Saturday, February 9, 2013

Living With Boys

I thought I'd be at a point in my life where it would be hard to surprise me. Where things that boys come up with didn't have as much shock behind them as they used to. I mean, I've lived with my husband now for 12 and a half years, had three boys of my own, and have had many of their friends who are all boys over as well. Being the only girl surrounded by boys, I thought I'd adjusted well to expecting the typical "Boy" around here. But there was another shocking "I can't believe he did that!" moment again around here today.

The closet in our living room where we keep all our coats, and sports equipment has had a funny smell lately. I was thinking we had a mouse die in there, or something like that. So finally I talked Jared into cleaning it out with me. (If there is a dead mouse, he is the one pulling stuff out and discovering it, not me! That's just gross!!) So he pulled everything out, and we didn't find a thing. I knew I wasn't crazy. Something was smelling in there. But what?!

After vacuuming it out, de-junking some of the old coats and equipment, we got it all organized again. But I still wondered what that smell was.

About an hour after putting it all back together, I noticed a vest was still out that was covered in mud. So I grabbed it, started cleaning out the pockets so I could throw it in the washer, and ended up pulling out a zip lock baggie with some mushy stuff in it. Immediately I recognized the horrible smell. And I mean HORRIBLE!! It about made me puke it was so bad. I started asking the boys who wore this vest last and what the heck had they put in the pocket. T.J. knew immediately and told me.

It was bait from when Cody went craw-dad fishing with Teegan down at the canal back in November.

Oh my gosh!!

Not only was it bait, there were cooked egg yolks in there he tried using.

It was horrible!! Cody immediately went on defense mode. Saying that because T.J. had thrown mud all over the vest, and then it somehow got hung back up in the closet, he forgot to clean out the pockets. I had to laugh at the same moment I was ready to puke. It was awful! We got that out to the garbage as fast as we could.

Once again I'm shocked at what happens around here in a house full of boys.

Heaven help me.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

A Little Anxiety Attack

I just registered T.J. for middle school. Yep, you read that right. Middle School. Oh my gosh. I'm going to have kids going to two different schools next year. I'm going to have a kid who's school is more then .8 of a mile away. Yes, it's still close, but it's not walking close.

I'm having a bit of anxiety.

We met at the middle school tonight for orientation. And signed him up for his classes. He's only allowed one elective for 7th grade. He was mad he couldn't choose art for a full year. It's only offered for one semester. So as a second semester choice, he chose music composition. He was not happy about that. But it was better then choir, band, percussion, and theater for him. So he settled for that. We found out they have two art teachers who are awesome, so here's hoping the art class works out for him and they have enough kids choose it to fill it.

After turning in his registering card, we walked around the school. T.J. didn't want to. But I made him. And Hunter wanted to as well. Actually, he just wanted to see the boys locker rooms. Jared has told these boys about the showers in there, and now Hunt is worried about having to shower at school. (Sometimes Jared doesn't help the situation at hand. Ha ha.) Unfortunitely the locker rooms were locked. It was weird walking around that school. It has the exact floor plan of the middle school I went to. And Jared's as well. So I took him around and pointed out places. The only thing he liked was seeing that he can bring a $1.25 and get a shake at lunch if he wants to. I showed him where my locker was in 8th grade and told them about the morning I had just got to school and was standing at my locker when I looked down the isle an saw all the lockers moving back and forth. Turns out we had an earthquake. I showed him the choir room, science rooms, the main office, the gym, and lunch room. He was sick of walking around so we headed out. But we ran into an old friend and neighbor of mine from growing up. Turns out she was a counsler there. I've known her since I was about 7 years old and played with her girls. She couldn't believe I had a kid going to middle school.

I can't believe it either.

T.J. was quiet on the ride home. So I asked what he thought. Here's the whole conversation...

Me: "So, whatcha ya think?"
T.J.: "Boring."
Me: "Aren't you excited at all though?"
T.J.: "Gay."
Me: "Are you excited for your own locker though?"
T.J.: "I just wish we had only one room we stayed in. Instead of having to go to our locker, then bring another book to another class..."
Me: "I know."

And that was it during the whole ride home. Honestly, I think he's a little nervous. T.J. has a hard time with change. But I think he'll do good. I reminded him he also knows kids from other schools that will be there from football. But he acted like he didn't care.

It's crazy to think I'm going to have a middle schooler. He only has one more time to go off track during elementary school before he's never on year round again. He's growing up fast.

And I'm getting old.

Jared likes to point out that I'm the only one who's getting old.

Thanks Jared.

P.S.... Cody was super cute tonight. While I was gone, he put the dishes in the dish washer away, made my chair all cozy with a blanket over it, made me a huge fruit salad, and a grape drink and had it waiting for me when I got home. I guess I was a bit ornery before I left and he wanted to make me feel better. (OK, I was really ornery. I was super stressed and dinner wasn't going as planned.) Cody is always looking out for me. I sure love that kid! He's such a sweetie!