Birthday, Tooth, and Plates!

We finished the first half of 2010 with lots of fun!


DJB lost one of his top teeth on LOB's 8th birthday! He said he just knew he was going to loose it on LOB's birthday! GOB pulled that sucker out while eating supper! It was just a hangin' there and it was grossing me out! The Toothfairy ALMOST failed once again but remembered to leave the $$$ at the very last second! Good lawd, that's a horrible job! (for me anyway!)


We really weren't planning on having a big party for LOB's 8th birthday. But at the last minute, we threw one together with the Hoodies. It's so hard to fathom that he is 8! In 8 more years, he's gonna want a car for his birthday! Scary!


Tiger, the cat, is enjoying the benefits of birthday presents!

On LOB's birthday I asked him where he would like to go for lunch. His response, "Hooters!" I just about peed my pants laughing! Sadly, we did not go to Hooters but we did try out Culvers for the first time. It was good and the boys really enjoyed the custard.

And ending June with a big bang was finally succeeding on getting the boys quads legal! It took 6 months of time, numerous phone calls, 1 close call with the PoPo, a few naughty words, a tad bit of frustration, oodles of paperwork, several dollars, and SEVEN trips to the MVD (idiots) to get those puppies legal! It's a LONG story but we are now law-abiding and will be spending a week riding them in Colorado later this month without a care of being stopped by the PoPo! Yay!

I'm thinking the rest of the month I will be taking a blogging break. We have a very fun month on tap and without the use of my laptop, blogging would be very difficult. But be expecting a doozie of post when I return! Happy 4th of July and we'll be back in touch just in time for school to start! Yahooooooo!

Not Only Do We Have A Brewery....

But we have a vineyard too!

I planted this grape plant as one little twig a couple years ago and it never really did anything but grow and then die last winter in one of our cold snaps. I trimmed it back to the ground and it started to grow like crazy this spring. In about March, I noticed clusters of tiny grapes growing on it as I tried to weave the tendrils a little neater on the lattice. And then, I forgot all about it...that is until last night the boys mentioned that the grapes in the backyard taste really good!

And sure enough, we picked our first crop! There's about the same amount still on the vines that aren't quite ready yet. They are kind of small but they are sweet and tasty! I guess we can call them totally organic too! Or maybe GOB fertilized it with dog poop without me knowing? Who knows! Just kidding! LOB says we should plant some more! I agree, maybe we should!

Do you thing I have enough to make a bottle of wine?

CAUTION: HUGE, LONG Overdue Post Ahead!

This is the post in which I catch up for about the last month of our life! We've been busy busy here at 3 Boys and a Brewery! Sit down, grab a beverage, and enjoy our adventures from the last month!

DJB graduated from Kindergarten. His teacher Ms. S was so incredibly awesome! She cried and cried when she had to say goodbye to him. She said he is a student she will always remember. I sure wish he could have her as a teacher for his whole school career! I told her many times what a wonderful job she did teaching DJB-it was a transformation beyond explanation! I also told her I really hope that she stays at our school so she can work her magic with DVB in a couple years!

There were about 120 Kinder grads! They sang a bunch of cute little songs with cute little dance moves.


Here he is receiving his diploma from Mr. M, the principal and Mrs. D, the assistant principal.

Then there was a celebration in the classroom.

Now on to Memorial Day weekend fun!

We had lots of company for the weekend that we spent up at the cabin. There were 6 little boys and 1 little girl to keep busy; not to mention 6 parents who needed the relaxation time! On one outing, GOB brought out his arsenal of guns! Well only 15 of them! The company also brought a few of their own! So needless to say, after several hours of shooting, we had a ton of used ammo to clean up!

This poor little future sharp shooter did not enjoy being confined to the back of the truck for too long!

LOB was shooting his Cricket with a new scope attached!

This is Curt helping DJB line up a target!

Cousin A had to manually toss a few clay pigeons a few million times, I believe.

I guess GOB threw a few too with his side-hip-helper!

It was a fun weekend with friends and cousins!

Now onto Momma's girls only trip to Mexico!

I went with 3 of my wonderfully fun neighbor girls to Puerto Penasco, Mexico-it's a quick 4 hour drive just south of us. The 5 days away were absolute heaven! It was very much needed and very much recharging! We had tons of laughs, several hours of soaking up the sun, many bargain-filled shopping trips, and maybe just a few beers while we enjoyed our time away!


This was the view from our 5th floor condo balcony.

What a beautiful Mexican sunset!

Here's the clan!

This cute little boy made a few bucks off of us suckers! He was selling bracelets on his lunch break while we were having shrimp tacos and tecates at a little shack!

These are a couple of my Mexican purchases! I just had to have the beer drinking monkey and the cute little Tecate dog was too cute to pass up also! I had to buy "Poncho" a poncho to cover up his junk because he is anatomically correct under that little cover-up! But I thought he might be kinda warm this summer so I got him a much cooler outfit for $3 on ebay and named her "Ponchita" for the summer!

My Mexican get-away was one to remember for a long long time! We are thinking of going back down for Fall Break with our campers and we thought we'd let the rest of our families join us!

This is just a miscellaneous picture of my cute little boys! They are all Toy Story maniacs and just had to have these pool towels! They are looking forward to the release of Toy Story 3 this weekend!

Next up is our most recent weekend adventure!

GOB and I got our own quads last week. We didn't like sharing with the boys any longer! Since the weather was unseasonably cool (high 80's, low 90's for June is unheard of in AZ), we couldn't pass up a weekend of trying out our new toys in the desert dirt! We found a great, flat camping/riding area that is just about 30 miles east of our house a few months back and have returned there several times since.


This is my new ride. It's a Honda 250 something or another. I don't know, but it goes plenty fast for me! She's a little on the plain side so I'm in search of some PINK decals for her! I'll post a picture update when I get her all prettied up!

We all ride safely, of course!

This is GOB's new beast! It's a Honda TRX 700 something or another. All I know about this one is, is that it can go WAY too fast! He's going shopping this weekend for lots of protective gear!

Here's our cute little fam all geared up for a family ride! Just before this picture we were out toodling around and DVB actually fell asleep while riding with GOB!

So what's next up on our adventure agenda? Well, my first born will be turning 8 years old next week so that calls for a celebration! He actually opted for a "friend-only" party instead of the big ol' shindig his Momma likes to throw! Boo hoo! He's getting too big!

The month of July will be very adventurous as well! Our calendar is jammed-packed, full of fun!

Has Anyone Seen My Camera Cord?

Here I psyched myself up for a blog post, had a title and everything! And now I can't find my camera cord to upload my pics! Darn it! The post would not be exciting without pics to go along with it! We at 3 Boys and a Brewery have been busy! So..............

Don't mind me, I'm just going to remind myself what to elaborate on as soon as I locate my cord to attach pictures to my thoughts:

1. DJB graduated from Kindergarten; LOB will be a 3rd grader!

2. Momma took a girl's trip to Mexico.

3. Summer fun.

4. New toys.

5. DVB can sing!

6. Memorial Day weekend fun.

7. Let's see what else I can think of while I hunt for my cord! Arrrrrgh!

We Have Not Vanished!

We have not vanished off the face of the Earth, just in case you were wondering!

I've been a workin' fool. First I covered a week for one of the girls to go on vacation and then covered last week and this coming week for the other girl who had her gall bladder taken out emergently.

The boys will be done with school on Thursday of this week. They are pretty darn excited and I'll admit too that I'm ready for a homework break!

I am looking forward to my girls week in Mexico that's coming up right around the corner! After all this working stuff, I'm really going to cherish my time away!

So, most likely, until mid June ****gasp****poor bloggy blog will take a nap! We are so crazy busy, the blog probably won't even cross my mind! But I should have some good blog material after all the upcoming excitement!

Happy Mother's Day: Here's Your Paycheck!

I find it so interesting that every year about this time an article or news clip talks about how much a mother should be compensated for in a dollar amount for all of the professions she juggles to make her family run. The article I got these numbers from said that a mom should earn $375,000 per year for all her hard work.

Here's how they broke it down:

Childcare - $13,000 ( X 3 please!)
Recreation Worker - $15,000 (That would be about right!)
Chef - $40,000 (I'd feel guilty to take that much so go ahead and cut that one in half!)
Food Service Worker - $20,000 (dishwasher, server....I'll take it!)
Meal Planning, Dietitian - $41,600 (ya, no good at this one either, take all but a 1/3 of that one away)
Housekeeper - $9,000 ( I'm pretty sure I deserve WAY more than this!)
Nurse - $35,000 (What? Nurses make way more than 35K!)
Management Analyst - $41,000 (delete!)
Family Financier - $44,000 (does it mean because I pay the bills, I earn this?)
Investment Manager - $39,000 (investments? In what, love? who has extra money to invest-besides retirement?)
Psychologist - $29,000 (I do believe I have some experience in child psychology)
General Office Clerk - $19,000 (that'll do)
Social Worker - $30,000 (that's a little on the high side)

So after the negotiation, I'll be willing to take less than the recommended yearly salary of a mother. How does $244,000 sound? Oh, and I would like a week of sick time and 4 weeks of paid vacation too! Deal? Deal!

How much are you worth?

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, mother-in-law, Grandma, Aunts, Cousins, and girlfriends! I hope you are all spoiled rotten on Our Day!

Notable Nonsense!

I have lots of little things on my mind to write about so I thought a tidbit post would be best before I forget everything notable!

*Cats DO NOT like to be pushed into the bathtub especially when there's water in it and most especially by a two year old!

*It's getting hot here, I'm going to have to break down and turn the a/c on! suck! We've been lucky and have had a wonderful spring!

*The boys only have 16 days left of school! It's hard to believe that LOB will be going into 3rd grade and DJB into 1st grade in August!

*Overheard in the gameroom on Sunday: DJB to DVB: "What, do you think this is an open invitation to put your train on this track?"

*I hollered at the kids multiple times recently when the cat went missing and I was sure it was because they were leaving the doors open! Then when I knew the doors were all shut, he got out again! He must have been just waiting to escape while the door to the dog kennel was open and he could go through the dog's door! Little poop! I think he wants to leave us!

*Airline ticket prices are ticking me off! Enough said!

*The Deputy that ALMOST gave us tickets for having "illegal" quads on Easter weekend, got shot in the abdomen by an AK47 by a group of 17 illegal immigrants that ambushed him! He lived!

*I'm soooo happy Siobahn got kicked off AI! I couldn't stand her!

*Apparently I am getting old and no longer know the cool lingo/slang! When a neighbor put on FB that her daughter said the new trees the association planned by their fence "were up in their grill", I was confused. I drove by and saw the trees and they were no where near their grill! After admitting I didn't get it, everyone was laughing their butts off like I was an idiot! "Up in your grill" is equivalent to "Up in your face!" You learn something new everyday!

*LOB and DJB think they need their own cell phone! Really? Let me think about it. Um? NO! Crazy!

*Toni, the dog, is going to be three years old next week! Which one of you promised me that she would be well-mannered by now?

*I am getting extremely excited to go on my all-girls trip to Mexico in a couple weeks! Momma needs a break!

*I had heard that it was cool to light a scorpion with a blow torch. We tried it, and it really wasn't cool. It's guts just boiled out it's body! Yuck!

*A friend of mine told me to hang a plastic baggie of water and pennies up to keep flies away! For real! I'm gonna try it the next time I don't want to be bothered by flies!

*That's about all the notables that come to mind at the moment! Toodle looooooooo!

While The Cat Was Away....

...We Mice Played!


The boys took a little train ride at the school's Spring Fling. We certainly donated our share to the fundraiser! Ugh!

DVB and I went to our local outdoor mall and did a little pre-shopping park playing!

On Sunday I was feeling brave so after they all got haircuts, we went to Red Robin for lunch. They were very well behaved and ate all their lunch! Amazing news right there!


DVB doing a little stump sittin! We were waiting for DJB's class to arrive at a local dairy farm for a tour. I had been there when LOB's class went there 2 years ago and thought DVB would enjoy it too!

This is DJB feeding a 25 year old horse a carrot.

DJB hugging a chicken, no a rooster! (right?)

This picture is for Grandpa B! DVB would not get off this tractor!

DVB found some cute little bunnies.

So while GOB was away enjoying his Talladega experience, we kept ourselves busy. We are now anxiously awaiting his arrival and I'll now be checking out for a few days! I wish! Actually, I'll get my girl's time away the first week of June! I just booked the resort last night and I'm counting down the days! Paybacks!

Here I Go Again....

I think I will change my goal of blog posting to once a week since that is all I can seem to find time to do these days! It's making me feel a teeny tiny bit guilty but i don't think I'll lose any sleep over it!

I'm going to a Tid Bit Blog update today...a little of this and that to catch you all up on our exciting lives!

1. NASCAR was fun last weekend. 4 nights and 5 days of being surrounded by Rednecks is about all I can handle! Nothing too exciting happened this go around except for the horror that LOB and I witnessed as our neighbor dropped all his drawers to the ground! Yuck! Nasty! Gross! Scarred for life!

2. DVB is coming along wonderfully, all of a sudden, with potty training! That right there is pretty exciting news!

3. BoBo and Bumpa left today for the summer. They'll be back in August after they travel the USA! You too can travel along by reading their blog www.buzzboboandtheboys.blogspot.com

4. GOB just got back from a work meeting in FL and will be leaving again soon for a fun trip to Talladega! (he's meeting up with Uncle B, Aunt J, and his in-laws) Don't worry, I'll be getting my kid-free all girls vacation the beginning of June!

5. I'm on the lookout for some good airline prices to fly back to MN/IA in July. I'm getting very frustrated with the fluctuating prices! How can an airline change it's prices by $100 in one day?! Anyway, my wonderful job granted me the whole month of July off! So I plan to be on vacation the entire month! We will start in MN and make our way back home via a week camping in the Rockies!

6. DJB and LOB are looking forward to their really long vacation-I can't believe they have one month of school left! We haven't told the MN grandparents that we are planning a trip back there yet (but they'll know now!) The boys are excited to go to the farm! Like CRAZY excited! So be ready up there!

7. Mom and I spent the last few days Spring cleaning. While GOB was gone, we tackled the garage! It's a big feat, believe me! We also dug out tons of baby stuff to get rid of this weekend at our neighborhood garage sale. I'm calling this "The No More Babies Garage Sale!" LOB and DJB think for some reason, that they are entitled to at least 50% of the profits because all the stuff used to be theirs! Hmmmm? I'm not too sure about that logic! They have also priced a few of their prized possessions which they are sure will sell for precisely $75! I'm afraid they may be a little disappointed come Saturday afternoon!

8. Well that's all for now! I'll update sooner if we happen to have any exciting breaking news, otherwise you won't hear from me again until next week! Have a great weekend!

Camp and Quad: It's All We Do These Days!

Sorry, my blog readers! My poor little blog has once again been put on the back burner! Ever since we got our toy hauler and the quads, we spend as much time as we possibly can using them! Therefore, my blog material is the same from every weekend-we don't do anything else these days! But that won't stop me from posting some more pictures from this past weekend that will probably look similar to the last ones! Sorry, but that's all I got!

The boys built a couple model rockets and had a BLAST setting them off! On Sunday, LOB attached a big ugly black beetle to the rocket and sent him to outerspace! We were all amazed that he survived the trip and LOB continued to play with him! Ewww!

Everyone was having a grand ol' time until the Sheriff showed up! Doh! So I have to explain this picture. Brett, a neighbor's son, was getting a ticket for not having plates and registration on his dirt bike. But notice all the kids meticulously lined up under the camper? GOB's quick thinking is what that is all about! He's hiding the 2008 expired plates on the camper! Somehow, I'm still not quite sure how, the rest of us got out of getting tickets. We could have gotten about $1500 in fines because we didn't have the correct permits and other paperwork. GOB made me talk to the PoPo because he wanted the ticket in MY name (in case I had to go to court)! Anyway, I told the Sheriff that we were legitimately working on getting the proper stuff but it's all a process that is not fast! Thank goodness that he believed me! So needless to say, the quads were parked for the rest of the weekend. We sure weren't going to take any more chances because I'm pretty sure the Sheriff wouldn't have given us a second chance!

One of our neighbor's nephew came out with his legal sand rail. I had never ridden in one and let me tell you, it was fun! I should say it was fun until I got splattered with cow poop! Ewwww!

Somehow the Easter bunny knew we were out camping and he delivered a few hundred eggs to the desert!

We hope everyone had a weekend as great as ours was!

Our semi-annual Redneck NASCAR Weekend is coming up next!

There is a New 6 Year Old at Our House!

We have been celebrating DJB's birthday for about 3 days straight! The boy is so confused as to which day was actually his birthday!

On Saturday, we had 2 parties. The first one was with a few of his school buddies.


Here is DJB playing a fun game. I spread M&M's out on a table and the boys had to suck them up to a straw and they had to run them over into a cup. It was pretty funny to watch!

Cake #1.

Opening gifts with the buddies!


This was party #2. We had all our neighbors and family and friends over for a bbq.

I swear it's like pulling teeth to get this kid to smile! At least Cousin Big J smiled!

And this is #3! Yesterday was his actual birthday so I asked him what he wanted for supper and he said a cheeseburger and a banana split! That's easy! I stopped at Sonic on my way home from work and fulfilled his wish!

Happy 6th Birthday, DJB!

Another Great Weekend Spent Camping!

We had another great weekend of desert camping! The weather was perfect! Here are a few pictures of the good times we had!


Cousin Big J and LOB-riding buddies!

Since DVB doesn't have a quad we thought we'd better bring his bike! He can ride that puppy anywhere!

See GOB's new truck? I still haven't written about it yet!

GOB taking me out on my first real spin!

Cousin A and Cousin Big J...

CRAZY Cousin A!

LOB and Cousin S had to make a run back to camp while out on a long ride to get more gas for GOB who ran dry!

Here is BoBo taking her first spin. Why don't you toodle over to her blog so she can tell you all about her first experience!

Monkey see Monkey do!

Here is a family photo!

"Can you hear me now?" That's DJB in the helmet!

Silly Cousin J's! Taking a much needed break-eating fudgesicles!

DJB and Co. spent much of the weekend digging a tunnel to China! At least it kept them busy and kept camp nice and quiet!

DVB doing tricks!

Dirty Bird DVB! Good thing we have a nice warm shower to hose him off with now!

Cousin S giving BoBo a Facebook lesson of picture posting from her cell phone! Cousin S has soooo much patience!

Waiting for the boys to get the fire started! Hurry! It's cold!

After a little Boy Scout lesson, they finally got it going!

Toni stole someone's chair! Anytime someone would get up from their chair, Toni would jump right up into it! She does this all the time. It's funny, though, because she is not allowed to sit on the furniture at home! I guess the ground was too cold for her!

GOB taking DVB on spin on BoBo's Smashed Crashed Banana!

And a good time was had by all....

Up Next: It's Party Time~DJB will soon be turning 6!