On The Road Again... Kansas City

This year for Thanksgiving we went to Kansas City.  I packed everyone except for Justin and had everything checked twice so we would not forget anything. We were in the car at 8:20 that morning ready to meet mom and Carlie so they could follow us since dad and Nic had gone up a few days earlier to hunt.  We make it to 380 and Custer and come to a screeching halt!  We left BABY at home, the tears were flowing and the sobs echoed throughout the car.  I went to get baby and Sophia insisted on getting her and guess what... she never made it to the car. I even did a sweep before we left the house!  I asked Sophia where baby was and she said, "on the closet floor".  

We turned around and sure enough, baby was on the closet floor over in a corner.  

We were back on the road and about two hours out I hear Luke say, "mooooooommmmmm".   I could not get my seat belt off fast enough.  I knew EXACTLY what that "moooooommmmmm" meant.  It was about to get ugly.  VOMIT EVERYWHERE!  I grabbed his blanket and made him finish in there along with a diaper I found on the floor.  Too late, he was covered.  

We pull over and Justin runs in to get some trash bags and I get Luke out of the car before Jonah starts barfing because of the smell and sound :)  Of course his suitcase is the first one packed so I have to unload the car to get to his bag.  I get him all changed and vomit things put in the trash bags and we hit the road again.  

Now, I know you are wondering WHY would you not be prepared... you KNOW Luke gets car sick.  Well, this momma WAS prepared, I was not the one to load the car so the all ready prepared ziplock filled with paper towels (aka vomit bag) was not put by his seat.  

So we hit the pavement again and then stopped for lunch.  Shortly after Seth was LOOSING HIS MIND.  After a good bit of time (don't judge me, he is number 4 and knew he would be fine)  we pulled over.  He was all smiles when we pulled him from his seat.  So we load him back in and off we go.  That lasted 20 minutes until Carlie called and said that Noah was not happy and she was going to have to stop.  We did and got him happy then back on the road.  

The last hour and a half Seth pretty much cried the entire time until the poor baby fell asleep for 20 minutes.  We FINALLY get there after 10 hours.  

We all slept in the room upstairs with two queen beds and a queen blow up mattress for the boys and a pack n play for Seth.  Sophia and Seth were both up half the night so it was a long three nights.  

Thursday we headed over to Bob and Kathleen's for Thanksgiving.  There were 18 cousins there and we figured out that there were at least another 20 plus missing.  The kids had a blast playing outside since it was so nice out.  Seth had fever all day but at least he was not missing out on play time with cousins.

Emma, Allison, Nat, Elaina, Seth, Ryan, Saturna

Katie, Jonah, Kylie, Brett, Luke, Ava, Luke

Ramsey, Noah, Sophia, Elaina Lou

Friday Seth woke up with a fever again and his tooth popped through.  That night we had a fish fry at Aunt Lou and Uncle Ralph's house and all the Sherpy's came over.  We also celebrated Aunt Theresa and Uncle Dave's birthdays.  

Saturna, Sophia, Samantha, Christopher, Noah, Jennifer, Maddie

Taylor, Brianna, Jonah, Luke and Seth

We hit the road Saturday morning and had a puke free ride home and it only took 8 hours!  

Luke And His Turkey

Luke always makes us laugh! I don't know where he comes up with this stuff.

WHAT? Where Did She Learn This?

Not sure where she learned this move... Over the last few weeks she will stop what she is doing and strike this pose. The pics are horrible but I did not have time to grab the real camera.

Disclaimer: She may or may not have learned this from Dance Moms or Honey Boo Boo.

First Hunt Of The Season

This morning Justin headed out with Mark and Chad for their first hunt of the season. They headed out to their normal spot and saw that someone had built a blind. It was only big enough for one person so they started adding on to make it bigger.
They got their decoys set out, settled into the blind and were waiting for legal shooting time when they saw a headlamp coming from the other side of the lake. It was a single hunter. They flashed a light at him to let him know they were there. The stranger walked up and said, "hey, y'all are in my blind" to which Justin responds "well, you did a good job but we're making it a little bigger". Justin tells the stranger he's welcome to hunt with them and he walks right into the blind and assumes his position....didn't introduce himself or anything. It was an awkward moment so Justin and Chad kept expanding the blind so it would accommodate 4 hunters.

 Finally Justin introduces himself to the stranger and finds out his name is Phil. They begin talking in the blind waiting for legal shooting time and Phil proceeds to tell the fellas that he set up the blind and threw out decoys at midnight and was going to come out and and see if he could shoot a few ducks. Justin informs him that it probably isn't a good idea to leave any of your stuff out on that particular piece of property as the county has issued over 125 permits...decoys have a way of sprouting legs and walking away. Phil wasn't too worried.

 Justin had already thrown out their decoy spread....typical pattern...wind at back...mojo flying into the wind...decoys to the left...decoys to the right...motion buoys in each spread ...big hole in the middle so the ducks would land right in front of the blind. Then it dawns on Justin that Phil had thrown out his decoys but Justin didn't recall seeing any when he was throwing out his so Justin asks, "so Phil, where exactly did you thrown out your decoys?" Phil responds, "over there on the other side of the pond." 

Now this is not a large body of water they are hunting, but it's a good 75-100 yards from where the blind is to the other side of the pond. Chad flashes his light across the pond and all you see is what appears to be a clump of 4 tangled-up decoys which have drifted up on the bank. Justin thinks to himself, "rookie" then asks Phil, "so how long you been hunting?" Phil responds, "this is my first time."

 The picture is starting to "Phil-in" a bit at this point. Phil says, "yeah, I've been watching that show Duck Dynasty and thought I would come out and give out a try." For those of you that don't watch the show, it's about a family in West Monroe, LA that built a fortune making duck calls...and the head of the family is Phil. The irony is pretty funny here. Justin takes the opportunity to impart some pearls of wisdom that he's learned over the past 12 or so years of duck hunting...specifically the generally accepted do's and dont's of setting up decoys and the effective kill range of a 12-gauge shotgun (it's not 75-100 yards from your dekes Phil). A few minutes later all is quiet in the blind and we here Phil say, "I've got my makeup on". I turn to my right and see that Phil has greased up his face like he is Rambo...just like the boys from Duck Dynasty. The rest of the hunters are just in standard face nets. It is, after all, 65 degrees and there are skeeters the size of hummingbirds all around. Justin politely says nothing but secretly is smiling on the inside.

A few more minutes pass and Justin here's a strange sound coming from Phil's direction. It sorta sounded like a gurgling fan. Justin keeps eyes cased on the decoys and then hears Chad say something like, "does that really work" to which Phil replies, "oh yeah!" Justin turns, fully expecting Phil to be hitting a water-bong or something, but as it turns out it was just a smokeless cigarette. Good deal, Phil is trying to kick the habit! Few more minutes pass and it's "finally" legal shooting time. We hit the duck calls for a couple minutes when from behind us, no more than 5 feet above the tree-line, 3 wood ducks buzzed our tower going right between the dekes towards the other side of the pond. We hit the calls and the birds responded by turning around and heading right between the spread...dead straight towards the blind. They were coming so fast that we barely had time to shoot before they were gone.

 Chad and Justin shot 5 times and got one of three birds....not a good ratio, but it was a Wood Duck so it was a good start to the season. Chad and Justin turned and looked at Phil who was frozen....he didn't even get the safety off his brand new shotgun! Phil chuckled as he realized these birds move a lot faster in person, but I think he's hooked on duck hunting after that first pass...he was allegedly going to come back that evening and try his luck again...I just hope he learns how to work that safety!

As you can tell... Justin wrote this entry :)

Uncle Jason & His Sugar Britches

November 5, 2012 will be a day Uncle Jason will never forget! He has been trying for over TWO years to win his Sugar Britches over. For some reason she has always been terrified of him. We do not know if it has gone on for so long because we all laugh and make a big deal of it or what.

Sunday night after the kids were in bed Jason brought some things over for Seth and Sophia. One of the things was Carolines first bike. Monday morning when Sophia woke up she saw all the new toys he brought over. She asked where they came from and I told her Uncle Jason brought them. Then I showed her the bike and she was super excited.

A few hours had passed and she was talking to Seth and I heard her tell him that Uncle Jason had brought the toys.

I immediately grabbed my phone and asked her what she was saying and recorded it. We got ON TAPE her saying, "thank you Uncle Jason, I love you Uncle Jason". I did ask her questions for her to answer but she said it!!!

Again Tuesday she said, "I wonder who brought my bike". I told her she knew and she said, "Jasssssooooonnnn, mommy, I not afraid any more" followed by her belly laugh.

Now, we will have to see how she acts when she sees him next. Fingers crossed.

The pic below was taken a while ago and this is one of the only pics where she is not screaming.

Sean and Monica's Sausage Fest Tech/UT Game

Sean had his second annual Sausage Fest for the Tech/UT game.  Justin and I were horrible parents and decided to go and leave Jonah and Luke with Mimi so she could take them to their LAST basketball game of the season.  We dropped  the boys off at moms house around 12:30 and headed out to Ft. Worth for the game.  The weather was gorgeous and we watched the game outside on the new patio area he had just finished.  

He had about 12 different German Sausages, German Beer, and all the fixin's.  I am proud to say that I actually tried three of the types.  I will admit they were not that bad.  It was so fun to see everyone we have not seen in a while, Scott and Lea Mars, Sean, Monica, Lance and Laurie.  It is so crazy to see all these guys with kids.  Scott and Lea just had their 2nd, Sean will have number two in March and Lance has a 16 month old.  

Fraternity Brothers
Mars, Mort, Stud and Delt pledge Lush

Stud being Stud

Colby and Seth with their daddy's

Lyla

Sophia, Lyla and Lincoln

Lyla peeking in the window

Sending a picture to Daph

circa 1995... some things never change!