Lightning owes me a DVD player

Last Tuesday when it was raining I was sitting in the living room playing some video games when there was a huge flash of light and a sound like a shotgun went off. Our house had been hit by lightning and as the kids came to me for that feeling that everything would be okay, I uncurled from the fetal position and acted like it was no big deal. All the power had gone off for a second or two then came back on. Then my sub woofer started making a really low-pitched noise. I thought it had blown it so i turned off my receiver then i looked down and my ps3 just had a blinking red light on it. uh oh. so i turned that off. my internet was dead and my cable wouldn't come back on. so i went to make a call and all my phones were dead. frrt. i went and checked out our new washer and dryer to make sure they were working but those were fine. shew.

So i turn my receiver back on and all seems well. Sweet. then i turn my ps3 back on and it works fine, just won't sign in - no biggie, the internet's down...right guys? i call verizon and they sent out a tech b/c our wireless router and DVR were both blown as well as the box and battery backup they install in the garage.

i email woot.com b/c that's who i bought the phones from and they email me back saying i'll probably have to go thru uniden to get my phone fixed b/c they sold them all out and all they have left is the main base unit. i email them back and say since i live in carrollton where their main office is i could come swap it out and they were cool with that. my phones were fixed.

over the next few days i started finding other stuff that no longer worked. the dvd player up in the kids playroom, the outlets in our bathroom and then i went to play some online video gameage and found that the network port on my ps3 was fried. i called sony and we walked thru them verifying it was my ps3 (including me pretending to take it over to my neighbors house to hook it up over there [wink]) then they told me that i needed my receipt or proof of purchase (i verified it was a year warranty and explained that these things came out in november to no avail) - i'd have to go to sam's and get them to print out my receipt (fingers crossed).

i replace the powered outlet in our bathroom that has the reset button on it and that fixed all those. i'm so handy. then i went to sam's and they printed out the receipt of everything we bought on Dec 4th including my ps3 so now i'm just waiting for a box from sony with a return shipping label and everything but the kid's dvd player will be good as new (in 5-10 business days).

so basically, lightning owes me a dvd player. [i'm giving lightning the stink-eye right now]

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.

Weekend at the Haughts

Many have been asking for an update on the Haught Family; some have even asked if we hate our kids or something now...Ha! Sorry for the delay. Since Chad flew off to Vegas today I thought I would do the posting for the week. We survived our first time of dad being out of town last week (doing it again this week but for 4 nights...ahhhh) so that was good. It helps that Cooper is sleeping through the night for the most part (8-9 hrs). Most of our time has been consumed with finishing up the outside projects. Chad has successfully made our yard look great with the new playset, covered porch, groomed lawn, etc. I think he has sweated more than he ever thought possible. What a great husband he is! We swam this weekend and boy do I have to brag on Jackson. That boy can swim! He is a natural fish. He is learning to do dives and underwater flips. AMAZING!

I am attaching some fun new pics. J&E just adore Cooper and are so patient with me and and him! See the pic of them goofing around him while he lays on the floor. I love snuggling with Cooper (not sure I got to do that as much with J&E when they were little). He is such a GREAT baby. We could not have asked for a better kid (see the sweet baby cuddling up to me while snoozing).


Finally the last pic is really for all those girls that grew up putting sponge rollers in their hair on Saturday nights before church. Do you remember doing that ladies? I do. I am sure this brings back sweet memories to my mom! Ellie loved it and thought she was definitely a princess!



Enjoy!

It's getting Haught in here

Feast your jealous eyes on that shirt. Oh yeah! This weekend we ventured out to West Texas to a town that turned 100 years old this weekend. Hamlin, home of the Pied Pipers. We had the Haught family reunion there this weekend (that's 2 family reunions we've been to this year for those keeping count). Saturday morning we had our own float in the Centennial parade with a big Haught banner on top and our 85 year old grandma sitting on a chair on the back of the float that said, "Hottest Haught" on the back. The main drag of Hamlin is so short that we went all the way down, did a U-turn and came all the way back. We had a bag of candy for the kids to throw to the crowd and Jackson nearly killed this one unsuspecting girl standing on the sidewalk. It was fun. Here's a few more pics from the weekend.



And here is the beast of a project that nearly bested me but I came out victorious this very day. We had our friend Marcus call over his crew to scoop out the grass in a 30 x 13 area of our yard then I lined it with 4x4's with 2 foot spikes. Coincidentally that's the length of the hair on my chest now. Then dad came over and we went to Sam's a bought this mother:

We worked on it for about 3 hours Wednesday night then from 8am to 7pm on Thursday. I came home from work at lunch on Friday and worked til dark. Then we went to Hamlin and came back on Sunday at 4pm-ish and I worked til dark again and finished everything but the slide. I finished that up today, bought 550 lbs of sand for the sandbox (your welcome, neighborhood cats!) and just need to fill in the rest with mulch.

I've re-routed 4 sprinklers and capped one, recharged my drill battery 7 times and filled 4 shirts completely with sweat. My hands are raw, I look like I just returned from a 2 week vacation from the beach and received the worlds finest golfers tan. The only thing is that I can't get enough sleep to feel 100%. Saturday I took a 3 hour nap and was dead tired by 10:00. And after all that I somehow have lost no weight. Whatever.

Ellie is stubborn

First and update on the family then onto a story about how stubborn Ellie can be...

Kiley is reading some book about how to keep your baby on a schedule and I'm convinced that trying to do what they tell you is like trying to fix someone's computer over the phone. "Now just click the button that says, 'attach document' and you're all set. It's not there? It should be at the top of the page. Maybe it's a picture of a paperclip? It has to be there, keep looking. I KNOW IT"S THERE SOMEWHERE, STOP SAYING IT'S NOT THERE."

This afternoon she read that if the baby starts showing signs that it's tired, yawning for example, to lay them down for a nap. If baby cries, go in after a few minutes if they don't stop and pick them up and pat them then put them back down. I tried it. 4 times. Then I said, "it doesn't work, your book sucks." So the other day I was trying to show Ellie how to tell her right hand from her left hand. I told her that if she made a gun with her pointer finger and thumb and pointed them straight up, her left hand makes an L. She kept trying to tell me that her right hand was making the L. I kept telling her it wasn't. Once she says something she decides that it's right. (no comment on who she reminds me of, ZING!). Anyway, finally I told her to draw and L on a piece of paper and she drew the line straight down then looked at it for a second then drew the L backwards. I asked her if that's really how it went and with a squinched up face she gave me a short, "yes." Okay, the write your name. Do you draw your L's that way when you draw your name?

The above picture is a re-enactment of how that turned out. How do you argue with that? So spread the word - the letter L is now backwards. It'll be easier to change that then Ellie's mind.