Small Packages

I just can't take it anymore. This is my baby. My angel...certainly not my favorite but the last of the Cole boys. As my "not favorite" he has tugged at my heart strings from the very beginning. He was so sweet but even the sweetest boy has his own personality. He has always been obsessed with guns. He LOVES weapons of any kind. He even eats his pop tarts into the shape of PP7, 007's gun (apparently, I don't watch that show).

(You lookin'at me? You talkin' ta me?) that's his Scarface impression...not that he's ever seen that movie.

I mean, come on! Even when he was 2yrs old he was obsessed with all things military. GI Joe was his hero. He couldn't stop staring at his Dad when he was in his flight suit. Khaki Green was his favorite color. I have a sneakin suspicion that the military will be in this boy's future.

But I"ll not linger on thoughts of him as a soldier. I'll just enjoy today when he's like many other 13 yr old boys in America. Dreaming of being a sports star. It's ok baby...You can do whatever you want in your life. (inside I'm terrified that every bone in his scrumptious little body will be pulverized on Thursday...FULL CONTACT DAY!!) I have a special bottle of Pinot Grigio for Thursday. Seriously though the boy only weighs like 85lbs. He's the smallest on the team...but he's the fastest and most determined as well. He's earning the respect of his peers. Well...not if they read this blogspot!

Now on to more perplexing subjects. What the hell is going on with these kids? Every picture below they are doing the same thing. I mean seriously do you have to check your package every 10min?

Are you kidding me? I don't know maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill....Boys will be boys I guess.

I'm learning ALOT about boys these days...not little boys but teenage boys. They are menacing too! I love it, mostly. Sometimes though I cringe...I'm gonna need botox sooner than expected I suspect!

We love and miss you Jeff.

Fun in the sun

Hi all, we had a great weekend at the river. I'll post more later but I just wanted to let you all know we survived! We met lots of people and had a grand old time!

Neighbors...

Hey! We got us some dang new neighbors. They're not very friendly either.

We've been here almost one year. It's eaked by ever so slowly and apparently we have one more to go. On either side of the house we are renting, we have pastures. Until now, both pastures have been empty. As of one week ago we have some big ol' bovines grazing on the fresh tall grass.

They aren't the most attractive creatures in the world. But these big huge things aren't the only inhabitants of the pasture. Nope. We also have these...

These are entirely different. They are wittle bitty baby calves! So cute!! I want one...but I know babies grow up to be teenagers. I don't want any of those. I have a few that I'd like to put out to pasture. When baby calves grow up they turn into teenagers (shudder)...

and sometimes if you drop them on their heads they may turn out like this:

then you think "3 times the charm"...nature bites you in the @$$ one more time and you wind up with:

So with the help of good friends, wise elders and birth control you learn from your past and try not to repeat it. Except when teenage calves grow up to be adult stock they go to slaughter...

Our teenagers grow up and continue to torment and test and push the limit...and eventually want to DRIVE YOUR CAR!!! A big ol ugly cow looks mighty good right about now.

Growing up too fast...

Ahh, camping. I hate it. My youngest boy however, loves the heck out of it. It was that reason and that reason alone that I took my baby camping. Just like his dad, he promised to do everything, I wouldn't have to lift a finger. His daddy taught him well. I hate camping. Really, I hate it, I hate the sleeping outside, I hate the ground, I hate the bugs, I hate the sun in your eyes in the morning...I can't think of anything to love about it. Except when I camp with my baby. He wasn't lying. He did everything. He set the tent up, he caught the fish, he did EVERYTHING. Bless his heart. He's so independent and wanted to show his mamma that he's getting older now. I don't want to believe it but I'm willing to listen. Look at him cast his line. It took every ounce of self control not to run over and pinch his tushy and squeeze him. EVERY OUNCE. Why can't we stop time whenever we want? Why? Yep...that's right. There are 12 trout there. Can you believe it?? Between 3 adults and 3 children we didn't do too bad. That's alot of dead fish. Now...what is a mother to do with a child who has ALWAYS been obsessed with knives, guns, weapons of any kind? She puts his mental illness to good use. Yep. Channel the crazy knife lover's energy into gutting fish. (secretly I'm praying that he won't become a serial killer)But I push my thoughts way way way back in my mind, back with the secret crush I've always had on Christopher Walken and it's probably further back in my mind than the fact that pudding makes me gag. Love Christopher W...Hate pudding. There I've said it, move on people. Anyway back to my big strong sweet little baby boy.

There he is. Growing up. If he gave a crap about me he'd stop it. Sigh. The hardest part about it all is that he reminds me of Jeff. He looks like him, acts like him...I think he smelled like him in this picture. Just kidding. He's growing up no matter what and I'd just better accept it. He did everything while camping. I had to wait until he was asleep before I could get a snuggle though. He still doesn't know I took this picture. Thank God he doesn't read my blog, I might end up like the fish. He's so sweet when he's asleep. Aren't they all???

Missin' our guy!

GLOOM DESPAIR AND AGONY ON ME...DEEP DARK DEPRESSION EXCESSIVE MISORY...

We're feeling a little low these days. Sort of sad thinking about all the stuff that Jeff is missing while he's on deployment. He's missing some good stuff, wrestling matches, soccer games and watching the boys grow. He's also missing some not so great stuff....puberty, snow shoveling, leaky roofs, flat tires, clogged toilets, 16yr olds with attitudes who thing they know every damn thing in the world and you a 39yr old college educated adult knows absolutely squat and he's missing scooping the poop. We all miss him but no one misses him more than Reese our 5yr old Rottweiler. Poor baby...if someone says "Is that daddy???" or "where's daddy"...she immediately runs to the window and whines and cries. Poor baby

WEll girl...momma's luvins are going to have to do until daddy gets home. Geez, who's the one that feeds you EVERY day and gives you all those treats..and cleans that black gunky crap from your ears every so often (with Jon Jon's favorite socks shhhh...don't tell) It's me that's who. So you'd better perk up when I walk into the room sometimes. I mean seriously, show me some love!Guess not. Jeff, you need to get home toot sweet lest our girl here goes on a hunger strike or the vet puts her on antidepressants. She misses you. You're the only one that lets her lick your toes and runs around the yard...and you're the best pooper scooper God ever put on this planet. I miss how you shovel the poop and toss it ever so carelessly into our neighbor's yard. I really miss that. He doesn't but I really really do. When you get home Jon's going to be so excited. You see he's the resident pooper scooper right now...and he's lacking like no body's bidness. He really doesn't care about it like you do. Plus I think he's making reese feel guilty about the amount of poop she leaves him. She just walks in the other direction when he's scooping...Yep...he's going to be overjoyed to ceremoniously hand over the golden shovel to Jeff. I can just imagine his face when he sees Jeff for the first time after 7 crappy months(pun intended). He misses daddy too. We all do. We miss him so bad it hurts.

Did someone say daddy??? Easy girl he'll be home in no time...I'm sure he misses us too.

Back from heaven!

WEll, I met my bestest friend in the world in the most beautiful place in the world! I met Jeff in Singapore. It was a magical time too. This picture is of the two of us on a "treetop walk" through the rainforest of Singapore. The suspension bridge is hung high above the trees and has the most spectacular views. I can't even put into words how beautiful this city is. We went to the upscale shopping centers as well as the more less posh shopping areas. It was all amazing.

We stayed at St. Regis, Singapore. I felt like royalty the entire time.

I hope we can visit Singapore again. Now I have another wonderful reason to return. I have a new friend. Her name is Hwei Ming and she lives in Singapore. I was researching St. Regis hotel on google and her blog site came up. Apparently she had eaten dinner there and was writing about it and there you have it! Her blog site is great, she gives her friends and family a glimpse into her everyday life. She thinks it's nothing special but I beg to differ. I find it sooo interesting to see how another family lives their life...where do they eat, what do they eat? What do they think of the new swine flu epidemic??? She has inspired me to update my boring old site and keep up with posting often. So here's to you Hwei Ming!

Now on to other new happenings. Jeff FINALLY crossed the equator as an active duty military member. This can mean only one thing, the polywog ceremony. In Navy tradition sailors that haven't yet crossed the equator are known as polywogs, once you cross over you are now a shellback. (why can't they be more sweet about it and be caterpillars that change into beautiful butterflies? Don't ask Don't tell right?) Anyway back in the old days those polywogs died going through the ceremony as the "hazing" was quite severe, they were whipped with hoses, made to eat rotten foods, even thrown overboard. Needless to say a few even died.

Today...not so much. With current hazing laws and political correctness let's just say it's a bit tamer.

No, this isn't Easter dinner at the Cole house. It's part of the "ceremony".

Hands of ladies....he's all mine.