The Ozmerican Life

I was getting ready to head out of the house for an afternoon away with my best shopping partner...Ava. She loves going with me in fact the day before I was going south of Mankato to go pick up my 1/4 of a cow. So that means a little over an hour in the car...out for 10 minutes, and back in the car for over an hour...BORING! So we had the following conversation...

A: "Where are you going mom?"

Me: "To get some meat."

A: "I want to come."

Me: "No Ava, not this time."

A: "Please I really want to come." (We are also working on only asking 1 time and not arguing when she gets an answer...REALLY REALLY hard on this one."

Me: "No, Ava, I already told you no...it's going to be a big long car ride anyway and that's it, no fun at all."

A: "I like car rides."

Me: "Ava, no, it's going to be boring."

A: "But mom, I LOVE BORING!!!"

So Anyways, back to the main point of the story...I was giving Nathan the instructions for the kids...yes after 4 of them, he still needs to ask...I love you honey :)

He was as always, mixing up his coffee....

I saw him digging around in his sugar, milk mixture that was awating the hot water to top off the coffee...and came out with a little something special..

N: "Oh look! A fly!"

(Our house, as mentioned earlier...is infested with flies...because the kids NEVER shut the door...despite my constant nagging...there are 3 of them in a row...a little bit of a pain even in my opinion)

K: "That is disgusting!"

N: (pouring his water, finishing off the coffee making process)

K: "Oh GROSS!! You're going to still drink that?!?!"

N: "Yeah so?"

K: "It had a fly in it?"

N: "As opposed to all the fly guts that are all over everything else from you swatting them everywhere?"

K: "Well at least they were alive and not dead and rotting!"

N: "This one was alive too!"

K: "That is disgusting...and I'm blogging that!!" (While watching him drink down a big gulp)

It's been another long while since I've posted. It's till that darn picture thing...I feel like posting without a picture is kind of a "cheater post."

We had a GREAT weekend at the cabin with my college buddies. It was the first time we've invited our kids and husbands along. It's usually girl only....with the exception of me. It's always at my house and I can't kick my kids out for the weekend...so I am still "mom" but as minimally as possible. We girls had a good time...the kids pretty much. Ava made a new best friend with Michelle's daughter Elayna who is 3. They had their own babies on their hips the whole weekend...very cute.

The husbands...well we haven't gotten the full report back from them yet :) We tend to resort back to college life when we're together and try to escape the mature responsible role when we are together!

We did manage to keep all the kids safe and sound and injury free for the whole weekend...so we must have been somewhat responsible...although Keira did have one little somewhat life threatening incident....well to be honest it was pretty dangerous and did make my heart...as well as everyone else's heart skip a beat or two. I'm not going to go into it...well because my mom reads this and I'm trying to avoid the "mom" speech!!

Other than that...not much has been happening here the past few weeks. A couple of trips to the park and beach....ahh the beach. By that I mean the stinky, green, weedy, "lake" I could almost spit across with dirty sand that really shouldn't even be sat on. I can't help it every time I sit on a "beach" (it really shouldn't even be called that...it's a disgrace to the word) imagine the Australian beaches that I've been spoiled with. Maybe a bit silly, but I sit, close my eyes for a second and pretend.....and then I open them. Disappointed. There is no comparison to the ocean beaches...I love them...I could sit for hours and just watch and listen. Someday we will be back there...semi-permanently I hope. I would love to spend a few years there after my kids are older...maybe out of the house. But I would have to come back...it could never be totally permanent. One could only live so long without such things as velveeta chip dip, fruit pizza, and Chipotle...and yes even winter....or at least fall. I do love the smell of winter air and the pink sky after a snowfall.

Kids and school are still going pretty good. I love love love to see them learn...it's the coolest things to see them figure things out, to see your efforts pay off, to see them read....it's the best. I am still keeping up with my night time reading routine. I actually look forward to it myself.

I used the Sonlight Readers list for books. The first few were pretty good...then I came across this one titled "The Family Under the Bridge." I think the book is just fine if you're 10...but it was on my Kindergarten reading list. The book is set in Paris...there's the first problem...who can pronounce a French word?? NOT ME!! It was about a hobo...my kids don't even know what that is....and if I told them, the concept of being homeless to them is a little bit of a reach for them. Something about some gypsies...more French words...some kids...more French words...and finding jobs. Yes I know it's probably good to read a bit above their level but really?!?!

But nonetheless, I did understand the book and I just had to finish it to see what actually happened. So I read as fast as I could, totally slaughtering all the French words, just to finish so I could see what happened. Guaranteed the kids have no idea of anything that happened in the book...but I am just that much more enlightened!!

Let's hope that the next book on the reading list is a bit better than that!!

Remember how I said Garden Partner would write a great blog about our carrots...Well she came through...and as a bonus has started up a little contest....with a GREAT PRIZE!!!

So hop on over via the link below...and enter the contest. All you Aussies, just because you're across the globe doesn't mean you're out of luck...you can enter too! The prize is good worldwide!!

http://justthetwoofus.typepad.com/just_the_two_of_us/2009/08/overboard.html

yeah I know....it's been a long long time. I've got some things...but again. The picture thing. I think about it and then I say, maybe tomorrow I'll do that!

I have been a little occupied with some other things....

*Harvesting, Washing, cutting, peeling, chopping, cooking, packaging our ?? (she's having a contest about the number so head over there) lbs of carrots!!! (More on that later...I'm sure my garden buddy will write a fabulous blog on that!!!)

*Washing, shredding, packaging 50 cups of shredded zucchini....thanks dad!

*Ordering some new Uppercase Living stuff...LOVE IT...I will for sure not be too lazy to put up those pics...I'm sooooo excited!!!

*Rescuing Keira from the stairs when she sneaks up them, from Ava when she things she can carry her around, from the chunks of carrots left over on the floor....

*Now cleaning and packing, getting ready for the weekend away with my two college friends Jess and Michelle...SUPER EXCITED!!! We get together twice a year for a girls weekend but this time we've decided to head to the cabin with all our families too! We'll still have to find some time away for our bi-annual girl talk!

Next week I'll do better!!

So after my great original garden update post Deb gave me another idea....

"You might as well just copy the other one too...it is about your kids."

A GREAT IDEA!!! Another post with minimal work...I love it!!



http://justthetwoofus.typepad.com/just_the_two_of_us/2009/07/pointing-the-finger-at-costco.html

So I've been meaning to give an update on the garden for quite some time now but I just haven't gotten around to it...and this is why...I'm just going to say "sorry" and "thanks" to Deb before I even get started!

I don't mind blogging at all...at least the writing part...now the picture part is always the hinderance. When I think of getting out the camera, snapping a few shots, then downloading the pictures, resizing them all so they don't take an hour to load, then attaching them to the blog, and then trying to get them all in the right spots...well that just sounds like way too much work for me.

Just writing about the garden wasn't good enough. I could tell you what it looks like but really you need to see it!

So I knew at some point Deb would do it, so why waste all the time doing it myself when she would do it, and do a much better job than I would...and look it happened!! So here it is...OUR update on the garden!!

http://justthetwoofus.typepad.com/just_the_two_of_us/2009/08/oh-how-our-garden-grows.html

So I always thought that I would be ready to be done having kids. The baby stage has never been my favorite and I knew I wanted lots of babies but was excited to have them not be babies anymore. I was so looking forwards to the big kids stuff...playing ball, riding bikes, playing games etc...

But I find myself getting a bit clucky again. A few weeks ago my co-worker had a beautiful baby girl and I just happened to be working so of course I went up to hold the little one who was just 1 day old. Oh boy, that was a mistake. The truth is I LOVED having a baby again with Keira...and I thought maybe we should give it a go once more...so the next day I sent my hubby a little message...

"Oh honey, don't you think we should have another?"

N: "We already HAVE a baby."

Me: "No we don't....we have a big baby...I want a little baby."

N: "Well sure you can...I hope he's a real nice guy!"

Me: "....." (with mouth wide open...nothing coming out)

That was the end of the conversation...Nathan is always quite quick witted...so quick it's irritating!!

So the next day I thought maybe one more nudge....

Me: "So...really we should have another little baby...they're so cute...and look how easy Keira was!!"

N: "Alright fine...I'll make you a deal....."

Oh this was going to be good, I could just tell!!

N: "If I can get a dirt bike for me and one for the kids....you can have another baby."

Me: "....." (with mouth wide open...nothing coming out..AGAIN!!)

Oh that's just great...can you just see the conversation years down the road....

Baby #5: "Mom, how come you had 5 kids?"

Me: "Because I love having kids!!"

N: "No really #5...I made your mom a deal....go on tell 'em."

Me: "Yeah that's right...I paid $5000 for you! Daddy got some dirt bikes and I got you!"

I have a feeling that wouldn't go over that well....so we'll be sticking with four for now.....although I do have until Sept 1st to do some mind changing...guess what happens on that day!?!?!?!