Chicken Dragon??

One of Jacob's jobs is to take the garbage can down to the street and back for pick up.  The garbage can has to face a certain way so the mechanical truck arm thing can pick it up and dump it.  When we moved in, this garbage can was already here with this sticker on it.  I never payed close attention to it, just assumed it was a dragon because Collierville sports teams are the dragons (plus it looks like a dragon at first glance).  However, as you can see, it is not a dragon.  When I was teaching Jacob which direction to face the can, I told him, "the dragon should be looking at the house."  He said, "You mean the chicken."  I said, "No, the dragon." Then we both looked at it and realized it is a chicken dragon. What the heck. Anyway, he can remember to make sure the chicken dragon is looking at the house, so all is well.

 We got this a couple years ago from dear ol' Aunt Debbie, but Jacob wasn't really interested in it yet.  He just used it to build Lego creations on...So we put it in the attic so it wouldn't get messed up. Well he recently has been begging for me to get it out of the attic AND to put it in his room. Because his room is so big. Because his room has so much extra space, what with taking the bunk bed apart and making it into 2 double beds...

I know. The cutest dog picture ever. This is Maggie coming home from her hernia operation (because we have so much money we like to spread it around and get hernia operations for adopted shelter dogs).  This is her blanket. Seriously.  It is this huge fluffy blanket Mom bought for me for Christmas one year that Maggie has taken over.  We call it "The Fluff."  Sometimes she spends the whole entire day on this thing-never moves. Anyway, when I went to pick her up from the operation, she was FREAKING OUT.  Apparently the whole thing just made her previous abusive life flash before her eyes.  The doctor used a towel to try and calm her down, stating that "sometimes dogs are comforted by something wrapped over them." A towel?!?!  Not in this house. We have The Fluff. And yes I had brought it with me to get her :)

My brother. Who apparently is being domesticated by a girl. I know. It's consanctuary (see "a new-word-brought-to-you-from-jacob").  Anyway, I had to include these pics so that one day, if Keith tries to deny they happened, I will have proof. 

)

This is of course a more accurate picture of the Keith we all know and love.  When his gf asks him to put his bag of dirty clothes in the laundry basket, she finds them under the sink. 

An old employee of ours is getting her first house through Habitat for Humanity. It's a program that builds houses for qualified low income people for a fraction of the cost of what it would take to buy a "typical" house.  In return, the buyer has to put in 350 hours of "sweat equity," 105 of which can be donated by friends and family.  She and they can do those by working on the house or volunteering at another non-profit organization.  So Jacob and I have done a couple small things, my hours I volunteer at the school count (I do copies and help in the library every Tuesday), and Jon and I went to work on the house.  This girl worked for us starting at age 16, till about 19, and then off and on the next several years (she is 29 now).  Again, consanctuary.  (Melissa and Nicole, did y'all work with her? Marquita? We just called her Quita...)

 Above, Jon caught me digging in my apron for my phone. Below, proof that I worked.

Anyone who knows Jon will not be surprised to hear that it didn't take long for him to take over the whole thing.  At one point Quita and I were talking about that, and he walked over after hearing us and said, "I am not."  And right then an actual worker, not a volunteer, but an actual worker, came over and asked him a question. 

Here he is on the roof, NOT telling the actual roof guy down below what to do next...

The "Phillips Family" on the sign refers to Quita's family-her last name is Phillips- not us. She always tells people we are related.

One day I was digging through old pics for some reason and found the pic on the right of Abby (from Maywood we think?? We don't remember ever taking her to the beach...)  I knew I had one of Jacob from a recent trip.

And for your viewing pleasure, a recent video sent to me from The Boy one night while he was supposed to be sleeping (I'm sure it was too late for an 8 year old to be awake, but he was clearly leaving me alone so who cares).

Bunch o'stuff

Jacob is having quite a good school year. Socially, anyway. We have a little Nerf war group going on in the morning before school.  Funniest thing about it is that it started because the house everyone meets at is the house of two sisters who asked for the Nerf guns for Christmas so they could shoot each other. I thought that was good stuff.

 That's Jacob in black.

 A letter came in the mail from Aunt Debbie for Jacob. I gave it to him and he said, "I bet it's money." I said, "No, why would she randomly send you money?" And of course it was money. $5 and this note. Again, these deprived children in our family really suffer from lack of love...

I was sick one night and Jacob slipped this under the door. Very sweet.

One of the parents in Jacob's football team bought these football black stick-on things for the kids. I was totally excited because a couple weeks ago, when he was getting dressed for team pics, he asked me if I would draw these on his face with a black marker for the pics. Of course I wouldn't, so he went to the craft box and grabbed some black construction paper. I guess he was going to tape them on??? Anyway, when a dad showed up with these legit ones, I just knew Jacob was going to flip. Guess what? He wore them for about 2 seconds and took them off. That would be why he isn't in the pic...

 Soon to be brothers (in-law) Josh and Jacob :)

 So apparently each week when they have a game, coach chooses two kids who have done really well in practice to be the ones who go out to shake hands and flip the coin. I always wondered how they got picked...Anyway, Jacob was picked last week!! He was so excited :)

Team pics ;)

Last week Jacob's school had a "Dragon Dash" to raise money. I didn't go watch because I just decided to be lazy at home with Jon (he was randomly off).  Guess what-Jacob came in 2nd place out of all the 2nd grade kids. Of course he did.

Exciting News!

Hallie is officially engaged! everyone is very happy, we all love Josh. Especially Jacob, as seen here:

Jacob hearing the engagement news.

Here is how she asked her friends to be bridesmaids:

 Inside the box is a ring pop ;)

Here is her ring:

She is planning a fall wedding, probably sometime next October. So be looking for a save the date coming in the mail!

Hope we always do this...

just like Carol Burnett always did that ear tug thing on her show as a signal to her grandmother.  Here are Jacob's and my "ear tugs": 

1.  We tell each other we love each other, and then I say, "It's good to be loved."  (Nicole, I may need that on a canvas one day...)

2.  I say to him, "Hey, good lookin', whatcha got cookin'?"  He answers, "Nuffin."  Of course one day he will pronounce "nothing" correctly, and that will be sad, but hopefully we will always do this anyway :)

3.  We randomly catch each other's eye and and do a double blink, but hold it closed for a second longer.

...it has been a rough mommy week for me. Sigh.

How Did I Miss These?

I just found these on my phone. Don't know how I missed them...

Morgan and Anderson "helping" me make brownies...

I know Kyler is playing, and maybe Jacob is too, but I think Anderson thinks he is. 

Anderson doesn't look too sure about this arrangement, so I am guessing Lily was at the big table...