whatever

i haven’t checked in here for at least a month and it was very inspiring on this rainy boring afternoon!

7 pages of pretty to devour!

we are leaving for vacation in a week.
we have made 10 -12 hour car rides since the beginning of our marriage a few times a year every year.
granted the crew has gotten bigger and bigger but we have done this at least 20 times.
this year…this trip…my husband is getting nervous about how it will go.
he’s dreading it.

probably because of the oldest and youngest daughters.
neither one make for good traveling.
our 12 year old makes herself a little tent by shoving her blanket into the air vent on the ceiling of the suburban…and puts in her headphones and pretends she isn’t with us. that’s not bad but if you so much as touch her “tent” she flips out and and a punch comes from beneath the tent…always hitting the unsuspecting sibling in the face which results in a scream and then sobbing. she yells over her headphones from beneath the tent “he started it!” and that happens several times each trip.

then our youngest has declared she runs the family. she will not let anyone in the car pick the music but her. so we are all subjected to the backyardigans and dora for as long as she wants. if the movie is not one she wants she screams and screams. we have tried all we can to make this habit stop but nothing works. so all the kids have had to listen and watch much more dora than anyone should ever have to in their lifetime. the bubbles do help but even that gets her mad sometimes too. i can’t expect her to enjoy the 10 hours in the car but none of the others ever acted like she did. so we feel unsure about how to handle this one.

i say all this in a plea for help. there are so many of you reading this…can you please give me some ideas of anything i can try to make the trip go a bit smoother. craig suggested breaking it down into hours. but i don’t really know what to do each hour…games? prizes? any ideas would probably be better than what i have which is nothing.
thanks.

conversations tonight at bedtime.

Talby: “Mom..who do you love the most of all?”

Me : “well…i love all of you guys and daddy…and god.”

T: do you love god the most?
M: Yes..because he made me and all of us. and he gave me you so i love him even more for that.
T: He made us?
M: Yes…he made us all different and he loves us.
T: If he didn’t make us he’d say….hmmm this is kind of boring. i wish someone was here.
M: Ha ha ha …yes that’s true.
T: Unless he wanted to go bowling. He could open the key by himself…and go in…and he’d say where is everyone?
M: Really?
T: but he couldn’t bowl without his bowling shoes.
M: kiss. goodnight talbers.

then with sean.

S: Mom…i would hate to sleep in water.
M: me too. you couldn’t…you have to give up eventually.
S: yeah…and drown and then die.
(isn’t this a nice goodnight story?)
M: yes. we can’t breathe in water.
S: Mom..what if you had to swim in the ocean all night long and couldn’t sleep and then in the morning you got out of the water and you had to go world’s of fun and after the first roller coaster ride you said OHHHHHH my stomach hurts i need some cotton candy!!….wait…do they have cotton candy there?
M: yes. okay goodnight bud.

what a couple of goofballs!

what kind of mom would i be if i didn’t let my kids have ice cream sundaes for lunch once in awhile?
they caught me at a weak moment.
it’s kind of healthy…strawberries and bananas?
and i didn’t have to share my smoothie with anyone.

we got a call on sunday evening that our dear friends (far right) from utah were only 30 minutes away for the evening. we were busy till 9:15 but then we drove over there to see them. it was of course way too short. but what a beautiful way to spend the evening. i was just so happy to be sitting there. i miss them so much! we laughed about everything but we spent a long time laughing about The Office. We all love that show so we were cracking up! i love you guys! come back soon. someday we will visit…in the family truckster with all our goofy kids…i bet you can’t wait.

some views from my garden this afternoon.

the zoo has wet n’ wild fridays all summer.
they bring in a fire truck and just turn on the hose and spray the 200+ kids waiting in this field of grass!
we discovered this last year when we went to zoo for sean’s birthday.
it was such a hot day that i brought our suits just in case it was too hot and we’d go to a pool somewhere instead.
we came around the giraffes and there it was….

now last year sean gave it a shot but not this time. he stood there sweating like crazy unwilling to go near any water.
Annie too.
but the other 3 went running for it.
you have to shut down those inner voices as mom that we have…
“this looks dangerous”…
“this is too many kids”…
“where are they?”…every second.
because (if they go in) they are having a blast!
i wondered what it felt like but i didn’t want to walk around in soaking wet clothes.
and someone had to watch the 2 party poopers on the 500 degree pavement.
but i could feel the misty breeze.
they spray you for 10 minutes then take a 10 minute break….for 3 hours.
you know those firemen must just love that day.
they get to go and spray happy kids for the afternoon.
that has to be better than fighting a fire.

lauren had some some cash so we all bummed a sno cone from her.

then we headed out to see the animals.
thank goodness for thick glass.
isn’t it amazing how close we can get to these giant animals?
annie would be gone in one swallow for this big guy.
i said “look! his tail is bigger than your leg talby”
and annie shouts (forgetting the big crowd right behind her)
“he’s bigger than my butt!” turning her little booty and pointing real big.
the crowd burst into laughter.
she loved that so she said it again!
we quickly left that area.
it was pretty funny though.

last year we discovered that lauren has a serious love for fireworks.
they make me completely paranoid.
having so many kids using fire and making things explode is not something i enjoy.
but once a year i guess?
lauren loves it.
she and my nephew blew stuff up for hours.

morgan, talby and scott stuck with the sparklers.

we have a block party for the 4th.
we pool our money for big fireworks.
we have a potluck.
there are games for the kids with prizes!
they love the firecracker “cake” walk.

and the water balloon toss….turned fight.

and the egg toss.
annie wanted an egg too.
i never let her touch eggs.
jen gave her her own egg.
everyone started the toss.
annie took her egg and threw it on the ground
she shouted “I DID IT!”

craig was my partner…

right after the egg toss it started to rain.
and rain and rain.
we pulled the grill under our covered drive & the men cooked all the meat.
how cool is this grill?
an old VW Bug made into a giant grill.

we moved the potluck into a neighbor’s garage.
(if you look close you can see the blueberry buckle)
we ate in the sprinkling rain.
we watched the fireworks from our porches.
the rain was a bummer.

the best part of the day
was the midnight water balloon fight with the grown ups!
that is too much fun.

wow.
we had a busy week.
old fashioned family fun.
there are alot of pictures here but there are alot more i didn’t put on that are very good too.

hunter teaching scott to flip.

competitiveness runs in the family.

shannon acting out a clue for the game Pop 5.
too funny.

big family reunion on craig’s side.

annie finally being nice to aunt sherri.

we spent all day monday at world’s of fun.
i rode the blue and red one in the center and made the decision i don’t need to ride another roller coaster ever. i kept thinking…what is keeping this from breaking?
how debbie downer is that?

dolphin rides…on peter.

the pool was perfect for all the kids.
peter and gio threw them around making big splashes.
they loved it.

okay…how cute is my nephew?

i wish i could say they slept like rocks but they were up in the night both nights…ugh.
that gets old really fast.

and this isn’t even including the 4th of july block party.
that gets it’s own post.

thanks to deanne for all the work of putting our trip together
and all the work on the reunion.
we had a good time.
it’s important to have time with family.
when it comes down to it…family is all you have.
friends come and go.
but your family is forever.
and that’s good.