Look Alike

Today as we were walking into the Springdale library we passed a guy who had a pony tail on top of his head. Max said, "Hey! He looks like Sanjaya!"

Walking around the Safari

Max was very excited to hold the python. He even passed on riding the horse so he could have his turn holding it. That is 5 year old devotion.

Jack loved the baby cougar. They had a little play time while Nate chatted with Freddy (the Safari guy).

I mean, how often do you get to ride a camel in NWA?

Driving through the Safari

We are frequent companions of the Drive Through Safari in Gentry. (Nate's family used to help them with the baby cats until the cats were ready to be manhandled or viewed by the public. So, the McGoodens are friends with the Safari owners...) Sunday was our first visit of the season. We all loaded up in the redneck limosine...

This was Jack's first encounter... at least where he could interact with the animals. He got licked by an Elan and did not appreciate it.

The llamas were not shy about their desires. Grant preferred eating the bread himself rather than sharing. This got him in trouble when an Emu stuck its head in the window trying to get the piece of bread that Grant was eating. His thumb got a little nip which did not make Grant very happy.

Watch out, big slobbery fly covered head coming in.

And, of course, we had to drop the back for a pee break.

Intruders: BEWARE!

Weapons training begins early in our household. Clothes are optional.

American Idol thoughts

1. Only Melinda could cause AI to bring Christian artists to the finale show
2. The poor dorky friends... that one did sadly look just like a... whatever that tree monkey thing was that they showed.
3. Where were Bo, Fantasia and Gaykin?

G-man

It's been a traumatic couple of weeks with the G-man. After suffering a long bout with the stomach virus, he has resorted to pooping in his pants again. This is a nasty habit for many obvious reasons. Mainly, he knows how to use the blasted toilet and is just refusing because he wants to. So, we have resorted to taking away his prized possessions when he poops his pants.

He has lost:
-his BJs
-his army men and tank (that he got because he started pooping in the potty)
-his swords
-his guns
-his squirt bottles
-his light sabres

(He also has to hose himself off, clean out his pants, put them in the garage and clean himself in the shower after he does the nasty deed.)

We are running out of things he loves. I think it would be against the law to refuse him food, the other love of his life. We have also bribed him with seeing Shrek the Third when he poops in the potty 5 times. So far we are on #2... that's not a joke :)

Every time he uses the potty he also gets one of his treasures back. He has chosen his BJs and his light sabres. Today he tried attaching all the light sabres to only his underpants. He came inside with his underpants drooping down to his knees crying that his light sabres were falling off. Now that's one serious Jedi.

Coloring

Max really loves to color... and draw... and paint... and do anything that involved creativity (he must get it from his aunt Bekah). Once I told him he was artistic. He looked at me and said, "What does that mean?" I told him he meant that he was really good at coloring and drawing. He said, "Oh, yeah. You're right."

The other night Max asked Nate to draw with him. Nate was reluctant at first until he realized that Max meant color. Nate explained to Max that he is not a good drawer but he is a great colorer. Apparently, Nate won a coloring contest in 2nd grade. He also had his blue crayon stolen. If you ask him, I'm sure he'd love to tell you about it.


Grant just sat there naked looking suspicous while everyone else coloring. I did appreciate the strategic placement of the crayons for the picture's sake.

Nothing ruins a good night of coloring more than a baby brother.

Kurt's Party

Our good friend Kurt Meredith graduated from law school on Saturday. He is obviously very smart, not to mention a Democrat and closet meat eater (at least when his parents are around). We got him a really cool graduation card with George Bush's picture on it that I'm sure he will cherish always.

We joined the festivities of his party Saturday morning. It was so much fun because 1) Kurt accomplished an amazing feat and is no longer in law school and 2) we got to see all of our good friends that for some reason we never see anymore and 3) Georgia made some amazing vegetarian food (sorry, Kurt. I can't resist).

I thought it would be fun to have a picture of all the kids. 5/7 looking at the camera....



4ish/7 looking at the camera. Jack can't take his eyes off of Brooklyn's beauty.

Wilson really just wasn't interested in being in any pictures... and where did Campbell go?

More attempts at a picture of all the boys.

They're cute, regardless if they're looking at the camera or not. I mean, check out Campbell's pants and hat. It doesn't get much better than that. Whitney and I both got our boys in their preppies in honor of Kurt.

Kurt dashed all of our hopes by not wearing a bow tie at his party. But, he did wear white shoes that Max thought were pretty cool. Max told me he would like to have some shoes like that.

Sidenote: Poor Emma was the only girl (besides her sister...but Brooklyn isn't quite to the playing age yet) Now, to her credit, Emma worked the crowd and had Kurt and Georgia's relatives gushing over her and getting her anything she wanted. At one point all the boys decided to play tag. I don't know if Emma was playing or they just thought she was playing. She came running over to John crying (just a little) saying Grant had hit her on her back. I asked her if he said, "TAG!" when he hit her back. She whimpered that he had. (With Grant you never know... I was relieved that he was trying to play a game this time rather than just hitting " 'cause I wanted to.") Emma decided she didn't like that game.

Girls and boys are so different. She was seriously outnumbered but held her own as best she could. You go, Emma.

Even more boys

The Loibners came for a quick visit this weekend. The boys have lots of fun playing together. We cover all the ages...1, 2, 3, 4 & 5. There was even more sword fighting, wrestling, shooting and arguing than usual.


We even got a night out just with Peter and Whitney like we used to do in the past. It's amazing how much harder it is to hang out now than it was 7 years ago. Thank you Leah for making it possible!

"Krystal" clear

These are the latest pictures of my niece. I know I'm partial but she is already really cute. I mean, how many little bitty unborn babies smile for their ultrasound picture? Only 11 more weeks until her birthday.

On another girl note: Max and Grant were discussing their desire for a baby sister on the way home from community group tonight. Max sighed and said, "I sure wish I could have a baby sister." Grant said, "Me too. I want two of them."

Sick Day

Without going in to details, I stayed home from work today. It was nice to have a day at home with my boys... I can't remember when the last time we were all home together without having anywhere to go. Of course, I put them to work. For mother's day, I told Nate all I wanted was some flowers to plant... so that is what we did today. Planted some flowers.

That is dead sexy right there. Good bye monkey grass, hello flowers.
Max REALLY wanted to plant some tomato plants. Who knew there are about 50 choices when you go to buy a tomato plant?! I chose a large kind and a cherry tomato kind... we'll see how it goes.
Last year the boys planted some sunflower seeds in their little pots. That did go over so well so this year I went straight to the glory. Jack has a strong fondness for the marigold. He tried picking it about 23 times. That's why I took these pictures today... none of this may be there tomorrow.
The finished product. It smells like a hamster cage but it looks much better.
It's just the simple things in life....

Mother's Day

All the boys made me a card in their mother's day out class. Max's is especially hilarious. They were asked to fill in the blanks.

My mom's name is.... Sarah.

My mom is.... I don't know how many... years old.

My mom weighs.... I don't know how many... pounds.

My mom's favorite food is... shrimp.

My mom's favorite color is... black.

My mom's best friend is... my dad.

My mom's favorite thing to do is... rest.

My mom's favorite TV show is... American Idol & Oprah.

My dad's nickname for my mom is... Honey.

My mom's nickname for me is... Max McGooden.

My favorite thing to do with my mom is... play.

I love it when my mom cooks... spaghetti.

I love my mom because she... makes me yummy food.

Weekend Trip

The little guys and I went to Tulsa this weekend to visit my sister, BIL and brother (we got to see AD for one night before he flew home to CO). It rained a lot there last week... Dave and Bekah have some drainage issues in their backyard. After a lot of rain, it becomes more of a swamp. The boys thought this was really cool.

At least this wasn't the result of the stomach virus. Yikes.

What a dream come true for the G-man.... running around in the mud only wearing his underpants.
The perfect end to a night of running in the mud... watermelon.

in the water

The afore mentioned rock stacker.... (well, I wrote about him before so maybe you should look at the previous post first.)

The boys love them some P-dub. He is so cool. He finds all sorts of treasures...
...like crawdads. This poor little guy lost one of his claws seconds after this picture was taken after tragically being dropped onto the rocks.
Max loved jumping off this mini cliff into the water. Nate jumped off the big one but Max decided he would wait to jump off of that one until he turned 13.

On the way back, Grant and I walked at the back of the pack... slowly. Grant only fell 1 time on the return trip, but he did whine the ENTIRE WAY, "I need someone to hold me. Mama, hold me. I need you to hold me." I started playing along telling him we should find something to ride on. I'd ask him, "Can you ride on a....bug, snake, dinosaur, bear, etc." At one point I asked, "Could we ride on a donkey?" He thought that we for sure could ride on a donkey. A minute later I stopped and said, "Grant... look!" Knowing he would be so excited about the little lizard I had just spotted. He eagerly replied, "Did you find a donkey?"

to the falls

We went to King's River Falls Sunday morning for a little hike. It was absolutely perfect weather and so nice to spend some time outside with our good friends. The boys both did great on the way to the falls. Grant only fell 4 times.
I don't know what brought on the affection... I'm just glad I captured the fleeting moment.
The final destination complete with a family picture... 3/5 looking at the camera. At least that's majority.
Jack loved the water. He sat with his feet in the water and stacked rocks for a good while. I love third babies. He entertains himself so nicely.

Backporch

While Nate was laying bug killer in the yard the boys had a little hang out time on the porch eating a nice little snack of cheetohs, chips ahoy and grapes. Delicious. Jack had a great time sitting at the table with his big brothers. Grant decided he wasn't that comfortable at the table so he got a chair for himself and reclined.

One of Jack's new favorite activities is climbing onto the table and sitting in the middle of it. He mastered that yesterday.
The boys were fighting over who got to stand in the doorway to watch Nate. The logic of both of them fitting in the door was beyond them. I think they just like an excuse to push each other.

Motherhood

There is a new webcast based on being a mom called In the Motherhood. They are accepting submissions from REAL moms to help base their shows. Of course, I have lots of stories so I just made a submission. You can go to www.inthemotherhood.com and vote. Mine is titled Naptime.

invasion of the bird

Last night we were watching American Idol, of course. Max really loves American Idol and talks about it throughout the week. "Mom, so who do you think should leave tonight? I hope it's not Melinda. I think it might be time for Lakrisha to go." Grant chimed in when BonJovi was singing, "Well, I guess that's the guy who got ticked off" (while kicking his leg). It's only a little bit sad that our small children are so aware of what's happening on American Idol. I mean, Grant realizes that whoever sings on the 2nd night is going home.

So, during this Grant went into the front living room and called out, "Hey, Maxo. There's a bird in here." Max went to see and they started talking about the bird. I thought they were full of it. Nate got up to investigate (I generally don't move from my spot on the couch during AI). Nate confirmed that there was in fact a bird in our house. At this point, it flies into the living room where I am and lands on the entertainment center bookshelf. Apparently, I am scared of little birds flying around my house. I got up, ran hunched over to Jack, grab him and run to the hallway as if I were being shot at. I swear to you, that bird was dive bombing me. I shut the door behind me but mustered up the strength to reach my hand out the door when Nate yelled to turn out the lights. Max came and joined Jack and I in the hall. Grant stayed out in the living room trying to chase the bird out. Nate was turning off all the lights in the house to try to encourage the bird to fly to the porch where the light was on. Grant yelled and gave us the all clear, "It's O-tay. The bird flew outside."

So, little birds and squirrels. I don't like them in my house.

(Go to my friend Emily's blog and read about her adventure with a flying creature!)

stupid, stupid dell

our disk thing doesn't work on our computer. it will play a dvd but it won't read a picture disk and we can't scan pictures onto disks. so, nate called dell monday to see if they could fix it. it took all day... on the phone, writing back and forth on the computer, giving them remote access of the computer so they could try to fix it. it didn't work. the little tech guy, samit, couldn't figure anything out.

that night, i got on to write my therapy notes. i had no files in my documents. everything was gone. all of my pictures are gone. i flipped. nate got back on with the people from dell. they said they couldn't see anything that would cause our files to be gone. they asked nate what process he used to delete the files. he told them that their guy did it. they said they don't know if they will be able to retrieve our documents.

so everything is gone. every picture i've taken over the past year that i downloaded to the computer is gone. all of my work progress notes and billing, gone. everything.

i feel sick.