Shed-tastic!

Well if you can believe it - the shopping trip with the boys actually went FINE! I'm sure I went overboard on the 'prep' by reminding them 49,000 times of all the things not to do unless they want to be banned from shopping with me ever again.  And by a random stroke of luck, the first store we stopped at had these awesome little Nikes in the SCHOOL COLORS.  I raved about how cool they were, until I had him semi-convinced that he in fact wanted them... either that or he was on to me - that I had already made up my mind and he better just take them.  Charlie did, however, score a pair of Converse while we were there.  He didn't really need another pair, but if you'll recall - I bought him some ugly skater-style shoes on our last trip that I have always hated - so I was happy to see him start sporting a normal looking shoe - oh and they were on sale!

Since then I've been busy staring out my window all week watching a crew of guys build us a shed, yes a SHED!  

  Hard to believe we went from this (left) to this (right) in less than one week!

I am so excited to get everything from our garage moved to the nice new shed, so I can actually park my vehicle inside! Woot! Woot! I've only had to scrape once so far, but I'm hoping it will be my LAST.  I've never had an attached garage in my life! Always, my car with the half-hazard scraping lines all over it, screamed "I don't have a garage! I park outside!" Well, no longer! 

Now if there was only something I could do about the inch of dust currently covering my vehicle that screams, "I LIVE ON GRAVEL!!!!".  Ha.  One thing at a time...

What goes around comes around

Many of you probably remember my nightmare shopping trip with the boys before school started.  If not, you can refresh your memory here.  Since then, I've tried to refrain from taking them shopping for ANYTHING if at all possible.  I even tried taking them separately, but after Charlie was in near tears once when I refused to buy him a stupid toy skateboard ramp, I ruled that out as well.  I suddenly have a new appreciation for the anguish I caused my mother every time she wanted to go the store.  I have vivid memories of the both of us standing at our door and her making me promise not to ask her for ANYTHING if we went.  I would bat my eyelashes and swear up and down (and every which way possible) that she wouldn't hear a peep out of me -  if she would just pleeeeaaase take me with. Ha - I got something every time.  

When I got a little older, my tactics became more advanced.  Countless times I'd walk go to a store with my friends, find something I wanted, CALL my mother at work (from the store phone), and have her pick ME and the item up on her way home! Good God.

Anyway, here we are again.  Will needs basketball shoes.  I've already warned him that we are NOT (repeat NOT NOT NOT) driving all over H-E-double hockey sticks to find the 'perfect' shoes.  I will select the style and he can pick out the color.  LIMIT THE OPTIONS is what I have learned.  He grumbled a bit, but decided it was better than me bringing home random shoes without him.  

T minus two hours until departure.... WISH ME LUCK.

Wordless Wednesday (a day late)

Shoot 'em up!

Let me warn you now.  If you are anti-guns or anti-kids with guns (haha) you should just navigate away from this post immediately.  Keep in mind, we are in the MIDWEST where hunting and yes, guns, are a big part of everyday life around here.  Well, seasonally at least. I grew up with a hunting-crazed dad and brother, was the only girl in Hunter Safety Education class at 12 years of age, and was toted along every deer season as a kid for my extra 'tag'. Granted, most of the time I sat in the truck listening to music or riding on the 4-wheeler when it was time to retrieve a deer, but my point is - this stuff aint no big deal to me.

Ben did not grow up with a deer-driven-dad like myself, but his interest in learning to hunt and shoot has been growing, especially since we own enough land now to do so.  His friends and cousins have been on his case for years for him to join them in the hunt. So when we stopped by the local mart this summer for some fishing worms and saw a sign-up sheet for an upcoming Hunter's Safety Education class, Ben was in! He completed it last month, so now he's really 'fired up' (ha) to do some shooting and hunting.

Now let me back up a bit....   A couple weeks ago, Ben's friend and his twin boys came over with a BB gun - I wasn't so sure, but I rolled with it. Ben and Todd went with them walking through the woods and let them practice shooting a bit.  The men eventually wandered up by the house, letting the kids walk around a bit more - and it wasn't long before the kids came back shrieking with excitement. Apparently shortly after the dads hoofed it, the kids spied something 'fuzzy' swimming around in the water. So the BB-gun toting foursome came to the only logical conclusion possible - SHOOT IT! The story is this - Hunter shot it in the arm, causing it to swim in circles, then Charlie shot it in the nuts, and finally Will - with his expert marksmanship - landed the kiss of death ... straight to the heart.  Likely. Ultimately, I'm confident that none of them hit anything, and it was the steatlh-like dog that ended up bounding into the water and locking her jaws on this fuzzy-whatever-it-was.  (you're thinking Beaver, aren't you??) WELL IT WAS A MUSKRAT. 

I have to admit, I was a little shocked.  I said to Charlie - "Do you even know what you're DOING?" "Have you even had a safety lesson on that???"  His answer (all smug while pointing at a part of the gun he was holding) "YES MOM, there's a BUTTON right here - see SAFETY". Oh god.  (Ben assures me they did in fact lay down the law with these guys.) Whew!

Last weekend, while I was at a wedding shower, Ben took the boys to buy their own BB gun. I know he really wanted to buy a gun for himself, but I told him to hold off since my dad has one he can use - so this was second best. He bought a little target, and the boys spent the afternoon with Dad learning the parts of the gun, more about safety and aiming.  Cool.

Back to the present. I got a glimpse on Sunday of what is sure to be the new favorite activity around here. SHOOTING CLAY PIGEONS. Ben's friend brought over this machine that launches these clay discs in the air, and everyone tries to shoot it. I have to admit, it really did look pretty fun. The kids of course were in heaven, aiming their BB gun at the flying target. They are confident that their shot 'shattered' several of the pulls. :-) Here's Charlie readying for the next pigeon. (AND YES THE DADS WERE RIGHT THERE).

With all the hunting and shooting here as of late, I even called the WI DNR to get a copy of MY Hunter's safety certificate... just in case. Hey, if you can't beat em, join em.