Tuesday, June 30, 2009

I can't recall why an outfit change was needed one evening, but I assume it was a matter of life and death. She's a typical girl. I'm sure she just NEEDED a new outfit. She ran into the laundry room where I had a basket of laundry. She comes running out past the office and out the front door. I took a glance...shirt...check...pants...check...shoes...check. It is necessary to make sure all three are there...sometimes they aren't!

Wait a minute...pants?? What is she wearing??

Me: "Ava...what are you wearing for shorts?"

A: "I don't know?"

Me: "Ava, those are Keira's!"

A: "Yeah I know, I couldn't find mine and they were on the top."

Ava has always been petite and at least a year behind on any size of clothes normally for her age...but Keira's 3-6 month capris?? Yes they were a little snug in the rear section and her little thighs do fill them out completely....but 3-6 months!!! Maybe she needs a few more late night bowls of ice cream!!!
And yes, she did wear those for the rest of the evening....running and playing just fine in them!
PS Sorry for the underline...I couldn't figure out how to get it off and my computer savvy hubby wasn't home....I typed this PS later and what do you know...it's magically fixed...AAAHHH computers I love them except for when they don't do what I want them to...then I nearly throw them out the window!!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

I was just hanging out feeding Keira the kids were just playing around and then....

Q: "Look what I can do mom?" (Holding up his middle finger..and all alone.)

Me: "Nice Quaid."

.....now now what do I do? Do I make a big deal of it? Do I let it go? Do I tell him it's bad to do that? If I tell him that he will probably want to do it again....

Q: "That's tall man, mom. That's what that finger is called..(singing) Where is tall man, Where is tall man, here he is, here he is......" (the whole time with both middle fingers dancing a solo up and down and all around.)

Q: "Look Ava, can you do it too? Like this, you put your fingers like this."

So my kids proceded to "hold up their middle fingers" to eachother...singing the whole time.

Q: "What's this finger called mom? (pointing to his ring finger)

Me: (Oh good, he's moved on to a different finger!) "It's Ring Man."

They then spent the rest of the time trying to put up that finger instead which is a little tricky so that kept them busy instead...thank goodness!!!

PS....Note to self...make sure to tell kids that pop cans ARE NOT water balloons. Stealing them out of the fridge and smashing them on the ground so they get holes and spray pop everywhere in the garage (and over feet, legs, clothes, hands, arms, face, and hair) is not the best use of play time.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Cabin Fun

The Walkington's spent the weekend at the cabin. Third weekend in a row...Yea...we love the summer. We did some water balloons, sprinklers and boating. The kids love to swim but something about the big lake makes them a little apprehensive. And the water is still pretty chilly...I don't blame them. The did do some tubing with us. I even went. I really dislike tubing. I would say hate but once again, I was corrected this weekend by my dear Ava who reminded me that we don't use that word. But I really love my girl so I thought I could do it for her...and she loved it.

We got some sleep in days both mornings. Keira slept in till 9am and 930am...whooo hooo. We did keep our sweet little thing up till 9pm...2 hours past bedtime...I'm sure that had a bit to do with it. Evening boating is the best and Keira was quite the happy little night owl....the wind blowing in all of her 5 hairs. The other kids slept in too...not quite as late. They are self sufficient in running the DVD player so they just run up and turn a movie on...so really they don't count :) I base my sleep in time on Keira as she is the only one who really needs parenting when she wakes up. I try and do minimal parenting at the cabin as a whole. The kids pre-breakfast appetizer was BBQ Pringles...if that gives you an idea.

Sunday morning was a bit cold and rainy so we stayed in and watched The Sound of Music...yep the whole thing! Nathan is a bit of a softy for old movies...not really what I expected from him. He actually pulled up some old Elivs movies from the 1970's!! Really honey....Really??

Here are a few conversations over the weekend that made Nathan and I laugh a little....

Q: (very non-chalantly) "Oh Jentzen, looks like Ava ate your ice cream."

J: "What? Hey!!! (followed by..) Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

A: "Jentzen buddy, you were done. You were all done eating Jentzen."

I have a pretty good feeling Jentzen was NOT done and Ava sneaked her little spoon in there when Jentzen wasn't looking. Don't worry...daddy gave Jentzen an extra scoop.

Q: (coming to me in tears while rubbing his head) "OOOWWWIIIEEEEE."

Me: "Who hit you?"

Q: (through his tears) "Ava hit me on the head!"

Me: "OOhhh are you alright"

Q: "See, I told you she was crazy!"

I have lots of great pics from the cabin...I will post them soon :)

Thursday, June 18, 2009

I am super excited about homeschooling my kids. Most people say, "I couldn't imagine ever doing that! You're crazy!" I on the other hand couldn't imagine doing anything else.

I have gotten to watch Quaid start from picking out the letter that I say....to figuring out what "at" spells...then to sitting on the boat at the cabin and having Quaid look down and say, "Do not sit on the rails." He read it...all by himself. It is the coolest thing ever to be there when they read their first word, do their first Math problem, to see them remember what you taught them the day before. To have little Ava sitting on the counter at snack time..."Look mom...there's a "c"!! And then tell me what sound it makes. It's so awesome to see what I have worked with her on come out and be retained! I'm sure there will be days I want to pull my hair out but right now, it's going great and to see what I get to see every day...there's no comparison!!...and I will be able to remember when each of them read their first word, knowing that I was right there teaching them how to do it! There's nothing greater!!

Quaid this week has also played Tball these past few weeks at the park in town. We've all gone to watch...How cute to watch 10 little 5 year olds chase and tackle eachother for the ball. Quaid finds it a little more fun to spin his head back and forth so the helmet twists around on his head. He keeps the helmet on his head the until one of the coaches make him take it off. What a weirdo!

I would post some pics but unless the camera jumps in my purse by itself... I for sure will not remember it! And daddy who is the family photographer has to work late on both of the nights that Quaid plays....bummer! I will try next week to get a few shots.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

My big girl Ava...who turns 4 today...Happy Birthday!...of course does not nap anymore. However if she is made to sit in one spot and not move between the hours of 4-5 she WILL fall asleep...no matter where it is!! Here she was made to sit on the floor for a little personal reflection time about how she should play with Quaid and how listening to her mom really is the best decision...don't feel bad for her...Quaid was just around the corner having his own little reflection time as well. Nathan then comes home, walks right past her...didn't even notice...he then walked past her again...nothing...then finally on his way up the stairs I hear,

N: "Ava, quit sulking!" (Ava tends to make known when she is not happy with something.)

K: "She's asleep there!"

N: "Really? I didn't even notice her there the first time!"

That would be because as soon as he's home...she is attached to his leg giving him the biggest hug she can.

And yet again...she just took a rest holding her baby...and she was gone!! This girl goes 100 mph but when she stops...she stops!!

If you all know Nathan as well as I do there's nothing greater than something with wheels. He loves his car, always thinks it needs to go faster, and Dyno number is never big enough.

I on the other hand think that my grocery-go-getter Dodge Caravan with 100,000+ miles on it has plenty of kick for me...(alright, I admit, when I do get to drive Nathan's car...I of course "give it a little").

But I do like to be a bit of dare devil. For my graduation present from highschool my mom and dad funded a skydiving trip. Nothing says Goodbye to your last out of six children to finally leave the house like throwing them out of a plane does it?!?! Thanks mom and dad!!!

And also for my senior class trip I did a little bungee jumping. It was only 50 ft at Wisconsin Dells and the guy manning the station had to push me off....I would have NEVER jumped alone.

This brings us to the photos...The best of both worlds!!

Nathan and I have been saving up for something special. We didn't know what it would be but figured along the course of lifetime there would be something that we would put our little stash of moola towards. We wanted it to be something we could do as a family and something we could pass down to our kids. We finally found it!!

It's called Power Parachuting!! Here is a little description...

A powered parachute (motorized parachute, PPC, paraplane) is a parachute with motor and wheels. The aircraft's airspeed is typically about 25–35 mph (40–60 km/h). PPCs operate safely at heights ranging from a few feet off the ground (while ground skimming, a popular use of the aircraft) to altitudes as high as 18,000+ feet (5.5 km). But typical operating heights are between 500 and 1500 feet (150–500 meters). Equipped with the standard 5 or 10 gallon fuel tank, PPCs can typically be flown for about three hours. They have very short take-off and landing rolls, sometimes less than 100 ft (30 m).

When we found this, we KNEW this was for us!! So here are finally the pics. Nathan on his maiden voyage with a friend that also has one. The first is taken from our front door and they are flying just over my parents house. The second ones are a little closer shots.


YEAH RIGHT??!?!?! AS IF?!?!?! You're right....you guessed it....just a story. But how cool are they?!?! There was one true part...they did just fly right over our house so that means the real owners are near by....so if you're out there and reading this...I WANT A RIDE!!!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Not much happening around here so I thought I would just put up some pics. I think kids are the cutest in sunglasses!!!
And well....I guess this is cute too???

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