On Driving a Van.....

Again this summer is going so fast.  I think I've said that in every post.....but it is true!!!  I've got so much to catch up on....vacation, Cade winning Grand Champion Broilers at the Gold Buckle Gala, Cade showing the pigs, etc.  But I don't have any of those pictures right now so I decided to take a few minutes and talk about how much I love my van.

I don't know how Jay and I existed in our pre-van days.  It's kind of like once you have a kid you wonder what you did before they were born.  That's the way our van is....except I do still remember every uncomfortable moment in that car.  I texted Jay yesterday, after a trip to Sams, and asked him how we survived without it.  Yesterday I was able to buy a case each of water, gatorade and Dr. Pepper, a big box of diapers, stop at Wal Mart for some misceallneous purchases AND still had room for the stroller and my smallest child.  Heck - even the biggest child and Jay still would've have plenty of room.  IT WAS GREAT.  I even changed Camryn in the Wal-Mart parking lot in the back of it.  People kind of giggle when you tell them that you drive a van.....but that's just because they don't understand how awesome it is.  I will admit that I do look down on those in G6's now (I mean that I literaly look down on them from my van seat) and feel so sorry for them.  They have no idea how great life could be.....

Driving a much bigger vehicle has been a bit of an adjustment.  I think I've adjusted pretty well to pulling into parking spaces and backing out.  That was until yesterday at Ozark Empire.  I lived out that scene from the first Austin Powers movie where he gets that little cart stuck in a hallway.  I was ready to leave the fair and I could not get the van backed up.  I thought I was going to have to call Jay at the pig barn crying and ask him to walk all the way out of the main entrance and back it up for me.  The cars on either side of me were so close and there was a truck right behind me that I think was taking up more than its fair share of space.  Camryn was screaming for something, I don't even know what, and I lost it.  In a not so proud mommy moment where stress completely took over I screamed "can you just shut up for a minute."  I was sweating and backing and going forward and backing and going forward.  Finally I edged it out and headed down the road. There was an empty space next to the road hogging truck parked right behind me.  If it hadn't been for that I might still be sitting on the OEF parking lot.  I've never had any trouble like that with the van....for awhile I wondered if I had gone stupid since I couldn't seem to get it backed out.  I told Jay about it last night figuring he would laugh at me.  He said "where you parked in the lined main lot on the hill?"  As a matter of fact I was.  He said "Oh yeah, those spots are really tight.....really tight."  THANK GOODNESS!!  I was so glad to know it wasn't me.

The FFA parks cars at Farm Fest so Jay is somewhat of an expert of the OEF parking lots.  I now have more of an appreciation for what Jay at the kids and parents go though during those 3 days in October.  I also understand a little more of why the people they are parking scream and yell curse words at them.  I need to ask Jay to pay attention next year....it may be a mother in a mini-van who has a screaming toddler who almost got the van stuck between three cars.  If I had a high school kid say anything to me yesterday after that incident I might have cused at them to.  I'm going back to the fair tonight, but I'm staying clear of that parking lot.  I'll be parking the van in the livestock lot from now on. 

Also I'm sorry for any typos or gramatical errors.  For some reason I can not go back and fix them.  My mouse won't put my cursor in the correct spot.  So that is my excuse, at least on this post, for the errors.  Actually if you want to pretend that is what the problem always is with my spelling and grammer then please feel free to do so.

Summer Part 2

The Saturday after the 4th Cade took Bonnie & Clyde and the cattle to the Dade County show. Camryn and I went to. I'm going to admit it right now...I am not a hard core show Mama. I can not handle Camryn at shows right now. I am not one of those mothers who can have 6 kids climbing on the fences like wild natives while she is using a baby wipe in a cows butt while her 7th child is leading it in to the ring. It is not in my genetic makeup. I think Jay would tell you he can't handle it either. After that day he told me not to go to OEF or the State Fair. Before the cattle show started Cade was even telling me to leave. He can't handle Camryn's crying. 

Camryn did fine during the pig show but fell apart after that. I fed we nachos and Cheetos to keep her happy. I had brought what I thought was a good supply of things to keep her occupied. Wrong. She blew through that in 15 minutes and was terrorizing everything else

Clyde won Reserve Barrow and Judd won Grand Champion Bull. I didn't even get any pictures of Cade that day with his ribbons. 

Someone had a a two week old goat there. Camryn loved it. Jay had to wait for the goat people to load up before he could get our pigs out. He said he had to wait on someone who looked at her goat, shook her finger at it an said No, No, No like she was talking to a kid. Hmm I guess she was actually talking to a kid :)  Dairy goat people are a different breed. 

Summer Part 1

It seems like this summer is moving so fast that I don't have time to keep up with it all on the blog. I took some well needed vacation time after the 4th of July. As if my co-worker post wasn't proof that I needed a few days off. 

On the 4th we went to Branson with mom and Steve. Charity and her kids met us there. We headed down with no exact plans and had a really fun day. Steve wanted to do a zip line so we went to Shepherd of the Hills first. After finding out there was a two hour wait Cade and Steve decided that wasn't for them. We did take some good pictures by the statutes that they have there. Mom remembers doing that with her family and I remember doing it with mine. We need to take Cade to the play. I think he would love it. 

 

This attempt at a family pictures makes me laugh every time I look at it. It sums up our life right now. 

We also played laser tag, well everyone but me and Camryn, and rode go-carts. At the end of the day Steve and Jay headed back to our house with the kids and the 3 women adults plus Lawson walked around the landing. 

The day after the 4th Charty, Lawson, Camryn and I went to Springfield. Camryn found the makeup samples at Ulta while Charity was looking. Definitely going to have to preach the concept that less is more to this girl....

Two's

We are in the 2's full force right now. If we all make it to 3 in one piece it will be a miracle. I remember 1 being hard with Cade. I also remember disliking 3. It was my least favorite age with Cade. There was crying and screaming almost every night. I don't remember 2 being all that bad with him.  Two with Camryn is pretty bad. It is like Cade's 1 and 3 all rolled into one. 

We've gone round and round with her standing in the ottoman in our family room. Saturday morning I was on my hands and knees cleaning the kitchen floor. I've been off work since the 4th and I wanted to get things cleaned and organized before Monday. Jay was outside doing chores and getting things ready for the upcoming fairs. I was wiping away on the floor when I heard a loud thud and then screaming. I just knew she had broke her collarbone. I got her up and was checking her out when Jay walked in. I've grown a lot in my ability to handle things like this...I calmly told Jay she more than likely broke something. She finally stopped crying and seemed to be soon ok. We got her dressed so she could run an errand with Jay. We were thinking we'd observe her for awhile. I went to grab her under her arms to move her off my lap and she started screaming. We knew we had to take her to urgent care. 

I hadn't showered yet and was wearing a tank top and workout pants I'd cut into shorts years ago. You can tell the colors of our walls by looking at them. I told Jay I needed to get ready. While I was getting ready I asked him if he was going to take a shower. He looked at me like I was nuts. I told him we were not going to the doctor with a possible broken bone looking like trash!!!  So we made Camryn wait a few extra minutes while we tried to make sure we didn't look like we would abuse her.  Before you think we are terrible she could move the arm so we knew it wasn't broken. 

We got in and out pretty quickly. The doctor didn't think she had anything major broken since she could move her arm. He thought it was more of a bruise or a possible cracked rib. He didn't think we needed to X-ray it at that time. If she did have a cracked rib there was nothing that could be done anyway. Putting her (and us) through the stress of an x-ray wasn't worth it. 

Yesterday afternoon was pretty pitiful. She wanted to be held but it was hard finding a comfortable position. She cried a lot. She was crying and wanted crackers. She was so pitiful and said, with big huge tears "I can use my other hand."  

This morning she didn't cry as much but she was bossy!!  She laid on the couch most of the morning and dictated to me what TV show she wanted. I was also switching out bottles of apple juice and milk. We had gotten her pretty close to giving up the bottle and then this happened. I think it is part of her evil plan to keep it. 

When she decided to get up I had to help her. She can't get herself up from a sitting position. That's when she cries and says her arm hurts. This afternoon she got a little more active. 

This evening she is closer to herself, minus the fact she can't get herself up still. I was involved in something in the kitchen and she ran in and emptied out the silverware drawer. It didn't register with me for a few minutes. I walked into our family room and found tablespoons and forks all over the place. I thought it would be selfish for me to have all the fun. I just left them until Jay came in. It's not every day your family room is covered in silverware. 

We've also cleaned up numerous apple juice and milk spills...that were on purpose!!  I think she knew we wouldn't spank her since she was injured. Jay got on to her for the milk spill and it was

hard not to laugh. That girl is going to gray our hair!!!!

Only 11 more months of this right???  Oh and age eleven has not been pleasant either. It is a barrel of fun around our house right now. We've got one thinking he is 20 and another makes messes 5 times faster than I can clean them up. But at least I got some sweet hugs and kisses from Camryn while I was picking up the TV and satellite to wipe the apple juice up. Oh that girl knows how to work it. 

And I didn't even touch on the display of independence that has developed over the last few weeks...