Water Leak

Last evening/night we had a GREAT BIG South Texas rain storm.  Somehow in the middle of the night Silas snuck in at the foot of my bed and stole my blanket.  This morning he was telling me that he came to my bed because water was "shooting out of his bed".  I disreguarded his story thinking that he must have just heard the rain and thunder in his sleep. He IS quite the vivid dreamer.  He kept telling me that it had really happened.  Then I began thinking maybe he wet the bed.  Last night he fell asleep at 5:30 while in his room on a time out.  He slept the rest of the night which really made me worry that he'd wet his bed.  I investigated his clothes and looked all around for abandoned pee pee pants that he might have hid.  Nothing.  Then I went to make his bed and there was a HUGE wet spot. WTC!?!  I did the ol' motherly sniff test and it was clean.  OH SNAP! Are you kidding me?  This brand new house has a leak?  Oh I was ticked.  Our builder is probably bankrupt by now.  He's not fixing the few things that were supposed to be done before closing and isn't answering emails or phonecalls. So I'm thinking dang it, we're going to have to find and get this fixed.  I climbed on the top bunk to feel the ceiling and try and figure out where the water was coming from.  Everything was dry and nothing looked suspicious.  I'm completely at a loss now but not dropping my investigation.  A  pool of water that big came from SOMEWHERE!  Knowing that Silas went to bed so early I questioned if he'd gone to the bathroom in the middle of the night and gotten himself a drink?  There were no cups around so I doubted that.  Elias has been sleeping on the top bunk while Maggie has been staying with us.  I decided to ask Elias if he took some water to bed with him last night. He said not exactly...hmmmm what does that mean I ask. "Oh, well my ankle was hurting so I brought a bag of ice to bed."  He told me a couple days ago that in PE he punted soccer balls the whole hour and that his ankle was sore from it.  I told him he was just out of shape (and a sissy). I guess he decided to take treatment measures into his own hands.  He's so over dramatic!!! I blame him for Silas being in my bed!

We Trashed the Place

I am back from Idaho now and I think everything on the house is almost complete.  We are still waiting on the lease agreement with the State Parks and Recreation department.  We are complying with everything so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

The people we bought the house from were very nice.  They were an older couple that had been in the cabin for a lot of years.  They hadn't even been able to go for a couple of years because of their health but their daughter has been using it quite a bit.

I had to leave early but the daughter still wanted to have one last hurrah before they turned it over to us.  For liability purposes, I called her and told her that she couldn't stay at the cabin and she needed to come get the rest of her stuff.  Let's just say, she wasn't too excited about not being able to have a huge party there the last weekend.  I know, I am totally unreasonable not letting some total stranger party at our house while we aren't there.

My brother in law Jon, his mom and my dad went out to the house today so that the lady could come get her stuff.  I guess they showed up completely drunk and were not happy about the changes that were made on the house.  It was probably a good thing I wasn't there because I have a tendency to lose patience very quickly when people are drunk, yelling and screaming and being rude.  I was told by both Jon and my dad that it was a good thing I wasn't there.  I dont really know what they meant by that.  The people said that I had no respect for history and that I had trashed the place.  I think they meant that I had detrashed the place.

Jon and his mom helped me clean out all the old stuff.  They worked like crazy and we took literal boat loads of stuff to the dock and loaded two pickups completely full of stuff.  We had couches, cupboards, rugs, knick knacks and all sorts of other stuff.  Jon cleaned up the beach area and helped me fill in the old outhouse.  (that isn't a job that you ever want to volunteer for by the way).  We got rid of a lot of stuff.  Float houses are kind of funny, if you take weight out of them, they float better.  If you add a lot of weight, they tend to sit lower in the water.  When we were done, I couldn't even close and lock the door because it had shifted so much.

The next day, Harvey and Cheryl (Tami's parents) came down and completely cleaned the house.  Cheryl was on her hands and knees scrubbing the floors on the entire main floor.  Harvey was cleaning light fixtures, knocking down cobwebs and cleaning windows.  It really opened the whole house up and it now seems very big.

I really don't want to be rude, but.....we did not trash the place.  I know it has to be hard to see something that you grew up with be completely changed in a matter of 2-3 days.  The drama is now over. 

PS(from Tami)  Caleb is much more PC than I am.  Let's just say he gave you the rated G version of how the daughter and her boyfriend behaved when they came to get their CRAP!

Our Own Private Idaho!

It's official, we are the owners of this float cabin in Idaho.  Caleb is in ID now.  He signed the papers on Monday and has been working on cleaning it out, buying a boat and getting it ready for winter.  We bought it from a couple in their 80's so it's had years and years of accumulation.  The couple has a daughter (with boyfriend and kids) who seems to be having some separation anxiety with the place.  She was PLANNING on spending this coming weekend there with the fam to get a few more things (ie one last hoorah).  Caleb, Jon (BIL) and Jon's Mom spent all evening gutting the place so he's going to be calling her today to let her know that she can come get the things she asked for but staying is not an option.  They took two HUGE pickup loads of junk to the dumpsters last night.  He's going to be changing the locks today.  Even though there's tons to do initially Caleb is still really excited.  Our plan is for the boys and me to spend our summers there and for Caleb to take quite a bit of vaca and come on the weekends as much as possible too.  It's located in a really quiet bay on what is officially called Lake Chatcolet in Heyburn State Park but is connected to Lake Coeur d' Alene.  You either have to hike a couple miles along the beach to get to it or take a boat in.  So Caleb spent most of yesterday morning aquiring this...

It's just a little jon boat to do the running back and forth but it also will make a great fishing boat for the boys with the trolling motor and outriggers.  I'm hoping I can keep Caleb from buying a ski boat at least this first year.  Our kids are really small and light so I'm sure this one will work to pull them tubing, wakeboarding and skiing. Maggie's husband Jon's, parents have a cabin in the same bay which is how we learned about this one in the first place.  So, we already know some neighbors!

 

There are some new plumbing requirements being implemented by the state that we are having to accomodate right now (no more outhouses and grey water must be pumped to a tank on shore) but we've got a plumber coming this week to take care of the tank and Caleb and Jon filled in the ol' one holer yesterday too.  I'm sure you're thinking then where do you go to the bathroom?

Let me introduce you to the INCENOLET.  All stand up pee'ers shall use the woods for such purposes.  All sit down jobs are done on this beauty.  Once complete you press a pedal that drops the liner down into the incenorater where everything is burned to ashes.  It's vented to the outdoors so I'm hoping the "cooking" smells go right on out the vent.  Then once a week you dump the ashes.

Boat garage and beach area.

Caleb took this pic on his cell for me.  Just a few minutes from the Marina is this lovely place.  You can't read it but the sign says, "Meadow Family Nudist Resort".  That's right a family nudist resort just a hop skip and a jump away.  Jealous?

Best one of all.  Caleb kicking it on the dock, enjoying the view.  It doesn't get better.  However, I noticed that I can only see his shoes and socks.  Do nudists still wear shoes when the terrain is rough? HA j/k

ps don't miss my spider post below!

Spiders, Trees and Pizza

Big Momma's Boyfriend!

This is what was in my entryway (outdoors) this morning. We failed to kill the Big female but I was determined not to let this male go! Caleb's in ID so from way up north he instructed me to spray it with the hose and then smash it. In theory that's a great plan. Here's how it all played out. First I took a picture. It was on the wall so there was no way to lay anything next to it for perspective. I'd say leg span wise it was 3 inches across. I put on my hiking boots (nothing open toed) and got the hose out with the nozzle set for a hard spray. I sprayed him down and he rolled a few feet, opened up and took off running! FAST! This is where the screaming begins. I'm chasing the dang thing around as he rolls and then opens and runs around like a hundred dash sprinter.  I couldn't convince Jude to stay inside so I had him stand 15 ft. away thinking that would be a safe distance.  At one point the hidious thing came pretty close to him.  We repeated this sequence of events a few times... spray, roll, open up (scream) and run.  I finally got him cornered and sprayed him continuously for about a minute.  When I finally let off the spray he stumbled out a little slower pace than he'd previously been going so I swooped in and stomped him... POP! yes I said POP! That's the sound and feel it made.  I kept spraying and stomping and screaming at him for the next few minutes.  When I realized it was over for sure I had to spray the carcass off into the woods.  It was a huge, horrible, gross thing.  I really hope the neighbors weren't out!

There's something about boys/men and clearing land.  Caleb got the boys all excited about cutting down some trees out back.  Yes, that's Elias with an axe.  Caleb actually tried to talk to me about letting Elias run a small chainsaw.  That converstion didn't. Last too long.

Isaac using a hand saw.

The boys working together to try and fall a tree.

It got snagged up top so Caleb had to step in.

Another fun Aunt Maggie adventure.  Our church starts late on Sundays so Maggie helped Isaac make pizza from scratch. 

Poor kid can't have a dog so he had to make a pizza shaped like one.

Jude observing.

That's about all our TX adventures for now!

Catchin' Up

It's been a while since I've actually written words on a blog entry so I thought I'd add a few tonight.  Jude's Birthday was good and he loved his toys.  The only thing left that is baby about him are the diapers.  He's speaking really well, he can physically do all the things his brothers do, and he's got a strong willed, terrible 2 personality.  It was really sad for me today to get him 2T clothes.  No more counting his age by months. 

The boys are really liking their schools.  Isaac is running to be a homeroom representative for the student council.  He has to deliver a speech and the class will vote for one boy and one girl.  He has come up with his speech and campain already.  He wrote what he plans to say the other night and it turned out great.  He's going to say things like, "I plan to make the work fun by helping to plan it", and "I would like to give new students tours because I am a new student and know what it's like".  All very diplomatic things.  His final sentence is "besides, if you vote for me I'll give you a Hundred Grand" and then he's going to hand out cards that say vote for Isaac and have a mini hundred grand candy bar attached to them.  He came up with that plan ALL on his OWN too.  I think we may have a future politician on our hands!

Elias was signed up for baseball but we realized on the way to our first practice that it was going to take an hour and a half of JUST driving every time, not to mention the 2 hr. practice.  Caleb is going to basically be gone for most of the season so we decided to pull him from the team.  He was ok with the decision as we just got a membership to the Woodlands Country Club and promised lots of golfing and tennis in return.  We can't wait til next year when he can do sports through the Junior High.

Silas is as TURDY as ever!  We were running around today doing a bunch of errands.  At one of our stops I was carrying Jude into the store and noticed he had something in his mouth.  I hadn't been giving him food so I was really concerned about what it could be he was chewing on.  I kept asking him what he was eating and he wouldn't open his mouth.  Finally Silas let me know that he had gum in his mouth.  I had only given gum to Silas so you might be able to guess now where Jude got his gum.   In the past Silas has been known to just spit his gum out on the floor of the car when he's done chewing it.  I guess putting his ABC gum into Jude's mouth is a step up from his usual.

Caleb's sister Maggie has been here since the beginning of September on a 4 week medical rotation at a Hospital downtown.  The boys have been LOVING their one on one time with her.  She has taken the time to do something special with each boy on several occasions.  They are going to be really sad to see her go.  I think Maggie will probably breath a sigh of relief when she pulls out of our driveway for the last time.

Caleb is flying up to Idaho tomorrow to sign papers on a lake cabin we're buying, sight unseen!  We've seen pictures and his parents went to look at it for us.  We're not worried though.  As I told Caleb, we wouldn't have bought it without his Dad's opinion anyway.  We're totally excited and plan to spend our summers at the cabin.  Fishing, skiing, hiking, biking, having fires and spending time with extended family (plus the Jeffers have promised to visit for a couple weeks EVERY summer too). 

Caleb and the boys started to clear some of our wooded and weeded areas today.  Let's just say there were young boys using saws and swinging axes... NIGHTMARE for me.  I'll post pictures later!

Jude Turns 2!

OH DADDY!

We cleaned out the garage this morning and look what began running across the floor!  I just happened to have the camera in my hand and set my car key down to give it perspective.  They say daddy long legs are very poisonous but don't have big enough mouths to bite.  I'm guessing this sucker could have clamped on!

Oh Texas bugs, how I hate you!

In case you didn't know...

...an ENTIRE bottle of hair thermal protectant/gloss dumped on the bathroom floor creates a slimy, horrible mess.  I was way too mad to take pictures.  Jude had just scaled the kitchen cupboards and dumped some things.  I was cleaning up that mess when I heard him SCREAMING in my bathroom.  Came running in to see what was up and slipped and fell on my can.  Jude was one greasy mess and couldn't even get up.  He kept trying and falling down which scared the crud out of him.  Elias came running in to see what the commotion was about and fell on his can too.  I've sersiously scrubbed, mopped and used every degreaser product I own (over 8 times) and it's still slick.  Jude will be 2 on the 13th so I guess I should expect him to be terrible.

Tami's B-Day and Sushi Hana

Soft shelled crab roll

My blondie brownies.  I really was happier than I look.Jude with humidity curls.Maggie letting Jude help.Our Sushi line.Veggie sushi roll~HA!King of sushi eating and making.Fancy rice on the outside roll!

Disclaimer...we had the camera on the wrong setting ~ hence the fuzzy view!

Saturday I turned 32! We didn't do much as we were expecting company but I spent the morning shopping it up with Isaac... I had a fun at Hobby Lobby with him. He was great and carried all my purchases which included a 6 ft. ladder and an area rug. Yes I got a ladder for my Birthday. It's one of my favorite gifts! Caleb has his super duper heavy one that I hate so I wanted a light one for indoors only. LOVE IT! Caleb made my FAVORITE dessert...Blondie Brownies and they turned out perfect. Caleb and I are going to re-celebrate my B-day another day. Jon and Maggie came VERY late that night (not the company I was referring to earlier). Maggie is doing a 4 week rotation at a hospital here in Houston and will be staying with us. She took Silas out for a special afternoon of exploring and sushi material shopping yesterday. She found a fish market close to our house so last night for FHE we had a sushi making party. It was so much fun! The boys LOVED creating their own rolls with shrimp, tuna, salmon and soft shelled crab. I tasted a tuna roll and it was good but created my own veggie roll which I LOVED...is it still considered sushi when there's no fish?