So gross I hesitate to post about it

I have 3 rambunctious boys and one lovely, but moody daughter. My boys are typical boys; climbing things just to jump from it, damaging household items and covered in scars and scabs from numerous, albeit, superficial injuries. Yesterday however, while Madison was outside riding the horse, I noticed the deadly sound of silence from all 3 boys.

What I discovered was totally gross and only something boys would think of, let alone try to accomplish. The boys had gotten my largest stock pot from the kitchen, taken it to Thomas' room and attempted to capture, how should I say, a moment, a fragrance, a thought. I found Richnigthder sitting (fully clothed I should mention) on the stock pot.......farting. When I screamed in horror at the sight and sound "What in the hell are you doing?" Thomas replied that they were trying to fart the pot and get the lid on quickly enought to capture the odor and then run it to Madison's room where they would release the aroma. I have just one question. Where do boys come up with these vulgar and vomitous ideas???


P.S. I refuse to use the stock pot again. Perhaps I can put it into use as a dog water bowl, but it will not ever contain food for human comsumption again. End of story!

This mother needs help

• I don't know what else I can say. You need to read this blog and spread the word. http://watchingthewaters.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/family-needed/

The karma of life is knocking on my door

Literally 20 minutes ago I was reading this blog http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/ and was thoroughly enjoying reading about this family's seemingly bad luck everytime the husband travels out of the country. Things break, toilets get plugged, kids get sick, etc, when as I am laughing out loud, I hear wretching......as in hurling.....coming from the bathroom. Yes, the gods in charge of karma thought it was pay back for enjoying someone else's misery just a little too much.

Thomas is barfing, the dog has cancer and is on chemo, and i have yet another honking big zit on my chin. What in the hell is happening??? Do we live in the damned Bermuda Triangle?? If we do, I wish the aliens would take me away, because I could use a vacation sans kids and a stylish tin foil hat. Oh, and our credit card company called Sunday night to inform (question) some recent activity on our card in FRANCE. Seems our card is having a little vacation in France without us, and paused long enough to need, of all things, gas, tires and car parts. Trust me, if I was in France, buying car parts or tires would be the last thing I would be buying. Besides those would make lousy souvenirs and they are damn tough to pack and get thru security at the airport.

I guess I should stop laughing at others' bad luck even when it is funny as hell, because it always comes back and bites me in the ass. Note to self: suppress all laughter and giggles forever. I can't afford humor anymore. ;-)

Give a Haitian kid a fly swatter and..............

Jerome is the happiest kid ever. He smiles most of the day and is just generally happy. He randomly, without prompting, will hug and kiss me and tell me he loves me. Even when this kid is in trouble and is understandably angry, he puts his hands on his hips, purses his lips and lets out a little sigh. That's it. No yelling, stomping of feet, slamming of doors...nothing.

Yesterday I gave him the task of smashing flies or moosh, in Creole. He took this job with a smile and a determination to rid our house of the Amityville Horror look. He stayed focused on his job for a good hour at least, as I completely forgot I had told him to do it. Hey, I was just happy that all 4 kids were doing something, anything, that didn't cause a fight with anyone else.

I went to my bedroom later in the afternoon to fold some laundry and noticed a pillow shoved into one of the celestory windows above our bed. Hmmm, I thought. Odd place for a pillow. I climbed up on the bed and took the pillow down and what did I find but a smashed pane of glass. I beckoned...well, maybe yelled...for all 4 kids to come to my room. I had them all sit down and gaze at the broken window.

I proceeded with my interrogation of each kid adding that unless someone fessed up, everyone would be staying in their rooms. Jerome briefly accused Richnigthder who looked like he was going to KILL him, but quickly admitted his guilt. Seems he was moosh swatting and obviously got a little excited and smashed the hell out of the window. It only broke the inside pane, but with our cold weather approaching, we have no time to waste in getting this suprisingly expensive window replaced. Oh, and the shards of glass were scattered across our bed. I suppose it was good thing I realized that before we fell into bed.

And more pictures

Jerome in his undies having some self-made fun with
the hose and the trampoline.

This buffalo was the reason Jerome wet his pants in the

parking lot of the rest stop.

Peterson and Alder looking a little dazed after just arriving

in Billings.

What a handsome group of kids.

The Bergstedt's and their kids. Aurrora is a super big

sister!!

geez, alright already...pictures

Tifanni was suprised to see us and dashed down the stairs
carrying little Alder.

The four Laurie children!

Yes, Thomas did dump the bucked of water on Rich.

After their baptism. This is the cake my friend Lauri

made. She wrote on there "byen vini" which is welcome!

Aren't they outstandingly handsome all dressed for

their baptism.

No talk, just pictures.

I hate my gateway computer

Yes I know there are starving people in this world who endure a tremendous amount of suffering on a daily basis, but I still have to vent about my rather spendy and lemony computer. last November we bought a totally pimped out gateway for about $1000 at BestBuy. I love the hot buttons and lighted keys, but that thing has been a lemon since it came out of the box. It has burned thru 4 batteries, won't keep a screensaver going, the screen dims and re-brightens ALL THE TIME, which makes you squint and then think you have a vision problem. Like that isn't enough, some of the buttons have popped up and you have to re-attach them occasionally. Then there is the problem of it just not coming on at all.

Today our dear laptop will journey forth from Best Buy here in Bismarck and head to the geek squad in Kansas City. Why Kansas City is beyond me, but since it is still under warranty they can do whatever they want with it....and I mean anything. We have accidental breakage protection and I often think it would be better to have "dropped" it down the stairs while walking. Heck, then at least they would just give us a new one instead of having to try and fix it before just getting us a new one.

We transferred all the infor from the old one to this new one we bought for the kids because how can I be without internet access for a month?? This new little one for Thomas is an HP laptop and while it doesn;'t have all the bells-and-whilstles it does have the same internal guts as our snappy Gateway.

So there is my rant for the week. Tonight Marc and Madi have their riding lesson. Kurt will come out and coach them at our arena while I sit in a chair and supervise with a beer in my hand. Why you ask, am I not riding?? Well, Madi is riding my horse so I would be left to ride our Arab mare and I am not up for that much "fun" tonight.

Oh, and I found out that the in-laws are coming out for a visit in October. While I would normally feel vomitous about this for a week, this time however I am a little excited. Since the boys came home in May, they have not met a single one of our relatives. most of the relatives live on the West coast, so we haven't been particularly anxious to fly or drive out west, so it will actually nice for the boys to meet some relatives. Next summer we know we have a trip to San Francisco as Madison's birth-father is getting married. That should be a really fun time and I am looking forward to that trip a lot.

The boys are doing very well and I can't remember what life was like without them. It just feels like they have always been here. They fit into our chaos very well!