try to blog during the day, it takes three hours, because I keep having to stop for obvious reasons. I used to blog late at night, when the house was quiet. Now I fall asleep before the kids most nights.

And then on top of the mood swings, lack of time, and exhaustion... Blogger is driving me NUTS and has been as annoying as the temper tantrums my monkeys are known to throw when it's time to clean up.

We've been cramming as much summer fun as we possibly could into these last couple of weeks. And since Blogger has decided to enter the Terrible Two's phase along with Flash Flood, all of my pictures are out of order. Just as I do with Flash Flood when he's pitching a hissy fit in the middle of the living room floor, I'm going to step around Blogger, and completely ignore this tantrum, instead of trying to rearrange all the pics below.

~A quick recap of our Summer 2011~

Sunday afternoon we took the kids skating with some super fun friends. They all had a blast. As did all of us moms watching them learn to skate. Flash Flood hung out with me in the cheering section. Though he did enjoy running a few laps around the rink and dancing to the "moosik."







All the kids fell approximately 87 times each, but somehow we got away with no broken bones and minimal bruises...




...though I'm not exactly sure how.



We made a quick trip to see my big brother and his precious family....



While there, the kids got to swim in a "REAL RIVER." These semi-city kids don't get to do things like that too often, so this was probably the highlight of our trip for them...






The following pictures made me laugh. When eating at a restaurant, Her Highness ordered a salad. I was going to snap a pic of her, because it reminded me so much of my sister Kelly, when she was a little girl, and when The Storm heard me saying, "Say cheese! I want to text a pic of you eating that to Aunt Kell-Bell.." they all turned around and faked a pose, making fun of Her Highness' girly poses she's always striking for the camera...





While on our tour of the south, we got to spend a couple of days with Cookie and Grandy. They treated us to Smurfs in 3D. This was our first 3D experience. I was shocked at the price for seven of us to see the movie, but decided a few minutes in it was totally worth it (especially since I wasn't paying. Thanks, DADDY!) when I saw how much the kids LOVED it. Lightning especially. Every single scene, he would do his husky old man belly laugh that he's known for, then repeat the last line, laugh again, then say, "Awww, man! Dat's SO FUNNY!"


Cookie, Grandy and Kell-Bell also threw me a birf-day party, since I turned 31 while there. Most of the presents were tiny pink baby girl clothes, bedding, and accessories. Her Highness and I were tickled PINK once again...


Sleepovers with cousins are simply the BEST...

A trip to the Children's Science Museum was also a treat The Storm thoroughly enjoyed.


Well that's just typical... I had 84 more pictures for this post, and somehow they're all gone. We also visited with my sweet Granny, met Rick & Bubba (the radio talk show hosts) and got to spend some time with our dear friends the Alford's. Uggggh! Is anyone else having this much trouble with Blogger? Or is it just me?? Sigh. I've got to finish this up anyway. School starts tomorrow, and I've promised my kids a super fun last day of Summer.


Thanks to everyone who hosted us on our last hoo-rah for the summer. We had a ton of fun and will always cherish our memories made with each of you.


Happy end of Summer to you, whenever that may be!

Love, Big Momma