Happy Birthday, Cole!

Our nephew, Cole, turned 8 years old yesterday! This little guy made quite the appearance into the world! He weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs & 12 oz. (However, later they changed the weight on his birth certificate to 9 lbs 11 oz. Details schmetails right? Not to Lora - if I was her I'd want credit for every dang ounce!) The doctor had to break his right arm to even get him out.

He was screaming his head off in the baby nursery. Before the nurses had even checked him all out, they let Brian go in to talk to him & try & calm him down. Still breaks my heart just thinking about it...(yes, I have a heart...)

6/28/2002

(Please pay no attention to the watermarks. I scanned it last night & saved it as a pdf by mistake. Then blogger wouldn't let me upload it so I had to download a program to converter it. Sheesh!)6/28/2010 Of course I have to share some cutsie pics of him in the hospital! Brady holding his new baby brother! He was 6 years old! How cute! We had to be very careful when we held him because they had him wrapped in an ace bandage to keep his arm still. Erin was 16. She stayed with us while her mom was in the hospital.
Wow, no makeup Jaime? Really?! Look at B-rad! Ok, back to the par-tay! Cole had a few friends over to celebrate with him. And Cole (Lora...) really knows how to throw a par-tay because all his friends got to take home these little Spongebob cups full of goodies! Singing Happy Birthday!Madelyn REALLY enjoyed her cupcake!

Ok, I admit it - this is my fault.... Cole was shoveling in cupcakes as fast as he could & I said, "Cole - say awwwwwwww!) B-rad & I got him a Case IH harvest toy set. Complete with a combine, 2 grain heads, a semi & grain carts. I was a little surprised he liked it so much. Brad assured me he would, but I thought maybe he was growing out of toys. When he opened it, he said, "You've GOT to be kidding me! I love it!"

I just threw this one in of Payton because she's so freakin' cute! Derik got a 'new to him' truck & had brought it over last week for us to see but I wasn't home.

Him & his dad do body work so they are fixing it up.

Before we left, Cole was playing with the set we got him. Madelyn wanted to play too, but Cole's not really about sharing his new birthday presents. It makes me glad when the kiddos enjoy the gifts we get them!

Thanks for feeding us dinner & for letting us celebrate with you!

Bold intruder

I've told ya'll how out here in the country we've got an array of critters that like to come up & eat the cats' food.

To date, I've documented a skunk, an opossum & a raccoon. Mostly they are timid & run when I opened the front door. But whoever said, "They are more scared of you than you are of them" is not necessarily correct.

Last night, I opened the door to check on the kitties. When I did - this is what was there: And he didn't move. He didn't even stop to come up & take a breath from eating.
He is definately a younger skunk. B-rad figures he was waiting for me to open the door so he could practice with his sprayer thingie. Nope, nu uh-I'm not that brave...

Motorcycle ride

B-rad is finally done putting down nitrogen, so it's time for him to play! While I was at the hostess luncheon, he got together with a few guys from the motorcycle gang & went on a ride. He took the camera & got a few pics. I especially like this one of them in front of IU's football stadium. (Yea, I don't know what it's called. Perhaps Jami Leigh Lee or Alicia could tell me?!)

Hostess luncheon

All the jewelry ladies in our group held a hostess & customer appreciation luncheon today. It's a way to say a big THANKS to all our customers & hostesses for their hard work over the last year. We bring pieces & mark them down for a discounted price to sell! I went to this sale a year ago to replace some of the jewelry that had been stolen from me. This is what started my journey with Premier. It's hard to believe that next month it will be 1 year that I've been doing this! I've met a TON of great ladies & even had fun doing it!

Holy moly

Ya know how moles are supposed to be perfectly round & have distinctive edges? Well, B-rad had a couple on his back that were not like that. They were strange shapes & had no edge. The doctor had been watching them & finally decided they needed to be removed.

He went Wednesday morning to have it done. And he told me (after I got home around 11:00 that night & was exhausted...) that they were going to send them off & check them. If they came back with anything at all strange, he would have to go back & have more removed. And it didn't even occur to me to worry about it. I mean, I try to be an optimistic person. I try not to worry about things until there's something to worry about. But then a lady at work was like, "What are you gonna do if they come back malignant?" Uhm, the thought hadn't even crossed my mind...

The doctor told him 'no going in the lake until after the stitches come out on the 7th'. Next weekend is 4th of July weekend. Apparently the doc doesn't know my hubby very well. Because MY hubby will be in the water. Period. He's already told me to buy peroxide or something to take with us to clean the spots AFTER he gets out of the lake. (This is also the guy that cut the end of his finger off days before a trip to Dale Hollow lake & he had like 13 stitches. The doc said, "NO WATER" & B-rad said "NO WAY!" We wrapped it in gauze, then in medical tape. THEN we put a ziploc baggie on it to attempt at keeping the water out.) The end of his finger is still there - no harm, no foul...

Warning: gross pictures below!

Last night I wanted to take pics of B-rad's disgusting spots where he had the moles removed. He has 3 stitches in each one. I was all proud of my clever title & I was telling him how funny it was (because he just doesn't appreciate how funny I am...) And he proceeds to inform ME that "they weren't moles. They were freckles." Whaaaa? Freckles? Nah... Holy freckles is nowhere near as clever...

P.S. When I got home from work today there was a message on the machine that the tests came back negative & the moles/freckles had no forms of cancer. Thank God...

You wanted more? I'll give you more.

Blog off #3 was quite the conversation starter. I knew mine would create controversy. I mean, hey - I titled it "Let's get ready to ruuuuuuumble". But I wasn't gonna lie or sugar coat my pet peeves. It is what it is. But I have decided that pet peeves may have to be ranked right up there with religion & politics. We all must agree to disagree...but still love each other despite our differences.

However, with that being said - I realized that I forgot THE MOST IMPORTANT PET PEEVE OF MY LIFE. And I'm quite ashamed of myself. I guess the adrenaline rush to my brain to be able to complain made me light-headed. I was so worried about getting them all in, I forgot the biggest one! And since this one {should} not cause any ill will towards my fellow stalkers, I'm gonna go for it!

I even got a couple of comments on my post from ladies who thought I would have a much longer list of complaints:

Tracey said...
I do have to admit, I thought your list would be longer!!! :) {Hugs!!}

Jami said...
I thought yours might be longer too.

And while most people may be offended by this. I kinda thought it was funny. Then I was ashamed of myself again for letting you down. So....drum roll please... I've decided to do an addendum to the 3rd blog off & include my biggest pet peeve...

WHEN PEOPLE SPELL MY NAME WRONG! Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, I will allow you up to 2 mis-spellings before you will be corrected & publicly ridiculed. It is the bane of my existence. I often say 'my mother hated me' when I go through the whole story of how my name is spelled differently (not wrong)! She doesn't think this is funny...

And people just don't pay attention to things like that. When we were in the process of buying the in-laws farm, I felt the urge to call the lawyers office personally to make SURE that my name was correctly spelled on all the legal documents (& it's a good thing I did because they were just planning on going with j-a-m-i-e! Details schmetails, right?! ). Then we got the tax bills & my name was incorrect on them. Uh, ya know I totally called the recorders office & let them have it. But now my name is correct. Nanny nanny boo boo....

The next one is directly related to my name so I'm throwing it in too.

Every so often, I'll have a message on the answering machine from Caremark (a mail-order prescription company...) It states the following: Hello. This is Caremark calling for Jaime (pronounced Hi may) McAfee (prounounced maa caffey). OMG!!!! Uhm, if none of you took Spanish in high school like I did, my name in Spanish is prounounced "Hi may". (You know, like Jesus is "Hey soos" in Espanol?) Ok- one teeny weeny problem - when did I wake up & live in freakin' MEXICO?! This irritates me.

Now, I'm sure there are some very nice Mexican's named Jaime living in the U S of A. But does the automated lady that calls for Caremark really need to be defaulted to the Mexican pronunciation?! Really?!

I shouldn't quit my day job

I had official jewelry training Monday night in Scottsburg. I always enjoy training because it's a chance to visit with my jewelry lady family AND we get such good information to help us with our business. PLUS you get to hear horror stories from other ladies that they've experienced. That way you know you're not the only one...

They made these super cute signs for Rally in July. I couldn't go when they made them. It's probably a good thing because I would've just glued my fingers together or something. My Premier grandma, Gerilee, asked me to do a skit with her. We didn't practice or anything. We talked on the phone about what we wanted to do. We are both "fly by the seat of your pants" kinda gals - so we figured we'd just wing it.
She also asked me to train on what I did in May with my mystery hostess show. I called it, "Making Lemonade outta lemons". I told the girls, "Listen, I don't have anything written down. I'll just tell ya what I did & if you have questions, just ask..." It worked out pretty well. Isn't it weird that my hands are flailing & my mouth is open?

The skit Gerilee & I performed was okay. I've decided that acting is not my thang. I think I will stick to pushing papers by day & selling jewelry by night...

OUR official start of summer!

We finally headed to the lake this past weekend for some fun in the sun! (and to burn up & get eaten by mosquitos!) Our friends, Brian & Shauna, from the motorcycle gang came & hung out too.

We stay on Brad's parents' houseboat. Brian & Shauna were fresh meat for all of Ann's stories about B-rad as a little boy so she told them all the classics & I always get a BIG kick out of it - because no B-rad story is complete without her hugging & kissing him. Hilarious! Shauna's the one I told ya'll about that is a really good photographer. She didn't bring her fancy schmancy camera because she was afraid it would get wet. I had mine with me so she took some pics with it.

Shauna took one of the next 2 pics & I took the other one. Now, I know you may be perplexed as to which one is the pro & which is the amateur because they're both SO good... plus the little girl in them is too cute for words!

OK, enough suspense. Shauna took the top & mine is the bottom...

Payton & I courtesy of Brady.

Lora helped Madelyn into her suit. Please note the cute bathing suit. Black with white & pink right?

Erin fed Payton peaches before we went out on the little boats. Insert major boat sinkage drama here. When we're at the lake - it's a relaxed atmosphere. We get up when we want, eat breakfast around 10:30 or so & then we go out on the lake for a bit. Saturday morning, Brad & Brian went to get our ski boat from the storage place. Again, this was our first adventure out & it hadn't been in the water since we had it winterized. B-rad pulled the boat around to the houseboat. Eric & I went over to help him get it in the slip. And he had the engine cover up & was looking around. That is not normal. He started drifting away from the slip so Eric had to reach out & grab the boat to get it where it needed to be. And I was like, "What are you doing?!" And B-rad said, "The engine compartment is full of water. " Ruh.roh.

For those of you non-boaters, it's normal to have a little bit of water in your boat. Hello, you're floating in it. But for the whole compartment to be full is bad. The bilge pump was pumping water out like crazy (which is also strange to have happen right after you put the boat in...). So Eric & I were holding the boat & B-rad was looking for where the water was coming in. I looked at Eric & whispered, "Is the boat gonna sink?!" And he just shrugged and said, "I don't know."

I started having visions of the boat sinking to the bottom of Rough River. And of course, we'd have to buy another one & you KNOW B-rad would have to get a bigger & better one. I was starting to panic. And B-rad's so funny because he was calm. He was working franctically to find where the water was coming in, but I just wanted to scream, "GET IT OUT OF THE WATER!!!!!!" I tried to keep my big mouth shut because although he seemed calm, I knew I would get in big trouble for talking! He lifted up the backseat to the access door underneath. Full of water. He was checking hoses & feeling around & EUREKA! he found it. It was leaking around the steering...stuff. So I said, "Uhm, should we get the boat out of the water?!" To which B-rad replied ever so calmly... "Yeah, probably."

I ran back to the houseboat & asked Brian, "Can you go back & get the truck & trailer? The boat is filling up with water & Brad wants to pull it back out." His face dropped, he grabbed the keys & ran back up to the parking lot. That's what I like. Running. Faces dropping. Not B-rad calmly looking for a leak that will sink our ship.

After they got it back in the parking lot & all the water ran out, they realized that one of the plugs in the back of the boat was missing. B-rad had never been able to get it out before. So when they came back down to the houseboat we were all like, "Damn thieves! Who steals a plug out of a boat?!" Well, uhm, er - later we realized that there was a 'sticky' spot on the back swim deck. B-rad then decided the guy who winterized the boat had been able to get that plug out. Then he used black tape to tape it to the swim deck of the boat (you know-so we could put it back in & not sink to the bottom of the lake?!). And when B-rad put the boat in the water, the tape loosened up & fell off & the plug sank to the bottom of the lake. Hmmm, no plug thieves...how disappointing...

After the near catastrophe, we were ready to go out for some sun, fun, water & skin burning! Shauna is an adrenaline junkie like Brad so she was up for anything. She picked up the knee board right away. Shauna & I

Brian took this pic of B-rad. Pretty good huh?!

Brian never could get himself pulled up on the board. No judgement here, I could never knee board either. I don't even attempt it anymore. Now I just sit in the boat & soak up rays.

What we've been waiting for! Pics of Brad wake boarding. Shauna & Brian took pics while I was busy being captain of the ship.

These pics are SO clear! I could never get any this good with the point & click. (And will probably never get them again. I need to bring photo assistants on every lake trip...)

B-rad's parents also have a jet ski. After we came back from skiing, Brad took Shauna for a spin. I told her to hang on to his jacket tight. B-rad knows better than to try & flip me off that thing, but Shauna's another story. He tried to toss her off, but the joke was on him because when she started going, she pulled him right off with her.

Brady loved the fact that I could take action shots of him jumping off the slide & pushing Cole in the water. Here he is showing off...

The big kids liked the action shots & showing off too. Here they are trying to make it look like they were standing on the water.Brian, Lora, Eric, Erin, Cole & Madelyn coming back to the houseboat in the other ski boat.

It was SO hot outside that the water felt like bath water. We got in to try & cool off. Then we had a cannonball splashing contest.

Cole is going through the, 'everybody hates me' phase. Brady had pushed him off into the water & I laughed. So he asked me, "Jaime did you think it was funny when Brady pushed me into the water?!" Of course, I said, "Yep!" Then he pouted, "you don't like me anymore..." After the pouting was over, he asked Shauna if she would be his friend. She told him she would. Part of being Cole's friend is allowing him to bother you when you're in the water.

But Shauna fits in just fine because she gives it right back to them.

Payton is one of the cutest babies - ever. She's almost 7 months old & she is chun-ky!

Madelyn & Eric joined in the swimming fun.

Lora held Payton in the water. Erin said she loves the water. She would splash her arms & legs & smile! Notice Payton's suit? Look familiar?! Black with white & pink?! Yup, Erin got them matching suits. I just had to laugh at her about that!

Later that evening it was time for tubin'. Brian & Lora let us borrow their tube. First up were Shauna & Brady.

After they crashed, Brian & Brady went out for a spin. Shauna was trying to get Brad to go faster. She was yelling at him, "Faster Brad! Go faster! Sling shot 'em around!" Like I said, adrenaline.junkie.

Shauna & Brian took the jet ski out after tubing. Love.Brians.face!

That concludes Saturday. It was jam packed with excitement! Sunday we got up early because Brian & Shauna had to leave. We ate a small breakfast & I went back in & took a nap after they left. We hung around the houseboat Sunday afternoon. Ann made lunch around 2. We were all worn out (& I was burnt...) from the day before so we decided to pack up & head home around 4:00.

It was really foggy Sunday morning. I just went out & thought, "Hmph, it's foggy!" But Shauna came in & got my camera.

And she took this:

and this.... What a show-off.