Ladybug Imposters

The great invasion has begun. How they get in I do not know. Where they come from is a mystery. They stink. They're crawly. They look like wasps during flight. They feel like spiders when they land. They are identical to the sweet ladybug with one exception (that I know of, going by someone's word): they're not red. So now that I know they aren't true ladybugs but some sort of imposing beetle I am completely over them and will stand by willingly to watch them get sucked into the vacuum hose. Thankfully there aren't so many that Paul has had to break out the vacuum yet; last year there were so many of them you could only see patches of our white ceiling, and our house reeked! Hopefully we won't have armies again this year. Such a nuisance. Do real ladybugs stink this bad? I just crunched a few in the window and I'm not loving the odor. On a lower note, last night we had a wind storm so severe it's a miracle our house didn't blow away. Turns out our house was spared, but not our brand-new 15 foot trampoline. Blown from the side of our house, it flew over our car, bounced through our front yard, smashed through the tree line and landed in a heap in the woods. We of course didn't know this until morning. Izaac and I peeked out the window into the morning only to see a very mangled, out of place trampoline in the woods. Quite frankly I said, "O crap". But Paul and Red Buffalo (our tractor, sorry not a real Indian) managed to extract the bouncing wonder and after some banging and bending, the boys were able to jump once again on their favorite of all favorite toys. Ever since Paul brought it home the boys have spent nearly every free moment on it - I can't imagine how we lived without it to tell the truth. The net unfortunately didn't survive the whirlwind, but no biggie, those things cost less than my last grocery bill *cough. Some exciting news, the house is clean. I thought our clean house was lost forever under the "storm" that happened during the packing and unpacking for our week-long trip to Texas. Ministry times were amazing and we met some wonderful people but anyone that's been a part of a week-long conference will know it was no vacation (so we are eager to go to Gran and Grandad's house for Christmas! )Yeah, so homeschool in Texas, no way. N-o way. I tried. But in the end, missing four days of kindergarten seemed insignificant compared to the torture of attempting school in Texas. The boys (all three) did amazing on the drive to and from Texas and during the late late nights and morning sessions. I would like to shout out a gigantic THANK YOU to Grandma, Kathy and Sara for helping with the boys! Wow, I could not have done anything I did without you ladies. Thank you again sooo much. Izaac was a pretty big deal with the ladies in Dallas, they couldn't believe he was walking so well at nine months; it is pretty cute seeing a 2 foot tall baby toddling around. In the last few days his personality and voice have come out - folks, he is now 10 months going on 2 years. Pitching fits, saying words, pointing for what he wants, (demanding what he wants) are all part of his newly found voice. Thankfully he is very easy to redirect and calm and can say (his version of) quite a few words. He is hilarious and he knows it. Elijah is riding his dirt bike like a pro and looks adorable in his little outfit! He says, "I can't do a backflip yet but I'm doin' pretty good". Joel can do a front flip on the trampoline and almost land on his feet - ah, it's precious watching him - and he and Paul set up a deer stand together Sunday afternoon - it was a big hit (no pun intended) for Joel. What have I been doing? Cleaning. Pretty much. No adventures in the woods or fun outings for me. Unless you classify going to wal-mart an adventure. And spending way to much money on... what?... and wondering where the cashier is hiding all those pricey items you did not purchase that would make your total that high. Or thinking, did I leave a few or four or five bags behind? Not my choicest adventure but at least I was able to go alone. On the way home though I had to stop and get gas (for the car, I already had gas) and while I was entering code into the machine I noticed the prices per gallon were lit up under glass that was cracked as though someone had tried pressing the glass to get gasoline instead of the actual LARGE button below, and thought how glad I was I wasn't that technologically deficient, at least I knew how to press a giant button. Thinking such high thoughts of my smartness I pressed the green button and as I was about to squeeze the pump handle I see santa clause (maybe not but he could have passed) flailing his arms, running towards me saying something about diesel. He huffs out that I have the diesel nozzle in my car and shouts "you could have RUINED YER CAR by puttin' that diesel in thare!" Totally embarrassed, I said thank you for POINTING THAT OUT!! So CLEARLY! Because I had NO IDEA diesel would RUIN MY CAR!!! That man saved my car though even if he did hurt my pride so I said thank you a few more times to his face then several more times on the way home in the car that was working because it didn't have diesel fuel in it.