Why We Have No Milk

Dearest husband,

This morning, the carpool your wife managed to get the children to tennis camp a mere 5 minutes late.  Good thing they aren't a little older, or this would most likely equate to running 5 laps around the track. Which might have killed them, considering it was like 110 degrees out there.

Since the morning was so productive and all (does 5 minutes actually count as late even?), and everyone walked off the court alive (one missing water bottle didn't constitute failure in my book), I decided we should hit up our local Target to finish up shopping for school supplies.  How hard could it be -- we only had a few items left on the list.  Man. Was. I. Wrong.

Did you know there was a difference between sanitizer, disenfecting wipes, and cleansing wipes?!?? Well, I learn something new every day at this "mom gig".  I realize we just paid the school district $150 for book rental, but I think there has been some mistake.  You see, we ended up needing to purchase THIRTEEN containers of these sanitizing/disenfecting/cleansing type items.  I mean, I surely didn't mess up and register them for cleaning-lady-school or something, right??!  I didn't even end up ever finding the craziest thing on the list -- size medium plastic gloves.  What the?!!?  But after we had done about 3 laps around the store looking for these things, after we had visited the bathroom twice (seriously. wish. i. were. kidding...but Target seems to make our kids need to poo.), I couldn't take anymore...
After checking out $121 of cleaning supplies later, I didn't think I could handle the grocery store without losing all sanity.  I did, however, think the car wash was a good idea.  Simon said we needed to anyways...and you know how competitive I am. No way I was going to lose that one!

So we pull in the car wash line.
We sit patiently as the guys clean off the bugs and such from the windshield.
And then there is this like jerking and shaking and allover bad noise.
I look up, and the nice guy working is trying to get my attention. "Neutral, no brake."
"Oops, sorry!" I say and absentmindedly move the gear shift.
Into D.
Uhhuh. As. In. Drive.

Want to know what happened next??
The kids started screaming from the back.
I went into panic.
We were flying through the car wash with all the red phalangies slamming us all over the place so we couldn't see.  I hit the brake in the middle because I was sure we were going to ram into the car in front of us..was there one? I couldn't remember..but if there was, we would have smashed through it, I'm certain!
So then we are stuck.
In the middle of the car wash.
With those red flappy thingies slamming into us all over and we can't see a thing.
And then the little tire conveyer belt must have caught up with us, because then it's making that bad shaking raming noise all over again. 

This time, I didn't pass the "N" on the gear shift.

Fortunately, you will come home from work to find us all safe after this adventure.

But this, my dear husband, is why we have no milk.

XOXO
Your slightly insane loving wife.

Lake Summer Finale

We decided to get one last summer "harrah" in down at the lake.
I am in total denial that school starts in a mere two weeks!!?
My "baby" will be in kindergarten.
That's craziness, folks!!

It turned out to be an awesome weekend...and the weather was perfect!

We've finally (of course at the end of summer!) found an approved lifejacket that doesn't make Em scream.
She took her weekend naps just like this.  Which meant I actually got to sit back and relax and read on the boat this trip.
That's a winner!

sand!

The kids had a fun day today visiting Holiday Shore's beach and boating with our Fusion girls.

On another note, here is a funny convo I observed recently:
Ry: Julia, Jesus is everywhere, you know.
Julia: I know, Ry! He lives in my heart.Ry: But he just isn't in your heart, he is everywhere.Julia: Oh yeah. Well, I know what he looks like!! Kinda like a grandpa. He has like a mustache. I saw a picture of him once!

Six Flags 2012

When the youth group planned a trip to Six Flags, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get to bring Ryan along  for a special day. He was elated to  meet  the Scooby crew.

He asked me if this was the "real" Mystery Machine.  I wonder how much this cost to park...I'm still trying to get over the fact that they charged me a whopping $18 to park in the "cheap" lot.  Robbery, I tell ya!!! That and the $7 pretzel!

After observing Thunder River, and determining it wasn't too scary, he decided to give this one a shot.  It ended up being one of his favorites.  He loved never knowing who in the boat was going to get soaked, and laughed in delight when the water would pour in our boat.
I never was able to convince him to give The Log Flume a try.

Sherri, who I've been lucky enough to get to lead a small group with the last several years,
her son Josh and Megan survived the wet ride!

Ry was tall enough to do many of the rides without an adult.  We did these cars twice, the first time I insisted on going in his car, and he demanded I ride in the back seat.  After showing me he could make it around the track without my help, he wanted to drive all alone.  

And his favorite.  Not the best pic, but this is where we spent much of our day, so I needed to include it.  He probably rode this train at least 50 times.  Fortunately, the park wasn't very crowded, and the ride operator didn't have us hop off between each run.  Ry would pull the bell and shout "All aboard!" and other conductor-like talk.  I kept thinking he would tire of this, but that didn't happen!
We also rode the "big" train once, but I put the kabosh on that after the first time around the park because they stop midway in a woodedish area and hold you hostage make you sit on the tracks and watch a super boring show that left Ry and I plotting how to jump off and walk the tracks back to the nearest station!

Forever Mismatched and Tardy

Since Emerson's birth, I have found it especially challenging getting places on time.  It seems like such a huge production just to get everyone in clothes (forget even matching...my expectations have taken a nosedive!) and shoes and in the car.  As if the "real people" weren't enough, Jul's entourage has expanded to a baby whom she insists needs buckled into the car and a dog.  Arph!

Holiday World (without the baby!)

Saturday, we celebrated Great Grandpa Harriss' birthday with the family in Olney.  Then we headed on to Santa Claus, Indiana to have some fun at the famous HolidayWorld.  Gram and Papa watched Emerson.  It was our first night without our baby girl...I kept feeling like we were forgetting something!  It sure was nice though to not have to worry about her and get to do some "big kid" stuff! First up, the Mammoth which is the world's longest water coaster.  Julia screamed through the entire thing to let her off and that it was "the worst day ever!".  Her friend Jake says, "Wow, that was AWESOME."  Ryan was so in shock that he didn't even realize I was on the ride, although I was sitting NEXT to him in our six man round raft.  It was pretty cool. And wet.  Although seeing Julia in such distress did remind me of our trip to the Magic Kingdom where she got in a panic after Snow White's Scary Adventure (our first ride of that day also) and I couldn't help but think we are such (not) stellar parents!! Fortunately, it didn't freak her out for the remainder of the day, and she quickly warmed up and had a mega blast on the other (more kid-friendly) adventures!

Kitchen Reno

After 8 years in our house, we were very ready for a change in the kitchen.  This past year, we ripped out the terrible fake green marble laminate countertops that I despised since we moved in (Really, why did it take so long to get a move on that project!!? Indecisiveness is my huge downfall!).  When we were doing this project, we had the countertop on the island extended a little longer than the current one, to give us room to fit 3 barstools across the back side.

Handy Manny, er, Jeff decided he wanted to try and conquer this project himself.  So a few new tools later, and many hours in the garage sawing and sanding..viola!

Here is the work in progress...

You can clearly see in this picture where he has built an addition on to the old island to match up with the new countertop.  We also disliked that the back of the island wasn't "real" wood..it was just a laminate type of board that semi-matched the stain on the real wood cabinets..and matched it less and less as things seemed to fade around here.  Eww.

He is pretty amazing, huh?!  Not shabby work for a computer guy! =)
I'd wanted the island to look more like a piece of furniture, so he built out the kickboard too, and stained it all black.

He also took off all the cabinet doors, I cleaned them with a TSP solution (sadly, about my only real contribution to this project!) and then he rubbed a dark stain on the old cherry wood to make them a tad darker, and the stain to stick in the cracks...I think that it is called "tuxedo" staining or something like that. It's not too evident in pics, but is more obvious in real life.

Our barstools are in a sad, sad state.  I am waiting to buy new ones because as soon as Emerson is out of the high chair, we'll need a new kitchen table and I'm hoping to get it all to match/coordinate.  Look what the hubby whipped up in about an hour one afternoon with my sewing machine.  He made slipcovers and re-upholstered them!

I told him on our next date night I'd love for him to teach me to sew! ..And then we can end the night at Target, since that is where you end up on date night when you have children, right? Ha. 

Happy One!

Happy 1st Birthday, Colin!

Colin was born on July 11th, because Glammie was going to be out of town on the 14th, the day the Dr. wanted to induce.  The 14th is my birthday..so although it didn't quite work out, I will always think of him as my little birthday nephew. Krista, however, did luck out when Emerson made her debut on September 22nd, her birthday! Here we are with our birthday babes!

When Life Gives You Lemons...Or 105+ Temperatures

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade...
Or when life gives you temperatures in excess of 105 degrees, you make smores!

Enjoying the fruit (or chocolate!) of their work.

To my non-mom friends who wonder how I can possibly spend most of my day wiping down things and little people, here is Exhibit A.  This is the mess she made from eating exactly two s'mores.

9 month stats

Movie Night

Julia is super excited to head out on her date with Daddy to see the new Disney Brave movie.  She suits up a new outfit for the fun occasion, but brings a jacket "cause her and Daddy might be cold in the theatre and need to snuggle up."  Of course, she's got her favorite lipgloss in her purse too!  

Ry found a Goosebumps movie at the library, and couldn't resist calling (and calling and begging) Gram to come over ASAP and watch it with him.  He told the librarian, "This movie is my Gram's FAVORITE. She's going to be SOOOO excited that we found this!"  Of course, we are working with Gram on saying "NO!", but in the meantime Ryan is taking full advantage of his powers!

Family Lake Trip 2012

Look at this little sweetness between sisters.
Oh. Happy sigh. I dreamed of this moment having two girls!

And on another non sentimental note, how did families ever travel before technology? Perhaps they actually talked to one another? (HA).  Ry watched the DVD player, Julia the Ipod, me the Ipad and Jeff and Jeff listened to the ball game on the radio. Geesch.  

Even Emerson loves the pool!
Which is way more than I can say about the lifejacket which was required on the boat.
Which I may or may not have broken the rules on a little bit and allowed her to wear a noncertified flotation device.

My mom is always helping the kids "get all sugared up" as they would say!
Hello, Cheetos. We heart you!!!

Ryan and Tyler say "slow down!" after a wild ride on the tube. =)
(Or maybe it was just hello?!)
Either way, they had a total blast this year getting flung around the lake!

Hey, it's a tough life, but someone's gotta do it! =)

This. Is. Awesome!

Chillaxin on the boat with Daddy.

We couldn't have asked for more beautiful and perfect weather!

The boys can't sit still long enough to go fishing after the excitement of Uncle Jeff catching a baby turtle.
Daddy's princess is all about patience though...and she's rewarded several times over!  

Happy Birthday to my brother and Mom, 

whose birthdays we celebrated on the trip, 

also Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day 2012!

	Ryan, age 7	Julia, age 5
What do you love most about Daddy?	That he plays video games with me and wrestles.	Wrestling, and that he lets me shave him. Because some kids don’t get to shave their Daddy, I am lucky.
What is one of Daddy’s talents?	Building legos with me. I think we should buy him legos for Father’s Day.	Cooking dinner and running.
What is one way you want to be like Daddy when you grow up?	I want to be very smart and never lose my hair.	I want to be a great parent and be smart.
What is the best thing Daddy has ever done for you?	Play Wii and video games. Bringing me on a Disney cruise.	Tuck me into bed. Helped me plant a garden. Tells me about Jesus.
What is one thing Daddy has taught you?	Mad Minute Math	No hitting!
Why did God create Dads?	To take care of us.	So the moms won’t every night have to have babysitters.
What does Daddy do at his job all day?	I don’t know. You never told me. I think maybe he draws the pictures on the back of cereal boxes.	He works.

Middle Child Chatter

See that sweet middle child of mine?
She's on a roll...
(The picture doesn't go with this post..I forgot to snap any today, and I thought this adequately showed her more devilish side!)

Today after the kids tennis camp we went to visit Grandma/pa Schuette.
Grandpa turns 90 tomorrow, so we had a little impromptu Tostino Party Pizza luncheon.
He was telling the kids his age, and Ryan begins singing the numbers up to 90 as fast and loudly as he can.
Then Juls says, "WOW. I bet you'll die soon."

Tonight while helping her get ready for bed, I asked Julia to come stand next to me in the mirror and put our faces close together.  I commented to her that I thought we might be starting to look a little more alike.  She says, "Yes, but my hair is a little darker, and your tummy is definitely bigger."

Isn't she just a joy??!

Kids Just Wanna Have (Dirty) Fun!

I am really trying to let this be a fun and memorable summer vacation for the kids.  I don't want them to grow up and remember their mom always telling them what they can't do. Or to clean their rooms. Pick up their toys. Shoes. Etc.  (I do enough of that, and it must not be working since it's still a mess around here!) So in a conscious effort to pick my battles, and let them do some "kid" stuff even if it makes me cringe, I decided to not step in when they used the hoses in the backyard to make a mud pit.  And then proceeded to roll around in it. They had a BLAST.  And I admit, seeing them smile was really fun to watch too.  For those of you in awe I let my daughter run around topless, she did start out with a shirt on...which was white, by the way...still soaking that one in Oxiclean! (We are slightly hoosier, but not all the way. HA.) It was just too "heavy" she said with mud that she decided to lose it.
Happy Summer!!!