Caramel Lake, Skateboarding and Haircuts

Lots of info this week. Going all the way back to the 4th of July (or the weekend following it)...We went to the lakehouse at Possum Kingdom when the water had a unique tinge to it. Most people love going to certain beaches b/c of how blue the water is. Possum Kingdom temps passers by with it's own siren call. For anyone that loves caramel, this lake is for you. With all of the recent downpours here in Texas, all of the orange sand has been washed down from the mountains into the lake turning it that silky hue. It didn't stop the kids from having a great time though. Dad took Jackson up to the lake the Monday before the 4th so we just had Ellie and Cooper and the lack of fighting between Ellie and Jackson made the house seem like a monk sanctuary. It was quite nice. And to follow-up from last week's posting, no eyes were shot out with the bb gun. I did bring it home and plan to thin out the "giant black bird" population in and around my backyard.

Hello cutie patootie! Ellie got the haircut she's been wanting for a very long time. In the picture above you can see her with her cousin and idol, Kennedy. Kennedy got her haircut short like this last year and Ellie has been asking us to get hers done like ever since. Now she has another reason to dress up, come downstairs and stand on her "stage" in front of the fireplace and do spins for us.

Meanwhile, Marmie and Pa-paw (Kiley's mom and step-dad for those out-of-town readers) came in town this weekend and they got Jackson a spiderman skateboard! Too cool. It took me back to my first two years of high school when I had long hair i draped over my eyes while riding around with my friends in neighborhoods being built looking for new pools with no water for us to thrash in. Independent trucks and Slimeball Wheels. No posers allowed!

Jackson put on the helmet, wrist pads, elbow pads and knee pads that came with the board then got on it only to have it shoot out from underneath him. He cried for a few moments then got up with a look on his face that a sheriff would get if he found out that Stink-Eye McGrall was back in town even though he told him to never show his face 'round these parts again. All the while Jackson was steaming off ripping pads off one by one leaving a trail of safety in his tracks. We finally got him back out there and riding it again and he enjoyed it. Even the falling part. I noticed that the wheels didn't turn very quickly so I broke out the WD-40 and gave the bearing a few squirts then noticed rust coming out of them. Hollis (pa-paw) pointed out that it was probably from the salt water it was exposed to while on the boat that came over from China where it was made. Then we chuckled at the expense of a bunch of chinamen in a small village that are paid very little to make cheap skateboards.

Also - for those keeping count, I've seen Transformers 3 times now.

Ellie is a Ninja

So lately Ellie has been throwing fits that make you want to ring her neck. She tries to figure out how much she can get away with by saying, "but I really want to" when you tell her she can't do it (what ever "it" is) or when you make her go her room she'll release burts of screaming that make your toes curl.

Our reaction to this has been to try and figure out what it is that we can take away from her that will make her think twice about repeating these acts in the future. One of the things that she is addicted to we'd love to break her of is her blankie that she HAS to have. So we told her that we were going to take away her blanket next time she threw one of those fits.

Last night she was in full force. She was upset about butterflies not being pretty enough or something and burst into action. Kiley went up and talked to her and told her that if she went into her screaming fit that I was going to come up and take her blanket. Nice - not only do i have to be the bad guy, I have to climb the stairs too!

She starts in with the short bursts of screaming and finally I had to go up there and take the blanket. It went over real well [eye roll]. So I came back down and put the blanket on the back of the couch and we went back to watching our movie. She came back out of her room and said she wanted her blanket and we told her she would have to earn it back. Then all was silent. For a long time and I remember thinking, 'man, that was easy. this blanket taking action is the tops!" Then I got up to get something to drink and noticed that the blanket was gone so I asked Kiley if she put it up and she goes, "No, what did you do with it?"

Turns out, Ellie had snuck down the stairs and must have military crawled to the couch to get the thing. The chair I'm in has a pretty open view to the stairs but is blocked by the couch at waist level so she pull off quite a feat. I was half temped to let her keep it for going thru that much trouble then later we'd work on her ninja throwing stars technique but we determined that we'd have to take it back.

Kiley went back up there to get it, spanking spoon in hand and a big ruckus broke out that ended with the blanket in our possession and Ellie with a red mark on her fanny. Kiley really talked to sense into her b/c today she's been bent on earning that thing back. Even her teacher, Miss Karen told me when I picked them up that Ellie was really good today and wanted her to tell us that she's done a good job of earning her blanket back. Funny.

Hey Verizon Fios Customer Service...

You stink!

Sorry about that, just had to meet my quota for telling people to avoid Verizon Fios. I'm done.

Since I last posted a blog, or "blause" as my dad calls it (he's not tech savy...hi dad!), I've been to Vegas and won $70. They hate me there! I'll have to put up some pics of the golf course that we played there b/c it was gorgeous. Until then you can search "Wolf Creek Golf Course Mesquite, Nevada" and see the scenery. Keep an eye out for a a bunch of my golf balls in the non-green parts of the course.

As for what's up lately, Cooper is working on his neck muscles. He'll do that for a few minutes then he'll drool all over the blanket. He kicks his feet and just when you think he's having a great time he'll start crying.

He's also sporting that sweet bald spot right in the center of the back of his head that he gets from laying on his back then looking right, center, left, center, right, lather, rinse, repeat.

Every morning when you wake him up he's all smiles. It makes getting early on the weekends much less of a problem. He'll coo at you and if you coo back he'll get a big grin on his face then curl up in a ball like you're tickling him. Adorable. I'm going to try it soon. Maybe that'll get me a bigger raise at work. "Chad, congrats it seems you've out performed all of your co-workers and passed up their ratings of Exceeds Expectations with you rating of Absolutely Adorable." We'll see.

This week Jackson went with his Paw Paw to the lake. We're meeting them up there on Friday afternoon. He called today and said they're having a great time and asked if I could pick up some more BB's. Huh? Yeah, he's taught him how to shoot the BB gun. So I went by WalMart today and picked up some BB's and an eye patch. It's yet to be determined who will be wearing said eye patch at the end of the weekend.

Oh and I saw Transformers last night. A few days before that I saw the new Die Hard flick. Talk about non-stop action between the two movies. Since then I've been walking around punching stuff.