Getting through August . . .

The first few days of August have been pretty eventful so far.  Ryan wrapped up his Reading 'n' Running class on the first, and to celebrate, we went out for lunch then watched a Yo-Yo show at the library - talk about a crazy Thursday!  On Friday, Trav came home a little early from work so we could head off to the lake to celebrate Ian's baptism and Amelia's birthday (the more things packed into one weekend, the better!).  The kids enjoyed running around with all their cousins and I enjoyed talking to other people over the age of 8 - what a thrill!  After the baptism and birthday were taken care of, we finally got the opportunity to take out the new tube (the weather wasn't super hot, but warm enough for the kids to want to test out the new toy).  Ryan and Amelia went together first and by all accounts, had a blast!  They had so much fun in fact, we could hardly get them to get off the tube so others could have a turn.  With the two of them finally in the boat, we offered Lauren a chance to go next, she declined citing her band-aid which was protecting her minor scratch.  With her out, we were left with just EJ and Ellie.  I assumed they would be too scared to try it, but to my surprise, they both wanted to go.  So Troy starts putting them in the tube and gets ready to push them away from the boat - this is when I almost had a heart attack.  Was he crazy to think that two 3 year olds were going to go tubing by themselves, or was I crazy to think that they shouldn't?  I stopped him, told both EJ and Ellie in a very firm voice that they, "had to stay seated the whole time, no standing up!"  They nodded, and then turned to each other and laughed (clearly they could care less what I just told them).  With that, Trav started the pontoon (I, in the mean time, was almost crapping my pants).  The boat started, the tube moved, and the kids laughed - clearly they were enjoying themselves.  And because I've become a lazy person when it comes to taking pictures, I have no photo evidence to show, but trust me, they loved it!  The ride lasted about 10 minutes until Ryan and Amelia got ants in their pants and wanted another turn.  I'm convinced that this could have gone on all day, but with 5 adults on board who had to pee, we gave them one final ride into the dock, and called it a day. We're hoping their are a few nice weekends left this summer to get some more rides in (and next time I'll bring my camera).  After the lake, Trav golfed on Sunday, and the kids and I went home.  I finished up spray painting my final two door knobs (all of the brass is finally gone from our house!), and the kids caught up on some rest.  This week has just been us adjusting to having nothing to do - what a treat!  But, because we can't sit still for long, we are heading out to South Dakota on Friday to catch up with some old friends.  Because of this, we're using our days to run errands, pick up the house, and get some exercise - all things that won't get done this weekend.  I'll leave with some random pictures of the kids (I should just say of the girls because clearly they LOVE the camera while Ryan tends to shy away from it).

Posing between dance routines

Happy because he finally beat me at the game of Trouble

Sporting her new school shoes - they are bright!

Taking after her big sister - oh no!

Lauren's tooth

Lauren's first loose tooth finally came out today, and I can say that I'm very happy it did!  The girl has been talking about this tooth since our dentist visit back in June.  The hygienist made the comment to her that, "it won't be long before you have your first loose tooth."  From that day on, she has been talking about it constantly.  "Mom, when did you lose you first tooth?"  Ryan, what does it feel like?"  "Look how wiggly it is getting."  "Mom, how will I know when it falls out?"  You name it, she asked it.  And then this morning she comes running upstairs and says, "Mom, I spit blood in the sink, what does that mean?"  I told her that meant her tooth was probably ready to come out and that is when she asked the dreaded question . . . "will you get it out?"  Now, I'll do almost anything for my kids, but anything dealing with their teeth, I can't handle that!  I have no idea why, but teeth hanging by a root and covered in blood is not my idea of fun.  Ryan has pulled out each and every one of his teeth because I just can't do it.  So my first thought to Lauren was to tell her to get Ryan and have him do it, but then I thought, wait, I'm the mom, not him, I should do this.  So I sucked it up, went to the bathroom with Lauren and started in on the job at hand.  The tooth was barely hanging in there and every time she moved it with her tongue, I wanted to puke, but I hung in there and after a little back and forth wiggling, and a quick pull up, I could feel the tooth break free and it was over!  The little tooth was free and Lauren was as happy as can be!  We took care of the blood in her mouth, then immediately started taking pictures to remember the big day.  Here are a couple of the new toothless little lady (and one with Ellie because when someone else is getting their picture taken, she wants hers done as well) . . .

Now that the tooth is out, Lauren is onto the next big issue . . . how much money the Tooth Fairy will bring her!  She was asking Ryan, "how much do I get, five dollars?" (apparently she lives in a land where the Tooth Fairy is rich).  He brought her back to reality by telling her that, "usually I get $1, but sometimes the Tooth Fairy forgets and then brings you more money the next day (yes, that is true, the Tooth Fairy has been known to forget and then because he/she feels so bad, that the following day, the tooth is worth more money and indeed, it can be seen as a goo thing by a child - oops).  Anyway, the tooth is out, the Tooth Fairy has received notice and has set an alarm in her cell phone to remind her, and in the morning, we should have an even happier little girl!

 

Besides the tooth coming out, we also had a busy weekend.  We did some projects around the house, most noticeable is the painting of the front door.  We went with a color called, "Poppyseed" which is somewhere between a dark blue and a black (although it looks more blue when the door is open, and less when it is closed). 

Overall, I am happy with it for now, and once our new screen door (my 11 year anniversary gift - the anniversary was on Saturday by the way) gets installed, I think it will look great.  In addition to the projects, we also had guests over most of the day.  Troy, Dawn, and Amelia stopped by to visit and play for a while and then Aaron, Ann, and the kids spent Saturday afternoon/evening at our house playing and relaxing.  It was a great weekend to spend at home (one of the first times we have been home for an entire weekend this whole summer), and a great weekend to catch up with projects and friends.



While Daddy is away, we will play!!

Trav took a MUCH (?) needed man vacation this week which means we are left here all by our lonesome, what to do?  Well, lots!  While Trav is away, I like to use the time to get any house projects done that he would probably object to - not necessarily because he doesn't want them done, but because he doesn't want to do them.  So, the project this time . . . painting the front and garage doors.  I initially wanted to paint the outside, but because I only had one really nice day, I opted to do the interiors first, and save the exteriors for another day.  I started the project late in the morning (had to drop Ryan at his activity, then head to Home Depot to get my supplies), but once I got going, it went pretty good.  The girls had their friend Myles over to play while his mom, provided some nice conversation while I painted - it was a win-win for everyone!  By the time lunch rolled around, I had two coats on everything so we stopped for a break, grabbed some food, then everyone went their separate ways.  The girls then took naps (much needed I might add), while Ryan relaxed after spending the morning at Read'n'Run camp where he put in 2 miles (not bad for a Thursday morning), and I put some final touches on my project.  With the doors dried and the hardware (I spray painted it with an oil rubbed bronze color to "modernize" our old brass hardware) ready to go too, I was ready to put the house back together.  This however proved to be a lot harder than it was to take it all apart - oh crap!  At first I couldn't get the dead bolt to work right so after a couple of minutes of frustration, I jumped on YouTube, watched a short instructional video, and gave it another try.  And wouldn't you know it, it worked!  Thanks YouTube, you are a life saver.  After all the hardware was back in place, I just had to put the door back on and we would be finished.  Turns out the door is way harder to get on then it was to take off.  I had to enlist the help of the "man of the house" (Ryan) because there was no way I was going to be able to hold, lift, and screw all at the same time.  After a couple of minutes of building up a little brace for the door with kids books, we finally got the door to the right height and with Ryan pushing with all his might, and me sweating to death, I was able to get the first couple of screws in, and the door was secure (at least secure enough to let Ryan relax after all of his hard work).  After that, Ellie assisted in handing me the final screws, and presto, the door is hung and looks pretty darn good (thank you kids for all of your help and patience with this project).  Here is a picture of the "new" entryway with the "blend in" doors. 

 It looks a lot cleaner, and a lot less busy then it did with three doors in such a small area.

After all of our hard work on Thursday, we decided to treat ourselves to a day of fun on Friday.  We started out by going to the Y so I could get some exercise.  After that, we ran a few errands, had some lunch, then headed out to our friend's house for an afternoon of sprinklers, slip'n'slide, and lots of crazy kids (there were 10 kids and 4 moms).  By 5 o'clock, the kids were hopped up on sugar, were sweaty messes, and were ready for more action (how they have so much energy, I'll never know).  So, we packed up, headed back home, gave the kids a quick wipe down with cold wash cloths, threw on some "fancy" clothes, and headed back out to watch our friend's dad play music at a local restaurant.  The kids (especially the girls) were really excited to see Evan's dad play music, and were even more thrilled at the thought that they would get to dance - talk about fun!  When we walked into the restaurant, I'm sure we looked like a daycare center (4 moms, 2 dads, and 8 kids) coming to tear the place apart.  But, other than one pants dropping event (it was the signers kid so he asked mid song, "can you please pull your pants back up", and everyone in the place laughed while Bennett proceeded to not only not pull his pants up, but instead, pull his shirt up so everyone would have a better view of his Lightning McQueen pull-up - his mom then grabbed him and put him back together), it was a great time.  The kids danced, we danced, we had some good food and drink, and best of all, the music was great!  It was a great day with great friends, and by the time we rolled back into the house, it was close to 9:15pm and the kids were finally beat.  Another quick wipe down with the wash cloths (it was close to 90 degrees and humid this day), a quick brush of the teeth, and everyone was in bed and asleep in a matter of minutes.

And for today, some house cleaning in the morning, then off to Grandpa and Grandma's house to spend the rest of the weekend relaxing in the pool!  So there you go, Trav got the vacay, but we got the fun!

4th of July

We spent the weekend of the 4th of July all over the place.  On Wednesday night, we headed to St. Peter to spend some time in the pool and relax before the big parade the following morning.  The kids swam for about an hour and then they were good to good for bed (maybe we should put in a pool as another way to burn some energy for the kids?).  By Thursday morning, everyone was in St. Peter and ready for some parade fun so we loaded all the kiddies in their respective strollers (thank god Ryan and Lauren no longer need strollers or we would have looked like our own mini parade), and walked down to find some prime candy catching seats.  Here is the crew just minutes before the start of the parade . . .

And here is the token "family picture" that Ash is really good at remembering to have taken (I wish I would do this more often, but the more kids you have, the harder it gets, her time will come).

After the parade, and way too much candy, we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a day filled with swimming (I believe Ryan might have been in the water for almost 6 hours that day), food, and drinks.  We finished the night off with just 4 of the 7 grand kids staying awake long enough to watch the fireworks, and when they were done, so were all of us - it was a long, fun filled 4th!



We our St. Peter portion of the trip coming to an end, we spent one night back at home, then headed out again to visit the other grandparents at the cabin.  We spent Saturday and Sunday hanging out with aunts, uncles, and cousins, then headed back home to get back to reality . . . ugh!  Another fantastic 4th in the books!

More summer fun!

The weather seems to have finally caught onto the fact that it is summer, and therefore the rain should stop, and the sun should shine.  With that being the case, we are taking full advantage and getting outside every chance we have.  Parks, picnics, sprinklers, bikes, you name it, we are doing it (and I should add, lots of ice cream treats, the Schwans man is a favorite at our house)!  And here is some proof in the form of pictures . . .

As you can tell, Auntie and Kate have also joined us on our last two trips to the park.  I don't know who has more fun, Kate watching the kids play, the kids playing with her, either way, they all seem to enjoy it!  Tomorrow we start our 4th of July fun . . . . I imagine there will be lots of cousin time, lots of swimming, and lots of fun!  We are hitting up both sides of the family so by Sunday the kids should be good and tired and ready for a break (I hope).

1 inch, don't think so!

So I took the kids into get haircuts yesterday.  I used my Great Clips app, checked in online, and was ready to go.  When we got to the place, I only saw one "regular" hairstylist there (at least that I recognized), so I was a little worried, but since the kids needed it, and their haircuts are pretty basic, I decided to go through with it.  Ryan was up first.  He got his usual, (1 on the side, 4 on top), and was done right quick (and he looked very handsome) - no problems so far.  Oh, and I should add that the lady that cut his hair was not the "regular" so my nerves about having a bad cut was eased a bit.  Then it was time for the girls.  They both got in their chairs (right next to each other), and I gave each stylist pointers for their haircut.  Ellie, just a trim and some shaping around the face - easy enough (and she had the same lady that had just finished Ryan).  Lauren (she had the other "new" lady) needed a little bit more cut off because her hair is so long and it gets snarls and snags especially in the humid weather so I told her to take off an each.  She then proceeded to show me where an inch would be on Lauren's hair - I gave her the nod of approval and went to sit back with Ryan in the waiting area.  Pretty soon Ellie is finished up, and she looks great (that "new" lady now has my approval for future haircuts).  Lauren was last to get done, and after taking a quick look at her, I knew why, the lady cut off all of her hair!  Apparently somewhere between showing me an inch on Lauren's hair, and actually cutting it off, she must have changed her idea of an inch was.  And what should have been a pretty basic haircut turned into a complete transformation from long hair to short (probably the shortest Lauren's hair has been since she was a bald and beautiful little babe).  After seeing it, I started to get worried what Lauren would think.  The kid can go off the deep end for any reason, or no reason at all so messing with her hair when she didn't want it done could be a disaster (especially because the lady that cut it said, "now you look just like your little sister" - which in Lauren's world is not okay because the little sister should look like the big sister, not the other way around).  After some carefully worded compliments from me, Lauren smiled and said that she did indeed like the cut and it was perfect for the hot summer - dodged a bullet there!  And, after getting over the shock of her looking so different without her long, yellow mane, I actually like it too.  It is super easy to wash, stays off her neck and back (especially on hot and humid days), and does make her and Ellie look a lot more alike which is weird because I normally think they look nothing alike.  So here is the short haired little blondie (although her hair is getting darker and darker all the time) with her matching signature "Ellie" braid on the side on her head . . .

"Green booger"

Lauren is a real bugger to dress (and this isn't a new thing, she has been terrible to get dressed for as long as she has had an opinion).  So in an effort to start the mornings off on a good note versus a war over her outfit for the day, I have opted to let her choose her clothes.  And here is what she came out in this morning . . .

She is clearly very pleased with her choice, I on the other hand, had just one thought running through my mind . . . Mom's "green booger" outfit.  Back in the day (at least 3-5 years ago), my mom thought it was "fashionable" to wear outfits that completely matched (the pants and the tops would be the same color).  Now, I'm not saying I have ever been good with fashion, but even I knew the "green booger" was NOT a good outfit.  Imagine the slimiest green booger you can think of, now imagine that as a pair of capris and a sweater set and you have the "green booger."  Mom apparently loved it because she wore it A LOT, and when she did, Ash and I made sure to let her know our thoughts on the outfit (they were not nice thoughts).  And now it looks like the fashion gods might be punishing me for my cruel behavior by passing on mom's fashion beliefs onto my child.  On a good note though, Lauren's tye-dye outfit is still way better than the "green booger" (if I had a picture of mom, you can bet it would be up here right now to prove my point).