thats funny...

ok. so i live in a house with doug and two boys. there are PLENTY of things that make me smile, giggle and laugh out loud. problem is, my memory stinks. so, i may add on to this post as i think of them...but for now - here are a few grins for ya:

1. yesterday, i was in a major cleaning frenzy. going through the boys' closets. this is NO easy feat, since dawson is the biggest pack rat IN THE WORLD. anyway...i'm feeling pretty good. shelves are emptier, clothes that dont fit are out of there, the valentine candy is in the garbage. then "they" come in. dodge takes one step in his room, and says, "mom, what are you doing?! now i dont know where ANYTHING is!!" doug backs him up, and says, "rach, this is just what my mom used to do...you shouldn't mess with a guy's stuff" thanks honey. dodge proceeds to empty both of his pockets of broken-up asphalt & rocks. seriously? dawson has 3 jars of rocks & dirt on his dresser. plus a few other jars of "treasures". what is the deal with boys & rocks?

2. while cruising in the mini-van, i am flicking through channels on the radio. dodge yells out, "STOP, it's johnny cash! turn it up!" this may not be funny to you, but i love that my 5 year old is so opinionated on music...and prefers the man in black to boot!!! :)

3. a while back, my mom was doing a crossword puzzle...dawson wanted to "help", so she was giving him the clues and he would try to think of the answer. my mom-"dawson, who is harry potter's friend?" dawson- "george bailey!" this is only hilarious if you know how seriously addicted i am to the movie "its a wonderful life" from the 1940's...jimmy stewart plays a guy named george bailey...and his arch rival is henry potter (he was close ;)) anyhoo...i love that my 7 year old's gut reaction is a movie from 1946 instead of the now trendy harry potter books!!! and yes, in case you're wondering, my kids genuinely love the movie and we watch it several times during the holidays!

brower park

this summer we did our annual camping trip with a big group of friends...some of us related...some not. if i'm counting right, we had 14 adults and 22 kids (all under the age of 8!)...it was a ton of fun...even though the weather did not totally cooperate...


colter and dodge...dreamin of the day they can take their own fishing boat out....actually, we're dreaming about it too...since we borrowed this boat from a buddy :)

dawson and luke on their tube

dodge, dillan, colter, alli, madison and jessi...being goofy

the boys - heading out to hardy dam

dawson and madison...it is rumored she has a "little" crush on him. we wanted to take a pic of them together...ya know, to save for the slide show at their wedding reception :)

dodge & colter...2 peas in a pod...both of them were forever making dirt bike noises, goofing off and never sitting still

dodger in his rubber boots...he doesn't go anywhere without 'em!

dodge

dawson & his necklace he made in the craft barn

hallelujah for the SuGAr SHacK!!!!!! ice cream, chocolate, pop and all things sugar!!!

dawson bought daddy some sunflower seeds with his own money...what a good boy!

our little dare devil on the tube


goofing off with uncle kirk...another 2 peas in a pod....jessi, on the other hand, doesn't look too thrilled?

so, that is a brief glimpse at our 10 days at brower...contrary to what pics indicate - i was actually there...i did miss some campfire pics. also, amongst our group - we only had 2 ER visits...on the first night - first hour, acutally...renea sliced her thumb open on the fridge. and mid-week dillan went in for some funky rash-thing. we had a close call, when kevin was water skiing...he was trying to ski up onto shore...way too fast...he missed several trees, several kids, a bench and a sign...he ran all the way to the road after he jumped out of his ski...funniest thing i ever saw :)

lots of fun times...till next year!

just like daddy...

last week, the guys were working just around the corner - so we thought we would stop and say "hi"...silly me. do you think i could actually leave WITH my boys? luckily, doug said i could just leave them there for an hour or so, and then come get them.

when i pulled up the drive...i saw my kids literally working...i quick ran home to get my camera so i could snap some of these!

dodge, daddy, dawson and uncle darin. (and NO, us vrugginks do NOT try to come up with names that begin with the letter "D"!!) anyhoo...vruggink bros. concrete picked up a couple of extra brothers that day :)

dodge was working up a sweat just walking around with these ginormous rubber boots.

dawson worked his little tail off...doug was so impressed...he is a good worker - knew just what to do....he is so cute! i can almost picture what he'll look like when he gets older....look out girls!

dawson wanted me to run back and get his rubber boots...my guess is he wasn't about to chance lookin' "silly" with dads rubber boots...

and here's a guy not afraid to look silly...dodge looks like he is doing all the talking - and maybe not so much working.

the boys ended up hanging out with dad & uncle darin half the day...they were big stuff. hard to believe it won't be long and they will be heading out to help dad and darin during the summer...