Juel's Journal

Upside Down

Stretched

Cupcake

At the Park Today

*laughs*

Roy's babysitting for us this week. His job? Not to let anything happen to this jar, or the contents. What he thinks it is, and what it is are 2 different things. While he's solely responsible for its safekeeping, his attempt to keep it until Saturday is futile. Sarah already stole it and has it hidden elsewhere. I can't wait to see his face when he has to explain to me that he's 'lost' it.

Breakfast

Maegan

Mikyla

Mallory

Caged...

Hazy Lazy Crazy Summer Days

I love 'em! We've been very VERY busy doing nothing, and having a blast doing it..

Mom's cat will lay there and let Maegan torment her without scratching or biting Maegan back. Dangest thing I ever saw..

We had the girls' hair styled the other day, it was looking shaggy, but the thing is, they want it long.. so we have to just get it trimmed just a little bit, and just a little bit styled, until it can grow back out. It looks pretty!

We pitched tents in mom's yard, over by the grave, right beneath the trees last night.. Mallory decided that by 11 o'clock she'd had enough and we had to come home. It was a good thing too cuz it poured, thunder, lightning, it was a terrible time to go camping!

Trying a new snack. They loved 'em!

It's been a good week, Joel was with Bonnie, so I just had the three girls to watch, and we spent most of the time swimming. We even got to night swim last night, and counted the stars in the sky while we floated on our backs. There were three! *laughs* The girls have been begging me since we started swimming to take them night swimming, so now they have. It was okay with them, until they heard a wild animal off in the woods, then they were ready to get out. Can you tell by their big eyes in the pics above of them in their tent, that they were scared out of their wits? There are some wildcats in the field behind mom's house, they scream and it sounds like a woman, not as much as a panther does, but close enough to make Mal's eyes big as saucers, and for her to say no, no enough of this, take me home!

Lisa and Nick were at Mom's earlier yesterday, and Lisa was sitting on the porch offering advice..and while I was listening, I nodded, agreeing, she was right, or .. she sounded like she may be right, and I was considering what she said, seriously giving it thought, until she finished by saying.. ...that'd take care of it in two shakes of a lamb's dick.

I...sat there staring at her, regarding what she said with a straight face and a nod.

Thanks for the advice, Lisa, I love ya! *laughs*

Maegan's up, I'll have to finish this later.. have a wonderful evening everyone!

The Pool

Playing...

Granny Singing to Maegan

And Maegan was eatin' it up. Granny didn't know I was taking these - I hope she lets me keep them posted here, I love them!

My Pond

My Family

Dad's leaving for Florida in the morning, and there's no room for me! :***(
We had his Father's day dinner today, and he's all packed and ready to pull out at 4. Bleah! I'monna miss him!

Maegan Having Fun

Splashing Around Again...

Standing Alone

Growing

Today...

The Wedding

Mallory wanted to get married today and Joel already went home, so her problem was that she needed a groom. Nick being the only male available had to do the honors. He wasn't a very willing groom though, but after listening to Mallory plead and beg with him, Lisa went and whispered something in Nick's ear, all I could hear was "it's important to her and it's not going to kill you."... I don't know if she bribed him or what, but he finally acquiesced and she got to have her wedding, complete with flowers, a double ring ceremony, the minister reading the vows from a Dr. Seuss book, a kiss on the cheek and a waltz by the bride and groom when the ceremony was over. *laughs* Mallory was so serious. That kid's a hoot!

Maegan's Tattoos

I know who wears the skirt in this family!

Joel does! Especially if Mikyla gets to pick out his clothes!

No Cheese!

Every time I reach for the camera, the kids pose. I have a heck of a time just getting a candid shot of them... they're so used to my picture taking they just turn and automatically smile now, when I call their names. Today Joel noted the camera in my hand and he scowled at me, busy playing he didn't want to be bothered.. hand in the air at me, he said, "No Cheese Mammy, No Cheese!" and he just kept running.. that cracked me up.

Dad...

...is Florida bound, Friday. I wanna gooooooo! I hate that he's going to be gone for Father's day, that just sucks!

A Weekend of Swimming

These kids have to be waterlogged. They've been in a pool all weekend. I have a small kiddie pool in the front yard for Joel, the people soup pool in the back yard for the bigger kids, and then there's Mom's pool, which is the favorite pool, of course. When I can't be in the backyard with the girls, they settle for the kiddie pool..when we can't be at Mom's they settle for the people soup pool. *laughs* When they aren't in the pools they're either sleeping, eating, or in the bathtub getting ready to go in a pool.

Maegan is growing so fast, changing, learning... she's taken to standing on her own, she doesn't realize she's standing, for about 30 seconds before gravity pulls her bediapered butt onto the ground. She loves the water as much as the other kids, she loves it all. She hates being held or confined and would rather be left alone so she can play and explore and oh the self satisfied expression when she manages to do something on her own. You can watch her and just see that kid's mind working.

Joel is 3. He's doing very well. Last night was the first night he didn't sleep well here, he cried for his Mommy. I wish she could get off of this night shift so he could sleep at home with her. He doesn't like to sleep anyway, I think he thinks it's a waste of time that he could be better utilizing by getting into something else. *laughs* He's a very loving little boy, "gimme hugs" "sit in your lappa", "howa yew?" I learned last night that he's scared of storms. Poor baby couldn't sleep with the thunder rolling and lightning flashing. He was wanting Bonnie so badly, I felt sorry for him. He settled for me, but he wasn't too thrilled with that.

Mallory That child can be the sweetest little girl on earth one minute and the next second I'm flat on the ground, the wind knocked out of me, blowing my hair out of my eyes, wiping the mud (or chocolate, or whatever it was in her hand that she threw at me) wondering what the heck happened. She can go from angel to demon in 0.5 seconds! I have to keep an extra close eye on her and Mikyla in the pools - or they'd drown each other. One minute they're playing well together and the next they're fighting like bobcats! Nine times out of ten it's over something Mallory's instigated. Next thing I know she's contrite, and comes running with a hug or a flower, making amends. She's something else. There's not been a sign of a seizure now in roughly 2 months, thank God, but she does scare me in her sleep sometimes - like last night - she starts thrashing and jerking and I worry, oh no, here it comes. So far though, so good. :)

Mikyla is doing great. Her allergies are under control, her ears seem to be fine. She's having a blast now that school is out, enjoying every second of her summer. She goes to sleep as late as possible, holding her eyes open for as long as she possibly can, and she gets up as soon as she hears the birds singing outside our window in the pine trees. Like Joel, I don't think she wants to waste a single second on sleep. I don't blame her. Before we know it, it'll be time for her to go back to school.

Sarah came over to Mom's for a couple of hours yesterday to swim with them and they enjoyed every minute of it.

Bonnie was supposed to pose for my Jilted Bride photos this weekend, but we didn't get around to it yet. She's on vacation in 3 days, so we'll do it then. Neither one of us felt like it over the weekend.

Dad was scheduled to go to Florida for work today or tomorrow, but plans have been cancelled thanks to hurricane or tropical storm Alberto. I wanna go too when he goes!

Mom's doing good. She's doing a great job keeping the towels dry for all her guests who come use the pool. I'm just watching to see how long it takes before she wraps one of those wet towels around one of their thoughtless necks. *smiles* I give it about one more week. I think I'd of already done it, I really get vexed to see the nice little cabinet she put on the deck, one moment full of clean dry towels, then suddenly empty, towels thrown on the ground or the deck floor, so wet they can't be used again, like they've been dipped in the very pool water and then tossed. Grrr, that burns me up. I'm going to get both of us some kind of clothes line, or hanger of some kind so they can hang them up to dry so they can reuse them. That's too much work to keep them clean and dry so they can toss them again in 5 minutes.

Summer time! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

They Like to Eat...

She Thinks She's the Cat's Meow!

A Bad Dream

I swear I've seen the tombstone that was in my dream last night in another dream a while back too.

I dreamed that I was back in Michigan. I had a friend there who just insisted that I go with him to find a tomb of an old gangster... he was sure if we found it, we'd find a ton of money in the tomb. So.. I went with him to this house, and to my surprise, it was the house I grew up in as a child.

He took me to the basement and there was the hole, big as life, under the stairs just like I remembered. I told him hell no I wasn't going down there, that was the sewer.. he said no, come on, I have a rope ladder, there's a cavern under there, and the grave is there...

So.. he talked me into going into that greatly feared hole.

True to his word there was a cavern down there. We dropped from the rope onto a pile of rock. Beyond the rockpile was a beach of rock, and then a rocky stream, and beyond that was a brick wall. To the right of us, was a natural bridge of stone, and the stream was running through the big hole the bridge was over.. It was clear as day. He put me to work moving rocks off the pile, saying that the grave was beneath the rocks.

Finally we got to where we could see a body sized boulder and the carved letters, "Tomb... ... ... ...e".

Suddenly my aunt Betty was standing behind us, pointing to the stone and she said, HEY that's a grave, look! That says "Tombstone" only you can't see the s..or the t.. or the o...or the n! If you move the rest of the rocks you can see it, it says Tombstone! By the time I turned to look at her, she was gone.

We moved the rocks and my friend found a leather satchel. He was just sure it was the treasure he had been seeking, so we didn't have to move that biggest boulder. I had time to look in one of the paperback books, the title was "How to Get a Job" it was shaped like Santa Claus and the cover was red with black text. Inside, on the page I looked at, I saw an index, of names and addresses I assumed were places people could go to apply for jobs. The one I can recall reading from the page was www.YAHOO.god

We climbed back up the rope, and went back into the house.

This time, I could see all of Mom's furniture in there, just like it was when I was a kid. And somehow I knew that my Dad had passed away. Mom was sitting on the floor going through a big bag of change, dropping it on the floor beneath the coffee table. She said, looky here what I found in a bag here in the house today. Right beside the pile of change was an old stick pin, an initial made of mother of pearl, but I don't know what the initial was.

Mikyla was standing by her.. and Maegan was playing on the floor. Mikyla had a friend about her same age, standing there with her, and then my friend opened the satchel we'd unearthed and we began going through it. We found 3 old paperback books from the 1920's, and 2 sets of men's cuff links.. one set, solid silver with initials on it, but we couldn't read what the letter was.. and the second set was black onyx with diamonds in them.

Suddenly, I knew that I'd better pick up the quarters, that someone was watching who was going to be upset about the stick pin, and if I was smooth enough, I could pick it up with the quarters and that someone wouldn't be none the wiser. I started scooping them up and dropping them into my purse, but even knowing I needed to get that stick pin up and hidden, for some reason, I left it lying there beneath the coffee table. I just kept scooping up quarters.

Mom said, Hey! I found those, don't put them in your purse, they're mine! I just kept scooping them up though, meaning to get to that stick pin, but then I heard a voice behind me.

It was a man and he was dressed fully in 1920's attire, hat and all. His expression was angry and his eyes were mean. He said.. Well, well, well.. it looks like someone here has taken a liking to my things. And he bent down and picked up the mother of pearl stick pin.

Then he looked me right in the eye and his voice was so chilling and he pulled a handgun from his vest.. it had the longest barrel on it I've ever seen. He handed this gun to Mikyla's little friend and he told her to shoot herself with it, as payment for theft of his 'things'.

I stood and started to take the gun but he pushed it into this little girl's hands, and it was heavy for her, she was trying to hold it steady, the barrel end pointing directly at us, swaying all over because she could barely hold it. I saw it sway towards Mikyla and I went nuts.. I was trying to get the gun from this child before it could discharge and hit someone and the child was trying to turn the barrel around to aim at herself. I was screaming no, no give it to me..

But the child wouldn't listen.. she just shook her head and said she had to do it, or that man would be angry with her. I finally wrestled it away from her when I heard a voice behind me. I turned to look and there was a 2nd man. This one was far younger than the first one, and he didn't look dressed in 20's clothes. He just had on a ragged tee shirt and ragged jeans. He looked to be no older than 20 years old, and he kind of chuckled that I was so afraid.

The first man, shook his head, said he didn't understand my concern for a child I didn't even know, and that was okay by him, but he still required payment for the theft of his things, and since I had the gun now, that I should do with it what I thought best.. and I knew he was implying that I use it on myself, as payment for the theft of the damned stick pin, and he'd leave the little girl alone. Then the younger man was talking again..

You heard him, he was saying.. you have the gun, so you know what you have to do now.. and he started walking towards me. I said hell yes I know what to do with this, and I aimed it at him and he started laughing, so I shot him in the head three times. Once right between the eyes, once directly in the chin and the third hit went just at the side of his eye and his left ear. I could see the red shoot out behind his head onto the wall, it was that vivid.. and still that guy kept coming towards me.

I woke up in a panic, realizing I couldn't kill him that he was already dead. I was sitting there on the side of the bed, shook up, dreams like that are so very real to me, I can even recall how things smelled. I sat there and figured out that the two men must have died in the 20's and the tomb must have been theirs. The two sets of cufflinks, one for the older guy and one was the younger guys. They didn't like the idea of me and my friend robbing that tomb. 3 old paper back books and 2 sets of cufflinks. The quarters and the dang mother of pearl stick pin didn't even come from the tomb though, I can't figure that part out.

Shew! I guess I had that search for Jimmy Hoffa the other day somewhere on my mind before I fell to sleep.

Flying South... Really.

My Ring

Sarah gave me a ring a few months ago that I've been coveting of hers, that she bought at a pawn shop. It's so pretty, but she had to cut it off her finger. So.. I had to have it repaired and of course resized to fit my own finger. Now, I've already told you I have huge hands and for some reason my right hand is even a size bigger than my left one. I wondered why, aloud, the other day and Stan looked at me and nodded so seriously and said, "Maybe that's cuz it's your crusher."

With Their Guitar

Hokey-Pokey

Against The Wall

Miss Bigfish

Funny Face

The Cowgirl Soldier

Dippy & Mallory...

...were sitting on the grass at Mom's tonight - Mallory was teaching him how to do the 'watching' game. (yoga?)

We were on the porch and they were just chit-chatting, and Mallory told him she was thinking about changing her name. She's been considering changing her name to 'Flower' for a few days now.

Mallory: Dippy, I think I'm going to change my name.
Dippy: Hey, I think I'd like to change my name too...
Mallory: I don't care, call yourself 'Stupid' if you want to...

*laughs*

She says the funniest things I ever heard. Later, here at the house, she decided she was snack hungry. So she got a banana. She ate it all and came back for an apple. She came back and said Mammy, I think I'd like to have another banana now. I said Mallory, you just had a banana and then you had an apple. I hope you ate all that apple too and didn't waste it.. She said, oh yes, I ate it all, every bit of the apple, then I threw the bone away! Now I want another banana! She ate the 2nd banana and I just watched in awe, that kid is an eating machine.. she's so thin, I don't know where she puts it all!

Apple bones, now who but Mallory would think of the core of an apple as a bone?

Today

Passed so fast, I can't believe it's dark already. Have to get to bed, gotta get up early to get Stan to the doctor, Mikyla is demanding that I come to bed now. Sarah took Maegan and Mallory home tonight, in the morning she's taking them to Mom's on her way to work, until I get home. I'm taking Joel to her in the morning too, Mik can go with me to the doc's office. I sure do feel sorry for Mom tomorrow. 3 to 1! They'll have her tied to the chair by the time we get back!

G'nite world!!

From Jana

The Evolution of Dance

Thanks, Jana that was hilarious!

The Park Today

The Park

We took them after Joel's party, and everyone left. After the park, we got them ice cream. They had a really nice, full day. Now they're sleeping, finally. :)

So Lonely..

These pics tugged at my heart... she looks so lonely in them..

Joel Today...

I just loved his outfit!

Joel's 3rd Birthday Party!

Joel's Third Birthday!

Papaw

If Mamaw had lived, we'd have celebrated his birthday today, instead of in May. I'm not sure why, that's just the way it was.

And I'm not sure why, but when I was shopping for Joel's birthday today, I picked up a few things for Papaw too. I've not done that in years.. okay, in almost 2 decades. I don't know why I did today, I just did. I picked him up a few things too for Father's day.. a couple of cards, and the next thing I knew I was visiting him.

I didn't have Mikyla and Mallory, just Maegan - Mom had come to get Mikyla and Mallory earlier today to hang out with her a while. Papaw seemed to enjoy seeing Maegan. He fed her a cracker and he made over her. She just smiled at him and took his cracker, leaving a nice trail of crumbs on his floor as she investigated his living room.

He promised he'd not eat all the candy at once so Brenda didn't get mad at me. I told him she'd kill me if she knew I took him some candy, so he just laughed and promised not to make himself sick on it.

I took a photo of his picture of him with his Mom and Dad. I tried not to get glare from the frame glass, it didn't turn out too badly, all in all...

After visiting with him we went over to see Brenda for a few minutes.. I got a picture there too. :)

It was a pretty full day. Right now the girls are all three sleeping, and I think they'll sleep late in the morning. They were on the go all day and were exhausted tonight. They're rejuvinating for tomorrow.. ohh the plans they have for us tomorrow..and we have Joel's birthday too.

G'nite world.. gonna head out and get some sleep myself.

Absorbed...

Mom gave the girls a Johnny Cash CD. They've played it and played it and played it and played it some more. They can't seem to hear it enough. They even stare at the cd player!

What A Snotty Little Girl!

I bought the girls a little box of practical joke trinkets today and one of the gags in the box was a plastic string of pretend "snot". Now as we all know, when little girls have allergies, as badly as Mikyla has them, to where she goes once a week to get shots, and then she misses that one day (yesterday) and has to go on Monday instead, that she's apt to sneeze more than usual, especially with all this pollan from the trees... Dad expected to see just what he saw, when Mikyla faked a great big sneeze, but he didn't expect her to rub the stuff on him! Oh the horrified look he gave her! *laughs* She got him! And I got a picture of her getting him too.. that was too funny! Way to go Mikyla!

Mal's all Froggy...

Happy 3rd Birthday!!

Joleybean!!!

We're having his party tomorrow so everyone can be here. Bon's having it here at our house because it'll be cooler for Dad - he'll be able to breathe better. He can't take the heat and her place isn't air conditioned. I'll post pics tomorrow after the party :)

Corn Dog!

Waterdogs...

More from Nikki!

Shelly's Boys :)