LOL (for real)

When I met Steven, I realized something very interesting about him. He really laughs at tv shows.  Like really LOLs at the tv.

I don't know why this stood out as so odd to me. I think that I usually smile at something or maybe let out  a small giggle if something is funny.

Am I weird or is he the weird one in this relationship?

I think it says a lot about our relationship and the way we see life.

Or maybe I'm just a big stick in the mud who is usually blogging while he watches tv and I'm not really paying attention to the show.

What do ya'll think? Is it weird to laugh at tv shows? Or am I weird and don't know how to really let loose?

Deep thoughts during Thursday night tv shows....

crazy

I'm sitting here working/playing Words with Friends and Steven asks me if I have heard of this girl. http://www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

I googled her and started reading and crying. He's reading the USA today article to me as I'm reading her blog.

She is a mama to 13 children. We just kept repeating, "it's so crazy, it's so crazy".

But as Christians, it's not that "crazy". It's what we are called to do. We are supposed to be crazy and do crazy things.

I'm such a mom. My first thought is, "what if that was Maggie?".

What would you do if it was your daughter? Would you be proud? Terrified for her safety?

Sparky

Sparky came to us on a cold February morning. He was an adorable tabby kitten who was in Steven's motor. Maggie begged us to let her keep him. I can't say that he is my favorite cat in the world. He's just kinda umm......ANNOYING.

He's one of those cats who is always hungry. Norma (our vet friend) told me that it was because he was on his own for so long before he came to us and he's always worried about being hungry again. This results in him always meowing and weaving his way through your legs in the kitchen.

If you go to the kitchen, he's meowing and running to the kitchen.

If you open the fridge, he's trying to jump in the fridge.

But, he is snuggly and cute, so we try to find the nice things about him and focus on those things.

Earlier this year, he had a bad reaction to flea medication. He started having seizures and we ended up spending $400  on this cat. My husband is a saint.


I told Sparky that it was his one get out of jail free card and not to pull anymore stunts like that again.

Sparky and Mickey are great at one thing. Killing gophers in the backyard. We live next to a big field and they probably bring us a dead gopher once or twice a week. This makes up for some of Sparky's other annoying habits, I guess?

On Tuesday, Sparky came home and was slightly limping. I checked him out and found nothing.

By Friday morning, he wasn't putting any pressure on it and it was really swollen. I finally found a bite mark. Probably from a mad gopher.

Crap. I love Sparky, but I can't spend another $400 on him.  What in the world was I going to do about this?

On a side note: Maggie said that Sparky was probably just faking this injury so we would start really liking him.

I called Norma and she said it wasn't necessary to come in yet. Just to apply warm compresses on the spot and let Sparky try to heal on his own.

I asked her at what point I would need to bring him in. She said that if he developed a fever. Or if he was lethargic.

Lethargic?! I literally laughed out loud. Has she met this cat? I mean, he sleeps 20 hours a day. How would I even know if he was lethargic?!

So, I applied warm compresses to the cat. (p.s. cats hate this)

And I prayed. And guess what? Sunday morning, he came inside and was walking completely normal and the swelling was gone.

Maggie was right. I do like him a little more now. I am so glad he's okay.

Boots

Patrick calls every pair of shoes "boots".

Last winter and fall, he would only wear boots. Even if he only had on a diaper, he was wearing his boots. My parents got him a pair of cowboy boots with Woody and Buzz on them and he LOVED them.

Today, it got a little chilly and I told him that it was time for us to go look for a new pair of boots. I didn't think that we would find cowboy boots with characters on them again this year. In fact, "pre-baby" Beth thought that shoes with characters on them was ridiculous.

"Current" Beth thinks it's a great idea. Anything to get my kids to put on clothes without a fight is a good idea, in fact.

We looked at the options at Target. We didn't see much. In fact, Patrick was eyeing a pair of tennis shoes with CARS on them. I was willing to compromise and get these. I mean, if he didn't care that they weren't boots, why should I care?

Then, we saw these boots.
He threw down the CARS tennis shoes and tried to start putting on these bad boys.

I had to calm him down and convince him to wait until we paid for them. We put them on as soon as he got in the van.

He looked down at the boots and puffed out his chest and said, "my boots. I daddy". This was followed by, "go daddy. see boots?".

All this is translated into:I'm cool like Daddy because I have new boots. Can we go show Daddy my new boots?

So, we did and he compared his boots to the ones that Steven was wearing and he showed them to everyone this afternoon. These will be the boots that Patrick has picked for his fall fashion line this year.

13 miles

Steven and I have been walking/training for a half marathon at the end of the month. I really enjoy walking with him (even at 6 a.m.).

BUT...I've hurt the tendon that goes right behind my knee. My right knee. It is so annoying. It's not like super bad pain. More of an annoying pain. One of those things that makes you wonder if you should keep going and possibly injuring yourself further or do you just suck it up and keep going.

Right now, the plan is just to keep going with the half marathon training. Besides, who can resist walking in Napa Valley on an October weekend?

While I'm walking and pondering these deep thoughts (pre-coffee), I just imagine this....

Nik Nak

This is a video of Nikki asking Maggie to be her flower girl for her wedding. The video quality is not that great, but you get the idea from the squealing and hugging.

We are going shopping for Maggie's flower girl dress in a few weeks. Maggie is so excited! She gets to spend a whole day with Nikki and gets to try on pretty dresses. What could be better?

When we moved to Manteca, Maggie was immediately drawn to Nikki and started calling her "Nik Nak". What little girl wouldn't love Nikki? She dances, wears pretty clothes and is always interested in what Maggie is talking about.

I'm so happy for Nikki and Jerry. They are getting married in January and I'm so happy to have our family be a part of their special day.

boxes

Today, Patrick climbed into this box and got all snuggled inside. He had his sister's pillow pet, a big blanket, baba and his sister's stuffed leopard. He stayed there until Martha Speaks was over. He was allowed to play with all of his sister's stuff cause she was at school and didn't know that he had all of it.

When I looked at this picture, it reminded me of this picture....
This is a box that Maggie made for the "new baby" a couple of days before he came to our house. As you can see, Sparky claimed it before Patrick came to our house and we never actually put Patrick in this box. Maggie was trying to make him a crib and just knew that this would be perfect for the new baby.

I guess she knew what he would like. It just took us a few years to get used to the idea of putting our kid in a box!