Boys and their Toys

John got an iPhone. That is about the biggest excitement in our world tonight. John's work decided they are no longer going to have company phones. However, if your position requires a phone they want you to get a phone and they will provide a set monthly reimbursement. I guess he could have just gotten a plain phone like he had, but this seemed like a good excuse to upgrade. He already has it set up so he gets all his work email automatically. I don't know if that is a good thing, but he is having lots of fun playing with his new gadget. All I got out of the deal was a new Sim card. We decided that since we are planning to live in Mississippi from here on out, I need to have a local phone number. Good bye to my Ohio number. I guess after almost a year in Mississippi it was time. I kept my Texas number for just over a year after we moved to Ohio. Within six months of getting a local number we were moving again. I hope history doesn't repeat itself.

The boys are having a good evening. We didn't do much for 80's day at school. Joshua just wore a pastel shirt and turned his collar up. He was pretty cute.When I got home today I discovered this mess in the floor of the study. Luckily, I always unplug the shredder after I use it. The cat is easily amused and she loves to turn over trash cans. I am just surprised she didn't string the paper all over the house.

Hippies and Pears

It is homecoming week in Florence and so that means the kids at Joshua's school have a different dress up theme for each day to show their team spirit. Today was hippie day. I am so not good at these sorts of things, but luckily his daddy knows stuff. John put electrical tape all over one of his shirts and bleached it. Now he has a tie dye shirt. Tomorrow is eighties day. I can't wait to see what John has planned for that.

After homework, the boys went out to play. We had a bag of pears that we had gathered at a friends house about two weeks ago. They are starting to spoil, so I told the boys to go pour them out so the deer could eat them. Of course, they invented a game that involved throwing pears. I didn't get all the details, but they seemed to be having fun.

All in all, it is turning out to be a beautiful week. It rained quite a bit yesterday and into the night last night. Today was overcast at times, but since it was just under 70 degrees around 3:00 it was a pretty great day. I came home and opened the windows. I love this time of year.

Fun with Dry Ice

John brought some dry ice home on Saturday. Of course that meant he had to blow something up. You can barely see the coke bottle to the left of the brush pile. It stretched quite a bit before it popped.

Just for the record, it is loud when a coke bottle filled with dry ice explodes.

There was some dry ice left after he had filled the bottle, so he threw it in the pool. The bubbles don't show up very well in the picture.

Another Week Begins

We had a good weekend, but it is hard to believe it is already Monday again. Socks recovered from her vet visit on Friday. She just laid around Friday evening and most of Saturday, but she is back to her rambunctious self.

The Sunday school party went well Saturday night. We ate way too much, but that was to be expected. We really enjoyed visiting with some great friends. The weather was beautiful and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Today I need to get laundry done and sew patches on the kids cub scout uniforms. I am anxious for the kids to get home today. Jacob was running a fever when we got home from church yesterday. He and I laid down and took a long nap. It was nice. By yesterday evening he was better and he was fine this morning. You've got to love those mystery bugs that just show up for an afternoon. While Jacob and I napped, John and Joshua did some work around the house. They also spent some time playing. They found a vine on a tree behind the house and took turns swinging on it. On one of John's turns the vine broke just as he swung over Joshua and he fell on him. Luckily I didn't see it happen. Joshua is OK, but it knocked the breath out of him. I think it scared his daddy pretty bad.

The story of the Smoker

Earlier this year my dear husband purchased an old propane tank on ebay. I was not sure why we were spending money on such a thing, but I was assured it was a good plan. John drew up plans for how he wanted a smoker built and with help from talented friends and coworkers our smoker was born. It was a good choice. We have definitely gotten lots of use out of it.

The boys got to help paint it. The plans were good and it works well. The two smoke stacks were an accident, but it all turned out OK. It was only supposed to have the one on the left if you are looking at it from the front. The other one has come in handy though because it allows you to let out heat faster when it is burning too hot. I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about using a smoker.

Today, we are smoking some briskets for our Sunday school party tonight. John is at work for a meeting and won't be home until after lunch. He got the smoker going at two this morning, and now it is my job to keep it stable. I went out at about 7 and the temperature was up to 275. That is way too hot. I closed the piggy tail and opened the top vents. It is now holding steady around 215. In just a few minutes I have to go wrap the briskets in foil. I am not sure I wanted to be in charge of the smoker, but I guess it never hurts to learn something new.

Boys being Boys

The boys had a good afternoon yesterday. The spent time doing boy stuff. You know, running with sticks and stuff. I was trying to get pictures without them seeing me. I know it is good for them to just get out and explore without me hovering and trying to protect them. I am getting better at just letting them be boys.

They decided to build a club yesterday. They even made a cool flag. Joshua was very proud of the club and wanted John and I to come visit them in it. He said he put the lawn chairs in it for me and John. He then told me that he put them close together because he knows that we like each other and like to sit together. That made me smile. I am glad my kids know that John and I "like" each other.

Mulch

Yes, we still need grass and the flower beds are still a little sparse, but doesn't the mulch make a big difference? I like the way the mulch contrasts with the colorful flowers. Hopefully we can add some more flowers or shrubs before too long.