Let the Race begin!

Well, I have to say I am super proud of my kiddos. They picked the design of their own cars, they painted their own cars. They had fun. And they all got a ribbon, and Emma got 2nd place for car design. Brennon was pretty darn close to getting 3rd for speed. Addy and Dylan, well, kiddos next year we'll go for speed, since apparently the only way to win for design is to have your parents do it. I mean really, I saw the winners of design in the younger kids age groups. Yeah right that 3 year old painted that John Deer tractor with such precision! And that's the attitude that will keep me home next year, haha! Oh well it was fun, especially with an ice cream stop on the way home.

Christmas. I mean Thanksgiving.

Oh that's right, Thanksgiving comes between Halloween and Christmas. Well, this year, we were able to try our hand at cooking a turkey. I should say, Jim was able to cook up ole' tom. My mom was in Nebraska and we were able to do it all on our own. I have to admit, we were a little excited about trying it. First the kids needed to make decorations, so handprint turkeys were made to adorn our kitchen and our first thanksgiving feast. I didn't give into the box stuffing or jar of gravy which I did look at closely while in the grocery store. Nope, I made it all homemade! Didn't turn out to bad either and we didn't end up at Ihop. Although I have to say that I wouldn't have minded if we did.

It was a nice laid back, fun, eat till your gut hurts and play some games type of day! And I am so Thankful that we don't do this every year! So FYI: mom and Connie, if we are on our own next year, I think we might go to Ihop, and feel free to join us!

Halloween came and went.

Dear Emma,

Despite the fact that your mom and dad came up with some really fun, cool, group themed costumes and you were so set against them all, I still love you. Also, you made a great bat, and well, dad did a great job assembling your costume from dollar store merchandise!

Dear Brennon,

You are awesome! Love that all you wanted was a sheet over your head for a ghost, and perhaps some eyes, and mouth. Yup, easy is good. Also, you had the scariest ghost noises ever!

Dear Addy,

You were a great cat, even if your tail kept flipping in between your legs when you ran. Don't you think it's kinda weird that we had a cat following us for a few blocks? I think it is because it liked you and thought you were it's friend.

Dear Dylan,

You make a great Buzz, complete with sound effects of lasers and wings popping out. I am glad you decided you wanted to be him. I am glad we found this costume on ebay pretty darn cheap too.

4 years ago (and some days)... I birthed him.

My Dylan, AKA Che Che. My superhero in the making, the kid that turns even a hot dog into a sword. The little boy that wears a super hero cape to the swimming pool in July. My boy who screams, "don't see me naked" , as he runs around the house in the nude. The boy who is into Wolverine and uses pencils between his fingers as his claws. The boy who wanted a Wolverine cake. Yup, not so easy. BUT, that's okay, because I do enjoy a good cake decorating challenge. So thank you Dylan for the challenge. It turned out...okay... there was a little mishap with my new technique but in the end it's all cake. Love my two October birthday kids. Not necessarily that there is 2 birthday cakes in the matter of 2 weeks followed the next day by a house full of Halloween candy.

6 years ago (and some days)...I birthed her.

My Addy Joy, my little girl, my sweetheart, my dancing queen, my spirited bundle that makes me smile, my kindergartner, my now 6 year old. Wow, I can't believe she is 6 already. I can't believe that she only wanted a chocolate cake with whip cream on top. Thanks Addy! I hope you enjoyed it.

Oh yeah, they started school

Yup, school started this year. It just hasn't been posted yet. Typically, I would just skip it, but since it is Addy's first year it does deserve a spot here on my little old blog. I was able to capture them as they headed out the door. Excited, that lasted a day or so.

Addy all lined up. Well, just for a quick photo and then she was off to play on the jungle gym.
And Brennon was also patient enough to let me take one of him as well.

Emma, well, she is in the other building and what 4th grader wants their mom following them over there to get a photo and kiss them off on their first day of school. She didn't. All is good though. School is good. 2 kids gone all day, 1 kid gone 1/2 day. Some one on one time with Dylan. Only 1 kid to take to the grocery store. Yup, it's all good!

Who Done it?

It is October, time for a good mystery.
"Hey Brennon, would you run downstairs and get my camera for me, please don't play with it, just bring it up here".

Time goes by. I wait patiently. I wait patiently. I wait patiently.

"Brennon? come on!"

"I'm coming just a sec"

Shorter amount of time goes by.

"Thanks"

Then a couple weeks go by, and I start to review my photos. There are actually a couple of dozen random shots of walls, ceilings, dog, toys, and other such objects. I wonder exactly who did this? Hmm... I will keep these photos and I will scrapbook them, and someday my son and I will laugh about it.

Ears, everybody should have 2.

Well, it's true, everyone should have 2. Not that I am going to dwell on that subject matter or the percentage of people out there who do not have 2. My science professor had a fake one. Said he liked to put it on backwards sometimes just for kicks. Still not sure how to take that one.

Anyway: At the ripe old age of 10 Emma has decided that maybe she would be okay with getting hers pierced. It has taken a long time for her to come to that decision. I have always told her what they did and that it was up to her whenever she felt ready for them. I love that it has taken her this long, just goes to show her independence. Addy on the other hand has pretty much always wanted them. At least since she gained enough verbal skills to communicate that with me. Well, we did it. We let them both go get them done and they both ended up with the same little pink flowers. They both did great! I know however that when they can start changing them out Addy will probably change them hourly, to coordinate with that hours outfit. Yup, that will be fun.

3 days and 2 nights

One day Emma had to turn 10. It's true. It was going to happen. She wanted a slumber party. I didn't. Dad thought I should. Dad didn't have to plan and prepare and think to much about it. In the end she had a slumber party. 3 of her friends, a good number by the way. 4 little girls to eat pizza, have cake and ice cream. Decorate pillowcases, make friendship bracelets, make smore's in the backyard and play in the dark, play WII, watch movies and eat junk food. Stay up late, keep staying up late...finally sleep. Then up for a pancake breakfast. It was great I have to say, her friends are sweet. They had a blast and Emma is 10. Double digits here we are!! I love this girl of mine.

After the pancake mess was cleaned up and girls went home, we threw stuff in the car and headed to the mountains for a camping trip with friends, which means 10 kids. Which was a blast even though we were going on very little sleep and extra cups of coffee. I love the mountains, I love sleeping in the tent freezing next to my babes who are kicking me in the back all night long. I really do! I love campfires, I love smelling like them. I love putting kids to bed and hanging around them with friends having a drink and chatting. Good times. Exhausting weekend, but worth every second of it. Best part was there was a bear that kept coming in to the campground...unfortunately we didn't see it. But at the same time it didn't try to eat our food either!

This year we put Addy in dance. She loved it, of course she did. At the end of the year all the classes held a recital. Her group performed Castle on a Cloud, not sure exactly what it was but it was fun to watch them all perform there little routine as they watched the person next to them to see exactly what it was they were suppose to do, and of course just watching this little bundle of sweetness prance around on a big stage was really just to much fun.

Dylan is usually a superhero. Today he was a cowboy. Today, he had to eat his snack while on his horse. Today I hope I remember how happy he was when I moved the chair out of his way so he could do just that. It's the little things.

Took the kids to the science museum, it was a lot of fun. Our favorite was trying to out match each other in the power of the mind. I have to admit, I was horrible at it. The whole idea was to remain calm and relaxed and move the ball to your opponents side. Of course I had a lot heckling and a 3 year old jabbering at me too. The best one at the game...the 3 year old. He was hilarious, closing his eyes and completely concentrating, guess we know who would be the Jedi in our family.

Today was the day

My little nephew that I have loved on, and hugged on from the the moment I met him and held his tiny little self in my arms, has graduated. He is no longer a little boy, (well, he always will be in my heart). He is growing up, as do all kids. In just 3 week he will be shipped off to be a Marine. Proud of him I am!

Last Night

Addy comes upstairs before bed.

"hey dad, I have some bad news, and some good news"
"okay what is it?"
"the bad news is that Emma is crabby"
"yes, I know, whats the good news?"
"the good news is that Jesus is alive!"

Talent

That's Emma up there behind the piano. Each year at the end of the year, the school holds a talent show. Now there are only about 12-15 kids/performers, that get to put on a show for the school. This year Emma decided to try out with a little piano music. And out of about 50+ kids that try out each year. She made it! She so loves doing and being involved in as many things as possible. So proud of her!

ROCKIES!!!!

So my hubby loves watching baseball. He is a Twins fan and now also a Rockies fan. So for his birthday the past few years he has gotten Rockies stuff...usually a night with his oh so lovely wife away from kids to enjoy a game. This year since kids are older and have been wanting to go, He got a bag full of Rockies gear for kids and him of course. Then at the bottom were tickets for the whole family to enjoy a game. It was a fun night and despite there being 4 kiddos, it all went well. Unfortunately for Emma, who could sit and watch game after game. The younger kids made it to the 7th inning stretch then it was time to go.

On Ice

So apparently I thought that I had control, but I don't. I thought that when we took Addy to Disney on Ice that I would only take maybe 30 pics. Even while we were there I thought I had managed some self control. It wasn't only until I went to go put photos on the computer that I realized that I hadn't. 113 pictures later I have some to share.

A way with words

Addy has such a way of putting things. For example lettuce is called "straps" and she hates straps. Snowflakes are often "Snowflags". And so many other things throughout the day that she comes up with in her own creative mind. My favorite of times is that she calls hooks (like a coat hook, or towel hook) a "hooker". One day she said to a friend, you can put your coat downstairs, we have a hooker. She makes me laugh, until last night in the bathroom she is holding the hand towel while Brennon was drying his hands and she says, "hey Brennon, I'm a hooker!" Yeah, we may have to fix that!

With a mom who is slightly out of commission everyone has had to chip in around the house. So On Friday when the kids didn't have school Emma made everyone mac n' cheese, and the lunch conversation went something like this:

Addy: So when mommy dies Emma will have to take care of us.
Emma: Addy, Mommy isn't going to die.
Addy: Well, when YOU die, Brennon will have to take care of us.
Emma: I am not going to die.
Addy: And then when Brennon dies, I'll take care of me and Dylan, and then when I die Dylan won't have anyone to take care of him.

And Dylan interjects with a simple heart warming plea "I want mommy"

It's okay Dylan I plan on being around here to take care of you for a long long time!

Everybody say cheese.....except for Addy, you can say meow!

Love going to the mountains. Staying a few days with my family. Enjoy the tubing, the fire, the ice skating. Watching my kids enjoying themselves and mastering sledding skills and skating skills....My oldest and youngest spending an ENTIRE day going up and down a hill.....yup, the 3 year old outlasted his 17 year old and 15 year old cousins!!! What a Blast!!! thanks mom for the memories!

about potty training

yup that is exactly what you think it is. Apparently Dylan had a little accident, now this was a long time ago when he was still trying to get it all figured out. However, I have to give the kid some credit he was trying to clean it up! So needless to say at the end the night. I relaxed and enjoyed this:

I have a dream

I have had lots of them throughout the course of my life. They change from stage to stage in my life. I have missed blogging. I have lots of stories that would run through my brain and I would think.."wow, that's a blog worthy moment". Of course signing into my old dial up computer was so time consuming. Of course now, I have this much faster, Internet which will allow me no more excuses for getting on here and updating some of our daily life. Anyway, back to my dream. I use to dream that I would get married, travel the world with the love of my life then settle down some where, preferably some place a lot different then where I was. You know, a beach, ocean side, mountain side....London. Then start a family. Of course well, that didn't turn out so. But as it turned out its okay. I have four kiddos. Two pets. A small house in a small town. Anyway, I have a new dream. I want to be the old granny driving a little sporty red, Nissan 350Z , license plate reading "flash". On the back my hover round will be attached and I will be heading towards the Grand Canyon. Jim by my side.

Times they are a changin

Yes, I know its been months. Yes, I know there were 3 birthdays and Christmas in the time I have been away. But this is a fresh memory. So endure it.
I am home preschooling Addy this year. I love it by the way. We are working on reading. This particular book that we are working through is awesome. Mostly because it tells me not only what to do but what to say. Anyway, she is making great progress.
You read a sentence and there are questions that you ask them about a story. So for example a sentence would go like this.

"We will run". Then you ask a question. "who will run?"
Correct response is "we". through a very complicated and confusing 10 minute conversation over that simple sentence. I realize that my poor little girl is very very confused. I finally realized that she is wondering how in the world can a WII run!!! Thank you Nintendo!