I'm back!

I can't believe it's been three years since I started writing here. So much has happened and our lives have changed. I may even need to change the title of our blog! We are still living a Life with Boys, but we have added two new family members (and one of them is a girl). We had twins in January of 2010 - Story and Sterling.

Anyhow, it's been years since I've recorded stories from our lives, and my baby, Micah, will be turning 12 in just three days. If you go all the way back to my very first post, I was writing about how Micah was about to turn nine and that I was afraid that if I were to blink, then I would miss too much. I have since found that, even if I were to pry my eyes open and not allow a single blink, I cannot slow down time.

I am going to try diligently to keep up with this blog. I want to record every memorable moment that I can, because they go by too fast and I can't seem to grab on to the moments and make them slow down. At least this way, we can look back and remember those moments (good and bad).

Follow along with me if you'd like - but buckle up. I'm not kidding when I say that this is a fast ride.

Take me out to the ballgame . . .

Kicking back at Chase's ballgame last night, I hear some women giggling behind me. I wasn't really paying attention until one of the women yelled, "Hey, LeeAnn! Did you teach Chase those moves?" Chase was positioned in the outfield (center field), his least favorite position. I glance back there and catch him disco dancing. John Travolta-style.

It's his first year at kid-pitch. For those who haven't experience that, yet, it generally means few hits so the fielders get kind of bored. As I continued to watch, Chase transitioned to the stirring-the-pot move. Since the rest of us heard no music, one has to wonder what goes on in his head. Oh well, at least he was awake and also not drawing pictures in the dirt like he did during his t-ball year. Dancing could be an improvement, right?

Then, next inning, he was up to bat, again. Two strikes, three balls. One kid on 3rd. Feel the tension? I sure did. The pitcher gave him the stare, wound up, let 'er rip . . .POW! Chase knocked it clear to the grassy field. The crowd is cheering. Chase rounds first. The first base coach yells for him to keep going. Chase is on his way to 2nd. The outfield gets the ball and it looks like the 2nd baseman may get it before Chase gets there. The coach yells, "Go back! Go back!" Chase hesitates, looks back, starts to turn back to first. But is it too late? The fielder throws the ball to the first baseman. Chase is stuck between bases when . . . the first baseman misses the ball! The coach yells, "Run! Run to 2nd!"

After a few minutes of confusion, Chase made it to second. Which was, by the way, his very first double.

Second grade musical

This was Chase's 2nd set of lines. I sort of forgot my camera had video capabilities during the first set of lines. It is hard to hear him because the little boy next to me started crying while Chase was delivering his part.

After he perfectly delivered his first set of lines the audience all sort of chuckled. I'm sure it was because he is just so cute. However, that is Chase's big pet-peeve. He recently told me he doesn't like to talk to grown ups because they all think he's cute. (Life is hard.)

Those 3 little words. They mean so much.

Recently, Paul and I had a disagreement over the geothermal heater. After last month's higher than typical electric bill, I suggested that geothermal wasn't working properly. He respectfully disagreed. Paul felt that February/March ground is colder than any other month which caused a higher than normal electric bill.

I know that this is about as boring a topic as you can read on the internet, right? But anyone reading who is married understands that these disagreements are pretty typical.

Yesterday the electric bill came in astronomically high. Paul called an HVAC company who will be looking into the geothermal next week. We still have no results.

But for this reason, and I guess many other small, insignificant reasons, I was just kind of crabby yesterday. I told Paul this. I also mentioned that I was a bit irritated with him because I'd been telling him something was wrong with the geothermal and he wouldn't listen to me. I figured I'd pushed him too far when he sort of glared at me for a bit.

That's when it happened. He said those three little words that make any woman's heart go all a-flutter, "You were right."

Why? What three words were you expecting?

Smoky Mountain memories

We have just returned from a trip to the Smoky Mountains. It's beautiful. Bobbie planned our trip, mostly I think so she could show her grandsons where she was born and from where her people come. The boys loved it, but I must say we grown-ups enjoyed ourselves as well. At least after our muscles stopped screaming at us.

The first full day, Thursday, we planned to bike around the scenic trail at Cades Cove. It is an 11 mile loop. The first question Paul asked was, "Is it hilly?" The answer he received (from both Bobbie and Kelli) was that it is mostly flat with some hills at the back of the loop. So 11 miles didn't seem too bad. Here might be a good time to mention that Bobbie and Kelli had both driven the loop. In cars. I suppose one can't truly judge the grade too well when one is seated comfortably in their vehicle. I guess I'll just admit it - we walked our bikes up quite a few hills. After about 6 miles or so, we came to the visitor's center and Grist Mill. It was a good place to rest a while, look around and let the boys play at the creek. So when we had all gotten off of our bikes and George got the chance to look over the map he noted (aloud), "It's all uphill from here." You could almost hear the morale deflating from our bunch - with a big, giant "whoooosh." Since I'm admitting things I'll just tell the truth. We sent Paul on ahead on his bike so he could come rescue the rest of us in the Suburban.

While waiting for Paul, Bobbie and I thought we could make it a bit further with the boys, and we attempted just that. Since I was the leader of our crew, it was a bit stop and go. Not only to let the cars pass us, but also because I imagined everything that looked black was most likely a bear. (So Micah get's his wariness from me, ok?)

Speaking of, I'm surprised at all that we even got Micah out there on that bike ride. On the car ride to Tennessee, Micah had a LOT of questions about bears. He convinced himself that bears eat human flesh. I sort of figured he'd want to hang around inside the cabin the whole vacation.

On Friday, we spent the day at Dollywood. That was surprisingly nice. The cleanliness and friendliness sort of put Kings Island to shame.

Saturday we really packed a lot in. We started the morning with a tour of the Forbidden Caverns. These caves wind around under a mountain to a depth of 600 feet below ground level. We learned a lot about caves, bats and moonshine. Chase got to be at the beginning of the group, due to his asthma. So when the tour guide pointed out the little bats (the size of a McDonald's chicken nugget), Chase told her, "I don't believe I know the name of those bats." His class just did a study on bats.

After our tour, we stopped by a trout farm so the boys could fish for our lunch. They each caught a 1 - 1.5 pound trout, so we had plenty of food. Though the boys, themselves, preferred a cheeseburger. None of us had to catch a cow, thankfully.

To finish the day, the boys were able to race at the NASCAR Speedpark. To hear the boys tell it, it was great fun. I, personally, wouldn't know. Bobbie and I used our time wisely (we shopped).

While we were at the cabin, the boys (Micah and Chase with their cousin, Alex) climbed up and down the mountain. They placed a flag at the top. They hunted bears. They searched for mummies and ghosts. As Chase said, they were "always up for an adventure."

While they found no bears (for which I'm grateful), nor any ghosts or mummies, adventure was definitely achieved.

Groundhog day

We've experienced MAJOR CATASTROPHE tonight. After a nice day (Micah's basketball team won the championship at the tournament, tonight - hard to believe with a 1-9 regular season status), the boys decided to play outside until the last ray of sun shone. When darkness began to creep in, I opened the door to call the boys in and was met with screaming hysterics.

"Mommy! Come quick! Dahlia has a baby groundhog and she won't let it go!" (For anyone reading this who doesn't know, Dahlia is our 14 year old dog. Don't miss the key words there - 14 years old. I mean to tell you, the girl takes a full minute to sit down these days not to mention getting back up again.)

Well, what was I to do? I didn't even have my shoes on. There was no way I could have gotten myself shod and run the 100 yards or so in time. And if I had, miraculously, gotten myself there in time - then what? Do you think Dahlia would have obediently dropped the groundhog and licked it's wounds? (In case you don't know the answer to that, ask my mom. She lost a chicken or two at the teeth of my sweet pooch. She's also convinced that my girl killed her neighbor's goat. But I don't believe her. And ok, there's the time she chased the cows. And Mom's cat. Oh, and she kind of bullied Mom's dog a little, too.)

So anyway, I yelled for the boys to just come inside. I figured mending broken hearts was easier than interceding with my dog and her prey.

When they finally did get inside, they were visibly upset. Apparently, there was a nest of baby groundhogs. Micah says there were about five of them, but Chase maintains that there were no less than eight. Chase said Dahlia "chomped all of them, gulped some of them down and left blood everywhere." Micah said the babies were all screaming. Both boys said they tried to get Dahlia to stop and she wouldn't.

Yikes.

Chase is the most upset. He vowed never to hug Dahlia again. Again if anyone doesn't know, Chase LOVES Dahlia. He has all of his life. Sometimes he loves her too much (you know that old Mellencamp song, "sometimes love don't feel like should, you make it hurt so good." Mellencamp probably had an entirely different meaning - but I think that is how Dahlia must feel about Chase, sometimes). Now Chase is disenchanted with Dahlia. I guess he feels betrayed by her.

Bless their little hearts. I feel bad for the babies, too - I'm glad I didn't see it happen. I suppose this is the boys' first brush with brutality. It's a harsh and vicious world out there.

So Dahlia is in the doghouse (figuratively, we don't actually have a real one).

Tinsel Teeth

If only for the reason to use our free kid's meal Valentines before it's too late, we decided to dine at Frisch's last week. Well, only one evening last week. And, ok, I just love those fish sandwiches on rye buns, not to mention the coconut cream pie. (Hello, Diet, old friend. Can't say I've missed you much.)

During our dinner we got to discussing how both boys will need braces as soon as they turn 12. Micah's little eyes turned as big as the plate holding his cheeseburger. "I don't want braces. I like my teeth the way they are." Then before we could respond to that, "Do they have to drill holes in the front of my teeth to put the braces in?" And Chase wondered, with a suspicious glint in his eye, "Just what are 'braces,' anyway?"

So I tried to explain how braces work and that drilling holes is not part of the process. Paul may not have helped quell Micah's anxieties when he suggested that he would keep a large magnet on hand and whenever he wanted the boys to come he would pull out his magnet.

I'm not sure how many times during our dinner Micah told us that he thinks his teeth are just fine the way they are and he likes his teeth. A lot.

I hope that during these next three years, orthodontists will have perfected the stress-free, pain-free teeth straightening method. Because, frankly, you have to catch Micah first and then hold him down for just a booster shot - and you know how quickly those are administered. I can't imagine how an orthodontist would hold him down to install braces.