Splish Splash

Welcome Spring! The kids and I have been enjoying the fresh air and being outside. Of course, I enjoying working out in the yard and the kids are so content to play and use their imaginations, especially when cousins are over. They started to complain about it being too hot, so we broke out the popsicles.And not long after that, they wanted to play in the waterfall. Of course, Hailey was begging to put on her swimsuit. But it didn't take but a couple minutes of them wading to decide that the water was way too cold to swim in. Some rolled up their pants, but Ruby wasn't messing around. She just took hers off.And when it was time to clean up, they all piled in the tub. We stream lined things and they all held out their hands for shampoo at once and then I made the rounds with the hand shower to rinse it all out.

Little Red Riding Tights

I had Ruby already to go when I left to help at the school. Upon my return Brent asks, "What's up with her tights?" holding up this pair of swiss cheese, rather grated, tights. I'm just relieved she took them off before all of the cutting went down.

Yep, she's discovering the world of scissor destruction, and pretty darn good at it.

Boyfriend

Brent has someone helping him with Precision Planting. Consequently we occasionally have a guest at lunch and someone working in the garage. Well, this lunch guest has turned into her first crush. She giggles at him and will even blush when he talks to her. So when her friends were here for Joy School she led them to the garage, opened the door and proudly announced that it was her "boyfriend."

Since then we've had a few conversations clarifying candidacy for relationships, and I want to make it quite clear that a married father does not qualify.

Lots of Green, But Little Luck

Hudson got to come up with the treat for a combined birthday party with Evelyn. He wanted chocolate chip and marshmallow frosting. We melted chocolate chips with 1 T butter and whipped in 1 jar of marshmallow creme. It tasted like a 3 Muskateers and he was quite proud of the creation.He caught Lego fever and hustled to get chores and homework done so he could have every possible minute to play with his newest Legos.He had some friends over for a party where we built catapults and ate pizza. They enjoyed using tools to assemble their catapults, but the most fun was launching marshmallows and hitting one another. Wow! Boys get rowdy in a hurry.

image via howtowsmile.org

Mom and Dad came for a birthday visit. Dalanie found Grandpa's beard to be most disturbing. She would hold his face in her hands and say "I don't like that." We attempted a wrestling tournament but Hudson's nerves got the best of him. Grandpa helped Hudson devise an ingenious leprechaun trap, but in the end he was skunked again. It was a little more difficult this year since Hudson read somewhere that leprechauns are 2 feet tall. He had the yardstick out measuring all possible trapping devices. It sure limited things. We struck out on a bowling since there was a big state tournament going on, but birthday boy enjoyed his green asphalt pie in true St. Patty's style.

Slacker Mom

I've never been too precise about well visit checks, immunizations, or dentist appointments. They can send friendly postcard reminders and call me on the phone but they don't mean much to me. And I'm certainly not willing to commit to some appointment six months down the road.

It's hard to think I willing want to go and wait around in a waiting room when we don't have a problem. I reserve well visit checks like vacation days at work, figuring that at some point during the winter we'll be seeing the doctor for a nasty bug that has found it's way into our home. But we have been extremely blessed to be healthy. So since we haven't been forced to a doctor by sickness, and kindergarten registration is upon us, I broke down and took the girls the other day.Who would have thought the doctor visit would have been such a highly anticipated event? They were excited, knowing full well that they were getting shots.

I've also gotten the kids dental visits/work up to snuff too, so we're good to go for awhile. --knock on wood--
This picture makes me laugh. Hudson wanted me to take it of his fat lip at the dentist. Once he looked at it, he was pretty disappointed. "It feels a lot bigger."

Cousins Weekend

Most of my cousins lived within 30 minutes of me while I was growing up so we spent a lot of time together. But now that I'm grown with kids of my own, we're not so lucky. All of my family lives away, so cousin time requires some planning.

We used Disney on Ice as a good excuse to spend the weekend together. We packed a lot in 2 short days. Naturally, decent sleep was the first to go. Just the thought of being together woke the kids bright and early. But with that being said, they all did remarkably well.

We ate Aggie ice cream and drove passed campus, pointing out old Main, the Spectrum, and the football stadium to the kids. Bentley is a super Aggie, so the wow factor wasn't quite as impressive for him.
Once we climbed the stairs to our seats for the show, the kids sat down taking in the enormity of the place. They had the "we're not in Kanas anymore" look in their eyes. The show was a lot of fun, Toy Story 3. We moved closer after intermission despite what the usher said. There was a lot of clapping and dancing in our seats.
Somehow we managed to drag the kids, a pregnant lady, and a few purchases from one side of Gateway to the other and back again. By time we got checked into the hotel, the hopes of swimming the night away were sleepily pushed aside until morning. We were at the pool bright and early.And since we got an early start, we enjoyed the children's exhibit at the Church History Museum and a little shopping before parting ways.

Super Tuesday

You know you're a grown up when:
-You spend your anniversary at a preschool Christmas program.
-When your kids ask what you'd like as a gift, you honestly answer with "nothing, I have everything I need."
-Your Valentine's evening is spent in the ambiance of the church gym.
-When church becomes a 5 hour event with meetings before and after.
-The Super Tuesday caucus is the most anticipated date you've had with your spouse in awhile.

We did our civic duty, were a part of history, and exercised our right to vote. Although I would have to say I was pretty disappointed with the rousing speeches and audience participation. I was expecting it to be more like a rally, but there was no chanting or cheering going on.

Muddy Boots and Lessons Learned

The older kids could not get along Sunday morning. I was unusually calm and uninvolved with their disagreements . . . until the doors started getting kicked. (There's a bit of a history here with door kicking leading back to my childhood.) At this point they were dressed and ready for church so I had them bring me their church shoes and sent them walking across the field to Grandma's in their chore boots. One was less than compliant and left in a huffy without his coat and stopped to wash the gel out of his hair with a handful of snow.

Finally. Quiet.

We finished getting ready and left to pick them up at Grandma's and keep up my end of the deal. As we got closer we spotted them in the field. Walking the wrong way, back to our house. What the heck? This was not part of the plan, and the husband was beginning to make his opinion known on the ridiculouness of my plan. Well, we mudded our way along the field road in our car, honking the horn to get their attention. They came running! And bawling! I had their change of shoes but that wouldn't fix the mud that was 1/2 way up their legs.

We might have been late to church, but I tell you what. My 6 year old let me sit close to him with my arm around him. They were reverent, kind, and full of love. So the execution was a little less than ideal, but the results were better than I had planned. They were never in danger, but it was enough to shake up their security. And when that happens, impressionable lessons are learned.

Out Weighed

Growing up in a house of girls we had plenty of squabbles, but no full on wrestling matches. The sport is quite new and foreign to me. So when Hudson was so excited to try it out we obliged. There were 2 little practices leading up to a match. When we walked into the gym for the match I couldn't believe how many little guys were sporting around those nasty unitards, headgear, and wrestling shoes. But never mind looking the part, Hudson is strong and I figured he'd hold his own. . .

Until he was paired up with a kid outweighing him by 20 lbs. It was horrible to watch. Similar to when Hudson and Dalanie get rough housing. I break it up immediately because the weight difference is just dangerous. Well, that was our introduction to wrestling and it was not fun for this mom to watch.
But Hudson remembers what coach says, "You never loose unless you quit trying." So I guess he's headed back to practice. But I'm still not buying one of those uniforms.