Gettin' caught up...

Jeff and I are back from Chicago. I started writing this days ago, when it seemed timely to say that. Now it seems rather like old news. We had such a good time and learned that a weekend goes by even MORE quickly without the kids around. At any rate, our friends are married now, and off on their honeymoon to Mexico.
Why is it that whenever I go to a wedding, afterwards I think "Man, I wish I was going to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico, Jamaica, wherever!" Cause I always do, and we NEVER do, I suppose! I wish I had some great pictures of our weekend, but I don't! We didn't even get one.single.picture of us together on this childless escapade. However, I did manage to snap this one of the view out of our hotel window on Friday:

It's pretty darn funny, considering that we drove six hours to get a view of the building of the company Jeff works at.... Chicagoland location!

Aunt Wo stayed with the kids all weekend... yes, she's probably a saint. I think her plan was to keep them sooooo occupied that they were exhausted by the end of the day. On Friday, they went out to the school she'll be teaching at this fall, carried boxes of her supplies in, a carpet for her reading corner and ran around the halls. They they went out for pizza. On Saturday, James took the boys fishing, Wo took the girls to the play place at the mall, then out for happy meals. Then... they blew up our waterslide, invited friends over to play... decided they wanted to go to the "beach" (we have a park nearby with a river that has a beach on one side for swimming) THEN came back in time to watch Hannah Montana in 3D on the Disney Channel.

I think Sunday was pretty low-key (although James did take the boys fishing nearby again!) but sheesh! And Kaia.... well, Kaia didn't cry when I (the woman who has taken care of her for her ENTIRE LIFE) left her... but she did when Wo and James left on Sunday. It didn't hurt my feelings. Not one little bit. Ok, maybe a tiny bit.... but I'm over it. Mostly.

I also want to take a minute to document VBS that we spent many, many hours on last week. The kids had a great time, and it was an awesome week, I must say. I was working with the directors.... I think they're thinking that next year I might want to be a director (Pure speculation on my part, but volunteers are always welcome!) and got to see how the whole thing came together. Here's a picture of the kids practicing for their Sunday concert:



This was Colton's last year of VBS, as a participant. Next year, he'll be able to be a youth volunteer, and I'm sure he'll do it. (Especially if I have to recruit volunteers!) He's reaching the age where he's too cool to do things (although you wouldn't know it by the Hannah Montana wig picture) so he spent a lot of the week trying to act a little disinterested. In lieu of that, he acted obnoxious. I'm sure this will only improve as he ages. Can't wait!





The girls and Hunter had a great time... did their projects, listened to stories, played and had fun. Kaia did OK in the nursery, she only had to go for two days, which was enough for her. Grandma Vicki took care of her on Thursday, Jeff took care of her on Monday and Friday. When we went back to pick up the kids on Friday at noon (I was only there for part of the morning, as I needed to pack for our trip!)... Kaia started crying when we got in the parking lot. I think it might have done her in to spend every morning there!!

Isn't that adorable? On Wednesday, there was a dinner at Church and the kids performed their songs, and we all learned (?!) how to hula. Kaia decided she wanted to dress up in her Tinkerbell outfit, and she got a lot of compliments. So many, in fact, that it made her thirsty.

We're getting ready to head out for our "vacation"... which I shouldn't put in quotes, probably, but can it really be a vacation if you only go 2 hours from home? We've gone through so many plans... first, Colorado Springs, then the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee, then the Wisconsin Dells, and where are we going? Clear Lake, Iowa. Which is actually a place I have wanted to go, as I spend a few years of my youth in nearby Mason City.... but I must say, I had much grander plans for this years vacation. Darn Dependence on Foreign Oil.

I blame George Bush.

Hannah Montana.... Five ways....

I have a confession. I really can't get enough of that silly Hannah Montana wig. It's hilarious! Seeing all that hair on Skylar's head is fuhhhhhneeeee. It's like I gave myself a little present when I gave her that wig!! If you're really paying attention, you'll see that we're getting our Disney Channel shows all mixed up. Hannah Montana wig, High School Musical 2 Jammies. We're a zany family like that.

Ooooh. Look at this little beauty!

There's just something about a baby with a wig on that gets me every time!

And you all know Hunter. He's always ready for a laugh... doesn't care if he's laughing, or if you're laughing at him. It's all good.

I even got Colton in on the fun, with much cajoling

and promises I don't intend to keep! Well, not really about the promises... because I think that's mean. But I did sorta have to beg. Which is demeaning, as a parent, but worth it when you have a picture like this to last the ages. He really should comb that hair, shouldn't he? It's a mess.

Did you all know that Avery lost another tooth? Doesn't the lovely hair highlight the space in her mouth even more? I think so.

We're really busy this week with Vacation Bible School. We're learning all kinds of great songs, making many messy crafts and generally having a blast. Kaia is even surviving the nursery while I help out. Hopefully, I have time to post about that before Jeff and I leave for our CHILDLESS (did I say that too loud?) weekend in Chicago for our friends' wedding. If not, I'll have a lot to catch up on when we get back!

Oh, what the heck. Let's make this Hannah Montana... SIX ways.

So, as a finale to end all finales...

I give you Hannah DogTannah.

She's a supahstar!

Swimming Lessons

Hunter, Avery, and Skylar have been taking swimming lessons for the last two weeks. Kaia is still too little for swimming lessons. Colton, well, he's too "big" for swimming lessons. Actually, he passed the final level (which is 5, in case you're interested) last summer. This is not to say that he is poised to become the next Michael Phelps... it just means that he can stay afloat and knows the basic swimming strokes. I think. Anyhoo...


Last night was "parent night" at the lessons. Which basially meant that we parents who have been sitting around for the last 8 days of lessons got to venture out of the snack bar area and into the pool area to watch, take pictures of, and cheer on our little swimmers. Jeff and I have been sharing the duties of taking the kids... I pretty much have been taking Skylar and he's been taking Abes and Bunt. There's been a couple of exceptions to that, but in general, that's the way it's gone down.


Skylar is in "Water Pups". Which is just an introduction to the water... they play games, get comfortable in the water (I think the instructors spend a lot of time trying to convince their little charges that they *can* put their faces in the water and survive.)

Well, let me tell you, our little Skylar has completely shocked me. For those of you who remember the little girl who would not go near a swimming pool that was deeper than 6 inches... and who has demonstrated the largest self-preservation instincts of all our children... well, you'd think that she's grown gills or something. She hops right in the water and volunteers to go first when the teacher wants them to jump in the water or go off the diving board. She LOVES it.


Hunter is in Level 5. This is his second time at level 5... he started last summer with Colton, but apparently (according to him) he had some trouble with the backstroke and the butterfly. He is doing better at them this time and thinks he'll pass. Who knows? What I do know is that he'll be done with swimming lessons after this summer. If he's not improved in those two areas, I don't think that another 2 weeks of half hour lessons will solve his technique.

However, (and I may just be a delusional mother here) I personally think that he's a natural swimmer. Like maybe he could become the next Michael Phelps (do I have Olympics on the brain, or what?) if we got him involved in competive swimming. I might just look into that, because I think he's got mad swimming skillz.


Avery is in Level 1. She did Water Pups last year, so she's old enough for "real" lessons. She seems to be having few issues with fear this time around. She's fine as long as her feet can touch the bottom, but doesn't seem to want to try to actually swim.

Oh, she still likes to get in the pool with her swimvest and get all crazy like that, but as much as well try to tell her she can learn to swim without the vest... she ain't all that interested. But, man, she looks good at the poolside, doesn't she?
And, Kaia's been heartbroken everytime we leave the house to take the other kids to lessons. I'm sure she'd jump right in and mix it up... but since she still has a couple of summers to wait (she'll be old enough the summer of 2010... which seems like it should be a long ways away, but...)

Skylar is FOUR, everyone. FOUR!

Yes, it's true. Skylar has finally hit the big...um, 4. She had her big birthday a couple of weeks ago, and hasn't stopped reminding everyone how old she is now. Which is, in case you've forgotten, FOUR. Here's the big girl getting ready to blow out her candles:

We started the celebration a couple of days early, with a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese. Actually, Jeff and Papaw were working on the sewer line in the basement on the Friday before her birthday (see previous post!) so, since we couldn't use any water in the house, it seemed like a good thing to leave. We weren't actually going to "celebrate" at Chucks, but when they asked if anyone was celebrating a birthday, we thought "why not?" so Skylar got a crown, some extra tokens, and felt pretty darn special!



On her actual birthday, we filled up the waterslide, kiddie pool and I spent a lot of the day in the kitchen... because she wanted spaghetti and meatballs, French bread, homemade icecream, and cream-filled cupcakes. Multiply that into the amounts needed for the 20 people that were sharing in her birthday meal... and you have a lot of food! :) I do love cooking for a crowd, though, so this isn't a "poor me" post. Is it? Anyway, back to the birthday!



She had some pretty specific ideas about what she wanted. In addition to her specific meal, she wanted a "King-yata" (which we figured out was a Pinata)



....and she wanted just about every toy that was advertised in the preceding week to her big day. Although a lot of the fun in birthdays is thinking about the possibilities, we made a lot of attempts to keep her straight on the idea of a "FEW" presents. Pretty consistently, though, she wanted dresses, makeup, jewelry.... you know, *girly* stuff. And those wishes came true. As did her very own "project box"... and a cute pink kitty-cat sleeping bag that she's slept in every night since her birthday.







We're starting to think that this may be the only way this child will have hair:





I'm not sure I'm cataloging this appropriately, but she really had a great day. There were a couple of kinda funny "diva" moments, where she was reminding everyone that she gets to do what she wants because is was *her* birthday. Strangely, I didn't notice that she was wearing her swimsuit in every picture during her actual birthday, but she sure is! Actually, that's not true. She's wearing *Avery's* swimsuit in every picture. Not sure why, because she has a very cute one of her own (to prove this, as a closer, here she is last Monday on her first day of swimming lessons):

Who loves summer?

We do, We do!!


It's hard to believe that summer is already 1/2 over. It seems like it just got started! We've been busy (as a whole) but we've made sure there's been plenty of time to just chill out (which happens to be one of my favorite activities. I'm pretty sure Jeff likes it too, but don't want to assume anything... ha!)



We had a good visit in June with Jeff's Dad (Papaw) and Cheryl, his wife (Grams). They timed their visit so that they could see the boys play baseball and we could go together to Branson, Mo. for a weekend. They got to see the boys play baseball (an exciting event, at any rate) but we didn't make it to Branson. There were some complications with babysitting (we were originally thinking about leaving the kids behind-- but couldn't find a sitter!) then travel (we don't all fit into one vehicle-- and renting large passenger vans are quite spendy!) and although I offered to stay behind with some little girls-- that didn't turn out to be a good solution for everyone. So, long story short-- we stayed home.


As a result of that-- the visit here I think turned out to be longer than Papaw and Grams would have ultimately liked. Let me stress that in NO WAY did they say, imply, or otherwise indicate they felt, say, trapped here. :) But there was a little certain something called "stir crazy" that I think Papaw, in particular, was suffering from. See, he likes to keep busy. And, unfortunately, Jeff was gone traveling on business for quite a bit of the time they were here. Which kept him away from the fabric store, which is one of their favorite father/son bonding places.


So, we all cooked up an idea that Papaw needed a project. And we, well, we needed (?!?) a bathroom in our basement. So I casually mentioned it. And Cheryl said how wonderful it would be to have a bathroom downstairs. And Jeff kept on saying how much work it would be. Papaw disagreed. Jeff disagreed with his disagreement. And so on. But.... gosh darn it, if there isn't a bathroom in our basement now... almost completely finished:



(From the main doorway!)






(From the storage doorway!)



(Another angle...)



(The back wall)





(The shower and ceiling)



(Wishful thinking on our part...)



So.... Jeff has done an incredible job on all the finish work! There's really just a couple of minor little things to do (another light/exhaust fan, clip off the terlit bolts, get a handle on the pocket door... I think that's it.)
He says that now that he's had more experience he's doing things faster and making less mistakes. This bathroom is really a LOT (maybe I shouldn't stress that...) more professional looking than our basement and the basement bathroom he did in Illinois. Funny thing is, at the time, I didn't know that he hadn't done a lot of this stuff before and I kinda (I'm going to get myself in trouble here) just thought he was a little sloppy. Not that I really minded.... I mean, I can't do ANY of it myself, so I was just happy that he knew how to do stuff. But now he's doing this handyman stuff AWESOMELY. Gotta love that!

Next up, Skylar's birthday pictures and recap!

We started a blog...

And by we, I mean me. Sometimes "we" means "us" ---literally. Sometimes, when I tell Jeff "we" need to do something, I mean (obviously) "he" needs to. But this time, it's me. But I do hope that he takes to this and updates sometimes, because I think he's funny. But who knows? Maybe he'll just read it... But, heck, sometimes I'm funny too. Our kids? They're almost always funny. Without even trying.

And I hope you read it too. Sometimes, at least. I have no idea how often we'll update this. I hope a few times a week. I thought it would be a quick and easy way for people who care about our little (?!?) family to see pictures, read about things that are going on, and keep in touch. Who knows?

So, in order to keep this first post generic and non-specific (redundant?) I'm going to end it now. More to come soon!