whatever

scott was feeling brave.
he moved the little basketball goal to the trampoline and then jumped off the trampoline to slam dunk it.
i was sure he would get hurt.
but he didn’t.
he was having so much fun.
i brought out the camera.
i laid down in the grass to take some pics.

after seeing that scott could do it….sean wanted to try.
and then talby too.

silly kids.

after i was through with pictures i stayed on the grass and just chilled.
i had a magazine and a drink.
i was good.
talby thought it was funny so she took my picture.

i took this quick one to show how helpful my kiddos are.
to remind myself of this.
they do so much for annie.
she is always there needing a lift…a push…a hand…and they do it.
i don’t want to forget or overlook that.
sweetness.

this one is exhausting.
she is so cute but so terribly tiring.
she screams all day long.
i ask her if she is hungry she says yes.
then i say “do you want…..pb&j (or anything in the entire fridge)”
and she screams “NO!!!!!”
it doesn’t matter what it is.
i feel like i am going a bit crazy a little at a time each day.

softball is over for lauren.
she had a good time playing. it’s bittersweet for the season to end. i am happy to have the chaos of the games over but just when the teams start to get what they are doing and they are improving…..end of season.
she sure loves to play. catcher isn’t her favorite but at least you get to play on every pitch. there’s no spacing out when you are catcher.

look at this skinny guy.
when did he get so lean?
he loves getting all his ball gear on for games.
he played hard last night.
and i got to watch by myself for almost 10 minutes before the kids came back from the park saying how thirsty and bored they were.
ridiculous.

i love that pool.
i dislike going to the city pool with my crew very much.
it’s not the pool that’s the problem it’s me.
i don’t like to get wet.
i prefer not to get in the water unless i have to.
at the city pool i have to get in with them because of their ages.
then the other 150 kids in the 3 foot area splash me and i just don’t enjoy it.
am i princess or what?
ha ha ha
but i love this pool.
and they do too.
and i have been in it….once.

and one more funny one from the ball game last night.
she was climbing into my chair from hers.

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.