A Day at the Academy

One Saturday a month ago we were really bored and decided that we should go to the Air Force Academy and watch their open football practice. When we got there we couldn't find the team because they weren't on the practice field (turns out they were holding practice that day on the actual football field). So we got out of the car and let the kids run around on the practice field. It was a lot of fun.

Lucy loved playing with their tackling equipment. She was cracking me up because she thought that she was so tough.

They also had the practice field conveniently lined with some big hills which I'm sure have been run up and down several times. Lucy LOVED rolling down these hills, that is until she rolled over a patch of thistles.

Jack just loved running up and down the field. We're starting him young.

Lucy also loved running up and down the fields, but she preferred racing us. She recently learned to use her arms when she runs, and it is pretty entertaining to watch.

August Birthdays!

August is a very busy month in our family. My birthday falls on the 12th, then Shawn's on the 20th, and then our anniversary on the 25th. We didn't do anything too special for any of these this year, but we still celebrated a little. Shawn insisted on making my birthday cake by himself this year. He did a great job, and the kids were really good helpers. I did give him a hard time for the slight tilt of the cake, but seriously, this is the guy who forgets to take the surran wrap off of the rolls before he puts them in the oven to bake, so this cake really was impressive.

I love Jack's face, he loves "hot". This was one of his last days with the pacifier allowed outside of the crib. He turned 18 months 4 days later, and when we turn 18 months, we have to grow up whether we like it or not.

Is there anything cuter than kids eating cake? Or cookies? Or anything made of sugar? There is a look of pure happiness on their faces that can't be imitated.

For Shawn's birthday we went up to his parents and did the traditional family party. There was dinner (I think Shawn chose tacos, he's easy to please), presents, unbelievably out of tune singing, and then fruit pizza. I'm glade that Shawn's family has several non traditional cake options for birthdays, because in my family we were pretty serious about the traditional birthday cake, and February got a little rough when we had 3 birthdays in one week.

Seriously, I'm not kidding about the out of tune singing. It was Jason's wife Rebecca's first experience with us for a birthday, and she learned quick, once she got over the shock. Somehow the Hammonds make it impossible to even try to sing it on tune if you wanted to. It is so funny.



And we all know that when you are a dad, you can no longer blow your candles out on your own. I'm still trying to decide if that is because you want to be nice to your little girl, or if you can't blow out that large plate of fire on your own, 28 candles is a lot of work.

Gotta Love the Young Men!

One morning last month, I woke up at 7:00 and opened my garage to go pick up a little boy I babysit. As the door opened I noticed our driveway was barricaded off. I was so confused. So I wandered out on the driveway not entirely awake and looked up and down the street. Yep, we were the only ones on our street with this barricade. I started frantically thinking of reasons why our house would be barricaded off. Then I remembered that Shawn works with the Young Men at church, and we have some pretty funny Young Men. I guess this was their way of welcoming Shawn as the new YM President.

Shawn started texting a couple of the YM we suspected immediately and they both denied it. But when Shawn went to help one of these guys finish up a Kayak they had been building and confronted this kid, he folded so fast. Apparently it is easier to lie through text than to someones face. It was pretty funny. Luckily all we had to do was call the phone number on the barricade and the city came and picked all these up for us (after we moved them to the side of our house of course). Our neighbors must think there is something wrong with us.

Animal Lover?

Ok, so this post really can't count as a family update or anything, but I promise those are coming soon, with pictures and everything! But this will mark a little chapter in our lives right now, so I feel pretty good about posting it.

There was a time in my life when I considered myself an animal lover, that time has passed. That is a pretty bold statement coming from someone who once was the proud owner of not one, but TWO iguanas! As a disclaimer, I only owned an iguana because my friend was moving out of state and couldn't take it with her. When I first took in this 5-6 foot lizard, it was perfect! The thing was huge, and NEVER pooped! Obviously she didn't live long. So in my heartache, I quickly bought a new one to replace her. This one lived much longer, and I quickly learned why reptiles are disgusting, unsanitary animals, and vowed to never own one again.

I also had countless parakeets growing up, a Cocker Spanial named Taffy (who I loved!), a salt water fish tank, turtles, frogs, an couple green anoles, and of course Stockton, my families current Maltese Poodle who thinks he is the dominate male of the family even though he stands at 12" tall. I LOVED having all these pets growing up, and always have looked forward to the day when Shawn and I could adopt our first pet. But I have recently had a change of heart towards the animal world, and let me tell you why.

Early this spring, I got really really puppy hungry and thought that it would be good to adopt a puppy to watch our kids grow up with. Such a sweet heart warming thought. Then I found out that I was pregnant, and suddenly that puppy was way off the table, but I still really wanted one. So I found a family that was in need of a dog sitter for the summer and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to see how a dog fit into our family. So we agreed to watch an 18 month old Boxer puppy for the WHOLE summer (and yes, we were paid, but not near enough). To keep this post somewhat contained in size, I will not go into details about the summer from h--- that animal caused us, but between the jumped through screens, chewed through cable cords, chewed up everything else, 100% complete and total disobedience, and of course going into heat the last week (@#!*%!#$*@), I quickly realized why my parents were so against a dog for so many years. I also learned that our little family likes to pick up and go way too spontaneously to be tied down with a dog. So I am happy to report that I am no longer puppy hungry and am once again enjoying and loving my CLEAN home (as clean as it gets with kids, but no more dog grossness), and livable backyard.

On to the most recent chapter of animals in my life...mice. Last year right after we moved into our house we quickly learned there was a mouse problem. We set some traps, caught a few, and the problem seemed to disappear. Well, two days ago it started cooling off and Shawn and I got the kids to bed when we started hearing some noise, from inside the house. We walked into the kitchen and saw 4 little mice peeking out at us from beside the dishwasher. I opened the pantry and another one darted out at me. We quickly set traps, and the first snap (about 3 minutes later) caught two mice in one trap! We are up to 10 mice in 24 hours now, and we are starting to get nervous that we have a real problem on our hands.

So we are looking for suggestions and tips from anyone. The number one tip we have gotten so far is to get a cat. Problem, I'm allergic, not horribly, but enough that I don't want to go visit my in-laws until my fall allergies pass and then the cat allergy will at least be manageable. Plus, honestly, I don't want another thing to clean up poop after, and cat poop is just disgusting. We've looked into having an outdoor cat, but I don't know how you train a cat to hang around your house, and we have a slight bear and wild animal problem around here that wouldn't fair too well for a cat. Anyway help! I'm totally grossed out and feel so unsanitary! But all and all I think it is safe to say that here at the Hammond house, we are not animal lovers, not even a little bit. And if you know anyone who needs a mouse or two, send them our way!