July 15, 2010

Jobie-isms

This little guy is a little booger.
I love how he is saying things lately.
We all call Ezra: Ezzie.
Except Jobie.
He always calls him Ezwa.
He calls Brookelynn: Brookie.
Jake: Jakie.
But Ezzie: Ezwa.
And when he's mad at Ezra:
wittle, wittle Ezwa!
Apparently, in his eyes, it's bad to be little.
It makes Ezzie so mad when he says that.
Which makes Jobie say it more.
Of course.This weekend Jobie got a new toy
from some great family friends.
New toys always bring new opportunities.
For fighting.

Ezra and Jobe were playing tug of war with the new toy.
I told the boys they needed to share.
Jobe quit.
And walked away even.
I was quite impressed.
Foolishly thinking: Wow, that was easy!
Silly, silly me.
Jobe came back with the box the toy came in.
Pointed at some words and said:
See, it say "not share!"This is the response I got when I told him
that it definitely did not say: not share.When he skins a knee
he says: I got bwood.
Very pitifully.(if only he spent more time doing this)

Jobie was playing with a toy.
Ezzie was trying to convince Jobie to give the toy to him.
(Are you catching a recurring problem here?)
Jobie looked at him and said:
You're not three enough!
Thank goodness, I say.
Jobie is all the three I can handle.

July 14, 2010

Life at the Entz's

This summer has been...
I don't even know the word for it...
Unusual.

Just under one month until our exchange student gets here.
There is sooo much to do.
I'm beginning to panic.
I'm good at that.
I made a list of everything to do before August 12.
Just stuff that needs to be done in the house.
20 things.
This doesn't include all the appointments, clinics, daily stuff.
The daily stuff really gets in the way.
Plus, we are leaving for a vacation/wedding in a little over two weeks.
We'll be gone for 9 or 10 days.
We'll get back 3 days before Lara comes.
So the house needs to be nearly ready before we leave.

I finally finished planting flowers Saturday.
We never got a garden in.
I HATE that.

Oh, and Ryan decided to buy a "new" car.
We took his car to get some work done.
It was going to cost $900.
He'd just been waiting for a reason to find a new ride.
This was it.
So suddenly this past weekend we were car hunting.
You have no idea how much I despise car shopping.
I think I wasn't always nice.
Sorry, babe!
But I am happy for him.
He's been living with sporadic air conditioning for a couple of years now.
And he drives 35 miles one way to work.
That's not fun.
Not here in Kansas anyway.
He, of course, took pictures.

Old car, new car comparison.
Pretty fancy looking ride, huh?
He got a good deal on it.
He's funny about it.
Wants to drive it any chance he gets.
Brookie loves it.
She went for a ride with him Saturday night.
They took it down Main St.
Rolled down their windows.
And looked at their reflection in the store windows.
They thought it looked pretty tough.
Brookie said everyone was looking at them.
Because their car was so cool.
I love that she was so excited for her daddy.

Now I'm off to clean my house.
I was sick yesterday, remember?
Amazing how quickly things go down hill.
Then I have more painting to do.
Been doing a lot of painting.
Baseboards.
Lots and lots of baseboards.
In the garage.
Where I sweat.
A lot.
Pray for my sanity.

July 09, 2010

Fingerprint Friday

I have a hard time being patient with my kids.
Especially when they want to help in the kitchen.
I'm a control freak in my kitchen.
See, my kitchen.
I really am.
I get cranky and crabby when someone wants to help me.

Jobie especially likes to help.
Guess he's still too young to realize how awful I get.
The older two rarely show interest.
Pretty sure I've scared them off.

So, patience is something I am working on.
I tell my kids all the time:
Patience is a virtue.
No wonder I have to repeat it often.
I'm not even listening to myself.

Lead by example.
Oh, so hard to do sometimes.

Ecclesiastes 7:8
and the patient in spirit is better than
the proud in spirit.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

July 08, 2010

Farewell to Steve

My parents got back from vacation Sunday.
On Monday evening we all gathered together.
To pay our respects to Steve.

My mom said my dad disappeared to the garage
for awhile Monday afternoon.
When he returned, he came bearing a coffin for Steve.
Mom had the kids decorate it.

The boys all put ties on for the ceremony.
The girls put bows in their hair.
Then Steve was removed from the freezer.
And placed in his pine box lined with tissue paper.
Brookelynn prepared an obituary.
We tried to be very somber.


My daddy placed the final nails in the coffin.

Well said, Jakie.
Well said.

July 07, 2010

Jakie's Surprise

Friday we had a surprise birthday party for Jake.
Brookie kept him busy downstairs playing wii.
While I got everything ready upstairs.
Three friends snuck into the house.
Then I called Jake upstairs.
He was dogpiled by his friends at the top of the stairs.
(Yes, we are still working on construction)
He is slightly claustrophobic.
He did not really appreciate that at all.
His friend on the right is a Nebraska fan.
Can you imagine?
He put a Nebraska sticker on the wrapping paper.
And Nebraska stickers on the KU wall hangings inside the gift.

Clearly, Brookelynn is just enduring this.
She looked at me several times and just rolled her eyes.
She's so mature.
A whole year older than these boys.
But the little boys are having a great time.
After supper, I passed the boys off to Ryan.
He took them to a local arena football game.
Those pops were $4 each!
Half the cost of their tickets.
I hope they enjoyed them.



Celebrating a touchdown.
Ryan must have been excited too, the pic is so blurry.
After the game the boys got to meet the players.
This one just makes me laugh.
I think Jakie looks so cute.
And slightly uncomfortable.
They came back to the house for root beer floats.
Apparently Ryan felt he had spent enough time with them.
So I had the privilege of taking them all home.
Ten year old boys have the strangest conversations.
That's all I will say about that.

Love you, buddy!
It was fun planning this for you.

July 05, 2010

Fourth

We invited 15 people for the 4th.
Ryan was working on some new landscaping around the firepit.
We were prepared with tiki torches, bug spray, citronella.
I had bought a new tablecloth, baskets and paper lanterns.

The plan was brats and smores around the firepit.
Thanks to the 20 million inches of rain, things changed.

So we cleaned up the rec. room.
(No easy task.
One friend commented:
This is the cleanest I've ever seen this room.)

Set up tables.
Hung our paper lanterns inside.
Made a couple of desserts real quick.
And were ready to go.

One family brought this tent.
Brilliant.
(the room behind everyone is the rec room)
Brookelynn nearly blew off a finger and her thumb.
She will be more cautious with fireworks now.

The life of the party these two.
We have friends with a junior high daughter
who is as sweet as can be to my little boys.
They love her.
When it was time for the big fireworks,
the rain had quit.
We were able to move out to the street.
The little boys did sparklers.
I lost count how many sparklers Jobie did.
When each one was done,
he would get really upset.
Thinking it had just quit on him.
E.V.E.R.Y. time.
Now we are anxious to use our firepit.
And enjoy all the hard work Ryan put in around it.
Guess we'll just have to have another party.
Pity.

July 02, 2010

Odd Occurances

There's been odd things happening here lately.
Not odd, odd really.
Just odd.
Unusual.

Jobie has had a fever for 3 days now.
Complaining of his tummy hurting.
In summer.
I thought we weren't supposed to get sick in summer.

I have a cold.
In summer.
No runny nose.
No stuffiness.
Just a cough.
A nasty cough.
The kind that makes everyone around holler "shut UP!"
We're loving like that.

My glass 9x13 pan shattered on me yesterday.
I barely bumped it.
My other two 9x13s are metal.
I don't use the glass one as much.
But for some reason there are certain things I like to make in it.
Have to get a new one.

Our chest freezer went out Wednesday.
It was full.
Full, full.
Fortunately, I discovered it before the meat had thawed.
It was my grandma's.
It was old.
It was gold.
With a faux wood top.
I'm a little sad about it.
I remember that freezer in my grandma's dining room.
Dining room.
We're fancy like that.
Ryan was able to come home a little early.
We ran to Sears before they closed.
And bought a new freezer.
That's money I would have much rather spent elsewhere.

My parents are on vacation.
A few weeks back my dad found a horny toad.
He caught it.
Brought it home.
Bought an aquarium for it.
All because he knew some of the grandkids had never seen one.
He's cool like that.
Brookie named him Steve.
No idea why.
She seemed to take a liking to him.
So my dad asked her to take care of Steve while they were gone.
He brought Steve over.
Gave her money to buy crickets for him.
Ummm.
Steve died.
Tuesday we came home with fresh crickets for him.
He was stiff.
And now we are wondering if Steve is a Stevette.
It looks like Steve died trying to lay eggs.
There's something odd happening "down there".
Brookelynn put Steve in a baggie.
In my freezer.
In the kitchen.
Now every time I open the freezer.
There's Steve.
Neck stretched out.
Mouth hanging open.
Staring at me.
Nice.
She wants Grandpa to perform a funeral.
Won't that be fun?
Her new nickname is Steve Killer.
We're forgiving like that.