Fashion Show

Yesterday I was priveleged to attend an exclusive fashion show put on by none other than T & K. Here, he is a bounty hunter who has just captured Katie. She's wearing my tank top and boots.

Here, we have an army man, using the pattern on his 'cammies' to his full advantage...hiding in the green blanket. I don't think Katie can see him!

Katie even got in on the action.

Here is a model...wearing her Ariel costume as a skirt and a tank top with a 'brawl' in it.

Darth Vader even came by. Check out the announcer!

Floating

This afternoon, Trace asked for an umbrella to use when he jumped off the bar stool. He was thinking that the umbrella would help him to slowly float to the ground. So he tried it. And was disappointed. Chad suggested they take it outside and he jump off the ladder. When I got outside with the camera, here's what I saw...

He decided to try jumping off the toolbox first. Then he moved back up on top of the cab and jumped. I thought this was just one big broken ankle waiting to happen, but there were no injuries.

Boyfriend Talk

We were riding bikes tonight when Kinsey started, out of the blue...

Kinsey: I don't know the perfect man to be your boyfriend, but you should get one.

Me: But what about Dad? Don't you think he'd be upset?

Kinsey: No, when your boyfriend asks you to marry him, you just break up with him. It will be ok.

I wish she would stay 5 forever.

Bet you'll never have a cake like this...

We went to Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse for supper. The kids enjoyed the show and surprisingly, complained very little about the food. Trace tried to catch food in his mouth that the chef tossed into the air, and their reactions to the volcano made out of an onion and the fireball on the grill were priceless.

At the end of the meal, a very sweet stranger paid the tab for the entire table. Turns out, he lost his wife to cancer two years ago and won just shy of $2 million on a scratch-off littery ticket a few months ago. He said he was paying for our supper because he enjoyed watching our beautiful children having a good time.

Surprise!

Last week, Kinsey started talking about wanting to have a surprise party for her birthday. When she realized just how far off her birthday really is, well, let's just say she was not pleased. She cried. And cried. Then she realized my birthday was just a few days away and decided she would throw me a surprise party. I told Chad and my friends, thinking it was precious that she wanted to do this.

The kids were in the backseat of the car when this realization occurred, so the planning began...in whispers. Then they asked me what I liked and didn't like. I assumed they were fishing for theme ideas. Trace talked about breakfast in bed and wanted to know why I never served him breakfast in bed on his birthday. When I explained that kids are messy and have to sleep in their beds, he understood.

Fast forward to Friday...Erin tooke me to have drinks and pedicures to celebrate my big day. I have never laughed so much while getting my toes done. When she brought me home, I saw cars in the driveway and was shocked. Truly surprised. Turns out Chad had been putting all of this together for weeks. I neglected to mention that Chad came home from out of town on Thursday and was S I C K. He went grocery shopping and ran other errands on Thursday when he was so sick. A real trooper. We had great friends over and had a fabulous time.

Trace woke me up at 7:45 this morning with breakfast in bed...

I am so fortunate to have such a loving family and great friends.

The Last Airbender

Trace's birthday was in May, but we were all wrapped up in All-Star baseball, dance recital, and moving then, so we postponed his party for a bit. With all the activities we had going on, I thought small would be better. We took three of his friends to the movies to see Avatar: The Last Airbender. I've never taken five kids to the movies before. They had a great time and were all very good, but may I just say that I am so glad I don't have five kids?

There were lots of jokes about bending air, or in eight year old language...farting, on the way home from the movie. I bet every one of those kids was bending water in the shower that night.

I'm sure he'll want to kill me in a few years for putting up pictures of him in his undies...but I'll deal with that later.

I Wanna Be a Pop Star

Here's my conversation with Kinsey this morning. And it will surprise none of you who know her well.

Me: Stop getting older.
Kinsey: But I have to have birthdays.
Me: Why?
Kinsey: I need to be a teenager so I can be a pop star.

Home

I am (more than) happy to report that we are the proud owners of JUST ONE house! We closed on our old house this morning. Whew! When we made the whirlwind decision, two years ago, to sell our brand-spankin' new house after living in it only three weeks, I drove up here to find a place to live. Basically, I had one day to find something or we would be living in an old, tiny, did I say old? renthouse. It stunk. Literally. I tried really hard to convince myself that it was ok, but it really wasn't. Thankfully, I found a great house in an even better neighborhood.

I told the realtor that I wanted to find a house in a neighborhood where they had block parties and all the kids rode bikes together in the evenings. She politely told me that she really couldn't guarantee that. Little did I know that is just where we would land. We lived there just shy of two years (yes, capital gains taxes...grrr) and it really was home. We trick or treated together, had Christmas parties, rode bikes, jeeps, and walked around that loop more times than I can count. We ate popsicles in the driveway, watched the kids (ok, and sometimes me) run through the sprinklers, played lots of baseball, and cops and robbers in that neighborhood. And I won't forget the conversations in the middle of the street, or our impromptu Neighborhood Watch 'meetings' in our driveway. We made lifelong friends in that neighborhood. And tons of fabulous memories.
I knew there had to be a reason all of that change was happening two summers ago. And I have decided that God knew of some fantastic people in that neighborhood He thought we should meet. We have been out of that house for a month, so that part is real for me, but I know that as the temperatures drop this fall and we move outside in the afternoons, it will be really real. sniff, sniff...

Boxes

The best part of moving, aside from getting a new house, has got to be the BOXES! The kids have each picked a very large moving box as their own. Kinsey has decorated hers with stickers and markers and they have played in those things more this week than they have any other toy.

They put their pillows in them and watch tv, they line up the openings to make houses and they're neighbors. Trace drags Katie into his and she fights like crazy, but this afternoon, when he was playing with a friend, I caught her sleeping in his box.

Kinsey is very into bunny ears. It's just a bonus that she realized you can put up more than just 2 fingers!

All Stars

Here are the Coach Pitch All-Stars...Trace is on the front row, third from the left. Lost the first game, won the second, and lost the third. They had a lot of fun.

Where we spend our evenings in the spring...at the ball field.

What a game face!

Leaving Home

Kinsey and Trace were playing this morning when I heard something about 'leaving home'. Trace came in to tell me that Kinsey was leaving home, 'but she can't reach the garage door.' I asked him where she was going, and of course, Ella's. Being the good brother he is, he opened the garage door for her, and off she went. Barefooted. In her bathing suit. Carrying her special blanket.

At the end of the driveway he stopped her and they talked. He gave her his scooter to remember him by. As he was walking, head hanging, back to me, he started to cry and said, "I never thought I would see her actually leave home." So sweet.

That's her near the driveway across the street. She kept going to the next driveway down, which is about the distance of a small city block, then turned around and came home.

I asked her what this was all about and she said that she just wanted to spend a little time away from her family. "I was only wanting to stay at Ella's for a couple of days. Can you pack me a little suitcase?" That prompted Trace to hop on the scooter and head down the driveway. I thought he was just riding his scooter, but found out after he turned around and came back that he was running away, too.

This has started much earlier than I thought it would!

When I wasn't running a kid to practice or lessons of some sort, I've been spending some quality time with these guys:

But yesterday I spent the afternoon with these guys...well, and the dishwasher repairman. Thank goodness for THOSE guys!
We are unpacked enough to decorate! I hung pictures in the playroom, living room, hallway, and the dining room. Now the rest is up to Chad. I'm fine using finishing nails and a hammer, but drywall anchors, no thanks.

Early this morning I couldn't sleep so I decided it was the playroom's turn for some quality time. We are thrilled to have a playroom that is upstairs and hidden away. The kids just like the stairs, but Chad and I love the fact that all those toys are out of sight.

Today is the last day of swimming lessons. I am amazed at the progress they have both made in just a week. Kinsey started the week putting her face in the water. But now she is able to swim the width of the pool! The goal was to have her doing a kneeling dive by today, but as of yesterday it wasn't gonna happen. We'll see how today goes.

Trace was a swimmer when he started, but this week has learned freestyle, butterfly (his favorite), backstroke, and breaststroke. He's been doing 'the mermaid', as he calls it, for a long time, so when it came time for the butterfly, all he had to do was add his arms and off he went. The breaststroke (the one where you kick your legs like a frog) is another story. That is a tough one.

I don't have any recent pictures that I haven't already posted, so I'll leave you with this one from December, 2008. The kids were 6 and 3. And playing together. Happily. With a toy that doesn't plug in.

Trace & Tattoos

So, throughout the school year, Trace has complained about not being able to see. I asked the nurse at school to check his vision, and he passed the screening. So I chalked it up to wanting some attention. Well...a few weeks ago, we noticed him squinting to read the menu on the television. Crap.

Before you unanimously award me the bad mom medal...the eye doctor said it is very common for kids to pass their school eye exams because they are squinting to read the letters correctly, but the nurse doesn't watch for the squinting. He's nearsighted so that means he wears the glasses all the time. What I want to know is, who's starting the pool on how soon they get lost?

Who doesn't love a little ink? Kinsey wanted a wolf, but opted for a tribal band after much convincing. She holds her arm up and says, "Watch the wave." HYSTERICAL!!!

It's Been a Whirlwind

Whew! It's been a busy couple of weeks for us. We closed on our new house June 4th and moved in on the 6th. It is so nice to have more space, inside the house and out! It was a long, hot 5 hours of mowing yesterday. Chad came inside at one point and said, "I'm ready to go put a zero-turn mower on a credit card." So the tractor is coming to stay very soon.


Last week was full of baseball, gymnastics, dance, and basketball on top of trying to find the box where you-name-it had been packed. I am very proud to say that as of last night, there were no more boxes in anyone's bedroom AND my car was in the garage!


Trace's All-Star baseball team has their District Tournament coming up this weekend. This last weekend his team played in a prep tourney and yesterday Trace played second, caught two fly balls and knocked down a line drive that we all thought was headed to the fence! There was lots of fist pumping!!!



Kinsey's first dance recital was also this weekend. She had two dances: jazz was a prissy little Cruella de Vil number with the most precious costume on the planet! You can't tell in the pictures, but they're wearing black fishnets. Recital was Saturday night and she wore that costume around the house on Sunday.Ballet was a sweet Tinkerbell number with a big fluffy tu-tu. Adorable! She got flowers from her dad and said, "This is the best day of my life because I got flowers from my dad." awwwwww
Both kids started swimming lessons today. Last year Kinsey bawled and bawled resulting in me calling it quits after two days. I know I should have stuck with it, but sitting in the HEAT at 5pm listening to my daughter wail...no thanks. I told her this was the year. She was going to learn to swim. She did much better today. She did have a moment of panic when her teacher told her she'd be diving in the deep end by the end of the week. But she recovered. Trace's class is working on strokes. He swims, but it's not pretty. Diving is another story. I was very impressed. He stood up there on the edge of the pool and just dove right in, cutting that water like a knife! We all miss having a neighborhood pool.
I am so ready for a breather!!!