Jake, the Break and the Snake

1.  JAKE...

 Jake and Rebekah got some sweet free Delta flights and flew their hineys right out to Memphis to see us.  We love them.  Jake and Joey spent MOST of their time playing..... (what?)..... DISC GOLF.  The difference between now and their last visit (titled Disc Golf Mania) is that Jake had played a lot more disc golf and so Joey had his work cut out for him. 

They had to out-mania their mania from last visit so they played 254 - TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY FOUR HOLES OF DISC GOLF!!!    Rebekah played a lot of those and I played the most disc golf of my life.  Probably around 50 holes.  

We even fit in other activities around those 254 holes of golf.  Lots of beyblade battles with Luke, movie watching,  Rebekah and I went to Zumba, Body Fit and Latin Rhythm.  We like to party.  

We even went to a casino buffet in Tunica. (Tunica is the Las Vegas of the south.  Floating casinos on the Mississippi river since it's legal to gamble on the river in the state of MS)  Oh and the BREAK (-ing a hole in our wall) and the SNAKE. but more on that.

  

Here is a fun afternoon lunch we had at The Grove between disc golf rounds rocking out to some live music.  These soulful tunes were provided by Nick Black and band and since it was basically just us and them, we got to request music and dance around like crazies.

 Beyblade battles 

3, 2, 1....

 Let it rip!

2. THE BREAK...

So, we are just hanging out one morning and Jake is walking around knocking on our walls and checking stuff and out and says "hey guys!  I think there is an empty space under your stairs.  Do you know what is under here?" 

we say "no"

 "So... wanna find out?  Should I kick a hole in your wall right now?"  he is facing us and has his foot on the wall and has a jake-glimmer in his eye.

Joey says "Yeah!  Do it!  Do it right now!" 

He looked like a little kid on Christmas morning.  That was all he needed and CRASH! - his foot went through our wall.  

 I was all "huh? are we really doing this right now?"

He grabbed a hammer and started making a wider hole saying "Oh yeah, I mean this is just wasted space under here.  We could make it into a hideout for the kids or something!"

And with that, The Hideout was born....

Of course there was disc golf to be played that day so it just was a big hole in the wall.  When Luke came home from school and I told him Uncle Jake had kicked a hole in the wall and was going to make a secret hideout for him.  He looked in the hole and exclaimed "what!  you mean, ALL THIS TIME we've had a hideout and we didn't even know?!!!"   Uncle Jake - hero.

Clearing out all the insulation and cobwebs..... at like midnight.

 The next day he built an adorable little dutch door and hung up white lights and wired in a switch etc.  Joey painted.  

AND VOILA!!!  

The coolest kid hideout ever!!

 Like father, like son huh?  Jake just did this the day before he left.  It has been a blast!!

Oh and he cut a window in our laundry room that the kids can peek out of.  We are going to put cute little shutters on for them.  (sorry we haven't done that yet Jake)

Luke peeking out, Maryanne peeking out.

3 THE SNAKE...

 On his last day Jake and I ran out to run to a hardware store and we stopped when we saw THIS slithering right in front of wear the kids would get in the van (in their bare feet nontheless)

Jake was like "that looks like a poisonous snake!  get the kids away, we got to get rid of it.  Seriously Katie this could probably like kill one of your kids."

I was freaked out and watched Jake look for some sort of tool to kill it with.  He is on the phone with Joey in this picture asking where the shovel is.  While he was on the phone he tried to get it with a hatchet and it rose up and tried to bite his hand!  It was freaky.

Finally he killed it with with a random pole I think.  I was sure glad he was there.  

  

 I think this was a baby copperhead.  Which is even more poisonous than an adult.  Uncle Jake - hero again.

Thinking of it right next to our little babies' toes just makes me more than a little squeamish.  I've been stepping more carefully in our grass lately.

Jake - Thanks for the hideout, the snake protection, the delicious curry and the disc golf tips.

Rebekah - Thanks for bustin' a move with me at the gym so we could eat lots of candy bars.  and for telling me when to close my eyes during Walking Dead.  and for kicking my bum at disc golf.  and for loving my kids.

We sure love you guys.  And I think you are the winning siblings for most visits.  Or maybe are tied with Emily.  But we know of a few double siblings that we would LOVE a visit from.  wink wink.  nudge nudge.  

A visit and a Lake House

We had a visit from some of our very favorite people. Uncle Mike and Aunt "Bictoria" and the cutest Sarah Grace you ever saw.   It was so fun to hang out as couples.  The first Saturday they were here we got babysitters all day long to go disc golfing at Bud Hill and go out to eat and play.  It was so fun.

the only pre-lake-house picture taken...by Mike.  Bud Hill bamboo.

And then all 3 families spent a wonderful 3 days at our very favorite lake in the south -

 Greers Ferry Lake.

first day toe testing while waiting for the boat

Boating it up

 

 Sugarloaf Mountain Hike

 Cliff Jumping

 Beach Bum

Mud Exfoliation Treatment

  Horseshoe-throwin

 Tube balancing challenge

 so cute right?

 Chillin at the cabin

 

Key story

Our last day at the lake M&V and Kate flew to Utah early in the morning and the rest of us crammed in as much fun as we could until the day was about over and we thought we'd best start the drive home.  We got all packed and in our vans and Caleb couldn't find his keys.  Hmmm, might need those.  And thus we began our search.  We were looking and we had the kids looking and time just went on...and on.  It seemed like an eternity.  We turned the cabin upside down and then pulled apart our vans and every piece of luggage and interrogated every child.  We searched and searched and searched and searched.  I called a couple of locksmiths and there was nothing they could do, said it would have to be a dealership.  The closest dealership was hours away.  So, our only option was to keep looking.  

We had already had a few prayers but in our final desperation we gathered every family member for a family kneeling prayer.  After that we got up and we all went about our looking.  Maybe 5 minutes later, Joey let out a triumphant whoop and brought in a dripping set of keys.  Dripping with yucky garbage juices.  He had found them!!!  In the outside garbage!!  The crazy thing is Caleb and I had gone through all the bags of garbage already.  But I think the keys were in a bag that was particularly disgusting and we apparently we had done less of a thorough job on that one.  

We were overjoyed!!  The kids were cheering and relieved!  And we all knelt down and thanked Heavenly Father that we got to go home.  And for leading Joey to the goopy keys!  It was a hard night but a good faith builder for our kids.  Before we found the keys we all were sharing experiences in our lives where we needed help and had received an answer to our prayers. 

LOVELY TIME. 

Thank you for visiting us The Malmborgs.  

You guys are our somethings that are good and we think that you are nice.

** thanks Kate for letting me steal some of your pictures. 

G&G Songer strike again

Back in September my parents paid a quick visit.   It was weird having visitors and Luke being in school.  We missed him. 

But there was some nice Grandpa and Maryanne bonding...

And also some Grandma and Lucy bonding.  Lucy loved Grandma's "sticks".  It's not pictured, but Lucy got out her pink umbrella and her yellow bat and used them as her own sticks everywhere we went.

 (I don't think I ever wrote about WHY my mom has said sticks.  She was climbing a ladder to hang some lights for a party and stepped off the last rung - only it wasn't the last rung - so she fell on the cement and broke her pelvis.  Since my dad's recent ladder incident, it's the neighborhood joke that the Songers are no longer allowed to get on ladders!  But by the end of her visit here she was walking on her own and is now jumping on the trampoline every day and doing great!)

Lucy gets on a ride on the sticks...

momandlucywithsticks from katiehale on Vimeo.

Grandma was definitely a favorite in Lucy's eyes.  She got a new fairy outfit and just loved it.

 And when Luke WAS around, he made his presence well known.  He was so excited to play tricks on his sweet grandparents.  He slyly snuck over and sprayed disappearing ink right in Grandma's face!  And on my new cardigan.  I know it's disappearing, but still quite disconcerting.  Little boys, sigh.

 Bonding time for all...

 And now....presenting...dun dun dun dun!!!!.....

THE TABLE!!!

So by now we know that my dad doesn't just take vacations without doing some major project.  Well, for a few days we had a hard time settling on one.  I had 5 or 6 ideas but nothing was clicking.  I knew I needed a kitchen table - so my parents were helping me shop for one.  But they were all crazy expensive and nothing I really liked.  We came home for lunch and I was looking for ideas online.  I found a table I really loved and thought it would fit the space we had really well.  My dad came and looked at it and said, "I could make you one like that!" I said, "really?  are you sure dad?  Do you even know how to build a table?"  He said, "no not really but I could probably figure it out."  He was so excited that the next 5 minutes he made a few measurements and was out the door to Home Depot - his own heaven on earth.  So, in the next day and a half my dad built me a table!  And it is my dream table.  What a dad!!!!

building...

priming...

primed (and dad had to fly out that day, so we finished it)

spray painted....

 glazing...

expert glazer...

KITCHEN BEFORE                                                               AND  AFTER

 

I bought a few mismatched chairs from a antique shop and then spray painted a few we already had.  (and still need to spray paint a couple of them)

And my favorite thing about the table is that it can fit 10 people!!!  It's just a tiny bit bigger but with the corners cut off it allows for 4 more seats!!!  And more room to put food in the middle.  (oh and check out Jane and Luke) ... (and Joey who is pretending to be mad at me for taking pictures)

THANKS DAD!!  I love my table!

And thank you mom for always making the travel arrangements to come and see us... even when you have a broken pelvis!  We love you guys!!

PS - here are a few other projects I never documented....

SHEDANDGAZEBO from katiehale on Vimeo.