So you think you can dance

Now I'm not a dancer. I don't have any rhythm and I'm not coordinated. But I will dance with my kids in the privacy of my own home. Silliness rules. Patrick is not into dancing. That would not be on his short list of things to go do. Somehow we ended up with two dancing children. Three if you count Josh but his "moves" could be described more as steps for mortal combat and not actual dance! Jared, somehow, somewhere has learned dance moves. The running man, the macarena, the worm, the wave, who knows. (I'm starting to think that 3rd grade teacher taught more than reading and writing because now I'm hearing they had tons of dance offs on no outdoor recess days) And he loves loves loves to dance. He has quite a series of "moves".

Jared and Carlie like to put a music CD into the XBOX and the music will play over the TV along with colored images on the screen. They also prefer to do their dancing on a stage...aka...my coffee table. Jared did find the table was not quite big enough for half his "moves" so thank goodness it isn't a far drop. The splits have to be done on the floor...yes...I said the splits! He also loves to flip his long hair (which I have since cut and that is messing with his "moves" he tells me)

Carlie's "moves" are a bit more simple yet she gives them the same concentration Jared gives his. Carlie rocks from side to side and foot to foot. If she's feeling ultra funky she swings her arms from side to side! And for that all out moment.....she stomps her feet.

Now when her dancing buddy is off at school Carlie will try to sneak in some extra practise time. She climbs on the table and dances and points at the TV wanting me to put in their favorite (and only) KidsBop CD. I am thinking this may buy me some free time...she shakes her groove thing...I unload the dishwasher! Not a bad deal!

This is the best day of my whole life

This season of soccer for Josh just about drove us nuts. The coach, while he was a nice man, never worked on individual ball handling skills so Josh got no better at how to dribble or kick or anything. The coach preferred to scrimmage. Well, Josh was one of the smallest and slowest and youngest on the the team so he rarely touched the ball! So while we were on the sidelines biting our tongues, Josh just ran around the field randomly. VERY randomly. At times it was mind boggling how confused he seemed about where to go. Now he did have his moments. Each game Patrick and I would pull him aside and talk to him about hussle and trying and he would go out and work awhile and actually get a few dribbles with the ball before someone took it away...but he also preferred to sit out and sip casually on his water bottle. The funny part was Josh loved it. Every week he said he had fun. He liked it. We just looked at him like he was crazy...but maybe there's a lesson in there.

The last game of the season they handed out trophies. Josh was sooooo excited to get a trophy. He hugged it and posed with it. Then we got to the car and he is still cradling his trophy and looking at it adoringly. Then I hear, "I can't believe I got a trophy! This is the best day of my whole life!" I turned and glanced at him and he is looking at this trophy and his eyes are sparkling. He was truely happy! So happy he said he wants to play soccer forever! Sigh!

Learning Experiences and working hard

For the last 2 months Jacob has gone before school and stayed after several days a week to be in the Lego Club. The group met to build a robot and program it to do several challenges then took it to compete in the First Lego League Challenge at Round Rock High School. Unfortunately this was the first time for any of our team and so they didn't know what to expect or how to go about designing or programming their robot. Their teacher was very hands off so the kids were left to flail on their own. Patrick ended up helping Jacob get a robot designed the week of the challenge, and they only got 4 of the 22-25 tasks completed. Jacob was able to add in a couple of more tasks at the challenge. So while it was a frustrating day, it was also a good experience to go to the challenge and see the robots and watch the other teams. Next year I think Patrick is going to volunteer to mentor the kids in how to engineer a project...what steps do you take..what is the process. The last week it was hard to keep Jacob's spirits up. He really wanted to quit because he was frustrated they would have nothing to take to the competition. I think he did learn a lot about the need for project planning and we talked a lot about how you cannot control what others do. If they have an assignment and fail to complete it there isn't a whole lot you can do. I was very glad to see how interested Jacob was in the program and how much time and work he was willing to put into it. Hopefully in the future there will be more mentoring and it will be a better experience.

Jared and his friend Blane were chosen to do a reading from "The Wall" at their school's Veteren's Day celebration. The reading is about a father and son who go look for the grandfather's name on the veterens wall. He spent a month learning his lines (and Blane's LOL) and performed it twice on Veteren's Day. I am suprised at how much he likes to perform. His drama teachers always tell me he is such a great student...he always knows his lines and he always performs strongly.

Tricks and treats

This halloween was quite interesting. I was sick so I laid on the front porch to hand out candy and Patrick took Josh and Carlie and Jared trick or treating. Jacob went to a party...he didn't even dress up. a ghoul, a lady bug and a mutant ninja turtle...how sweet! My little lady bug stayed on the front porch with me for quite awhile. She figured out I was putting candy in the kids buckets so she decided she would hand out candy too. She would stand on the step with her fistful of candy held out yelling, "gank ooo, gank oooo" (thank you) and then she would get frustrated that there were no kids to take the candy so she would throw it in the bushes and start crying. When kids would come up and I gave her candy to hand out she would be so shocked by the costumes she wouldn't put the candy in their bucket. After they would walk away she would remember the candy and the whole "gank ooo" screaming and crying would start up again.

I was so disappointed with Jared this halloween. He and his friend took one bag between them trick or treating. The plan was to divide up the candy at the end but his friend had to go home and took the entire bag of candy with him...so we were all left sharing Josh's. How can I raid the halloween candy when there isn't hardly any to raid. Next year he'll need to take his own bag so he can keep his momma happily supplied with candy through thanksgiving.

Who's hairy?

I had a hard time coming up with a title for this post..there were so many good ones..."our baby einstein", "hair today gone tomorrow", "bad hair day - every day", "a hair raising experience", "a hairy situation". We get a chuckle most mornings as Carlie toddles into the kitchen with her "hair on end". I finally found some spray in detangler and she doesn't look near as comical these days. I've tried putting her hair in clips but she won't allow it. I put them in and smile and say, "pretty" and she smiles and reaches up and starts ripping at her hair to get the clip out. Now I just say "pretty" at her any old time just to watch her frantically claw her hair....ahhh it's a cheap thrill I know but I can't help it.

That's ballgame!

Oh...thank heavens....we've reached the end of another baseball season. I am glad to see it end. Patrick would ask every game..did you see this play or that play. UM...no...see I was digging rocks, dirt and already chewed sunflower seed shells out of your daughter's mouth. I'm not even sure if our team won or lost...is it over already..oh! But there were some moments when she napped or played happily that I did get some good pics.

Jared rarely played catcher, he was mainly at short or 2nd and some pitching too but I really liked how the dust swirls around the mitt when he caught this ball. It is a cool shot.

Jared loves to steel and if he were allowed to lead off he would taunt the pitcher mercilessly. I did get a series of him sliding into 3rd and yes...he was safe!

At the end of season tournament Jacob played 13 innings of catcher. He was so very sore the next day...oops! At the end of the season he was finally making the long throws to 2nd and 3rd and teams stopped stealing on him. That was a good achievement for him. This season he had a sprained ankle and pulled achilles. He is so glad for the off season so his body can heal.

This is Saturday morning of the tournament.

Jacob was able to put his hitting together this season and got a couple doubles or triples every single game. We were all thrilled with his hitting. But the highlight of the season for me came at his last at bat in the last game. Jared had just walked up to me to ask me something and I said Jacob is hitting. Just then Jacob smacked the ball hard. Jared watched it for a second then started jumping up and down and yelling, "Jacob's going to get a homerun, Jacob's going to get a homerun!" The next thing I knew Jared had run into the dugout and through the other side onto the field and met Jacob at homeplate. He beat Jacob's entire team out of the dugout. It was so thrilling to see how happy Jared was for his brother. For years I've been trying to get them to understand ...your brother should be your biggest cheerleader and your best friend...always! And today we saw it!

That elusive shot

Being that this is my forth child, I have neglected to obtain her 1 year old pictures. I set out to rectify that today. The first child got professional photos every 4 months, and the next 2 got them 2 times a year but Carlie has only had one professional photo shoot. In fact...for most of the yearly portraits now I take my own...a good camera...lots of shots...something is bound to come out right. RIGHT?

Well, first we tried the flowerbeds in the backyard and after sitting on her bench and then the tractor and drinking from a pot in the flowerbed and then digging in the sandpit, Carlie was clearly bored with the backyard. She didn't even fake a smile. Seriously, do you think she is saying, "what up dude?"

So, bright idea...let's go to the pumpkin patch over at the Methodist church. Very cool. She loved all the pumpkins...oooh, ahh, wow! She kept turning her back on me or rushing me so I could never get a clear shot. It was like a strange little game we were playing....she meanders delightfully through the pumpkins while I trip my way through the patch trying to keep the camera in focus, only to have her alter course at the last instant and lose my shot.

Here she made a new friend...Mr. Scarecrow. This is her "I'm absolutely surprised" face

Now remember this is at a church so they have little statues all over. Angels, friars...I don't know who this guy is...some Saint someone I'm guessing...but he was littler than she and therefore he must be appropriately greeted with several breathy "hi"s

And then he must be hugged, because we LOVE statues. Especially little statues.

Finally after quite a bit of hugging we are able to let go of the statue guy (I don't know if this was sacrilege or not because while I thought it was hilarious some guy in the parking lot kept staring and making "ahum" noises. What can I say, she was really feeling the love!) But we got one possible photo for a portrait. Not great but it does capture what she is like.

Back to the scarecrow bench....NOW this might be the photo I hang on my wall.

All in a day's work

This weekend we tried to get a little yard work done. This is our sideyard and the grass just will not grow in these 2 areas....so... after working all day this is what Patrick accomplished.
I'm so excited to get some plants and get them filled in. They turned out well. After I get the plants in I'll update these pics and also the stone patio in the backyard.

(After viewing this my mom pointed out that in the top pic is that blasted cat that I am now at war with. He is my new nemisis. He is pooing in my garden and sandbox. It is so gross. This weekend I put chicken wire over my garden and sandbox and I'm going to buy a supersoaker squirt gun. I am tempted to hang my birdcage from the tree in his owners yard and slip him in it when I catch him with a note that says, "I am in time-out. I was being naughty and pooped in your neighbors' yard." I don't think they'd see the humor in that though.)

Jakers

Jacob is almost 12...wow...almost 12. Just a few more weeks. Where did all that time go? It seems yesterday I was holding that sweet baby in my arms...and now he rocks his baby sister to sleep because he can't bear to hear her cry. He can be such a softie.

This year he started junior high. They start in 6th grade here. It has a very different feel than grade school. He has a very different view of his teachers. Almost more like they are colleagues. He loves all his classes (except PE because he thinks the PE teachers are a joke and their job is a waste of time...eek!) He is very motivated this year...I've not had to tell him once to do his homework. He seems more at ease...he likes what he is doing.

This week Jacob applied to be in Lego League. It is a group of students who will work to build robots out of RoboLab (a collaboration between Lego and National Instruments). In November they will compete against area schools to see if their robot can meet the criteria and navigate the assigned tasks. He is very very excited.

My favorite shoe

Carlie has so many shoes...but this one is her favorite...literally this ONE! She finds it wherever it is and slips it on and roams about the house in her one shoe. Notice it is the left shoe, always worn on the right foot. She gets so excited to see her shoe. It makes her happy.

A girl is never quite dressed without the perfect shoe...

...even if it is 2 sizes too big.

More flags...more fun

This last weekend Patrick's company rented out Six Flags in San Antonio. The boys had a blast even though I explained to them that no responsible parent would let their kids ride in those death traps. I appear to have lost this round.

Patrick and the boys were able to ride all of the rollercoasters without waiting in any lines! Patrick was thrilled that the boys loved it since he did not marry someone who would do rides (should've had a more stringent screening process there I'd say). I myself was very daring and went on one waterlog ride, the merry go round and the tiny tots choo choo train! Hey..when you are 5'10" and you get on a train that tiny...you are risking serious injury. I had to shake my head at the infants ride policy of this place. I would ask if I could take Carlie on a ride and they'd say, "can she walk" or "is she walking age?" What the heck is "walking age"...my baby walked at 8 months.


Joshua actually proved to be the daring thrill-seeker! He laughed like a maniac up there! We were shocked. He was the one who insisted they go on this swinging boat. I know the picture is blurry but I love Jacob's face here!

On this ride Josh kept flashing me the "hook'em horns" sign and sticking his tongue out. I kept yelling, "hold on with both hands Josh...stop that! Hold On!"

Carlie had her own individual Six Flags experience. In consisted of lying in the stroller trying to drink out of 3 cups at the same time, climbing over the safey railing, searching for sticks under the hedges and this here is the table climb! This is also her cheesy grin she gives us when she is knowingly being naughty.

I don't know what it is about the bumper cars but my kids think they are the funniest thing ever. They giggle and giggle and giggle out there. It is almost bizarre. I think it is inherited...look at their dad!
So...all in all it was a very fun afternoon! Jared and Josh are hoping to grow 2 more inches apiece so they can get on even more rides next time! Thanks NI!

A morning of unfortunate events

This morning started out like pretty much every morning. I tried to get a sleeping Carlie placed onto a pillow on the floor so I could go get lunches ready for the big kids. She of course wakes up because she senses she is no longer in mommy's bed next to mommy. And of course she is snot nosed and angry. She takes a bottle, amazingly lying on a pillow by herself rather than in someone's lap, then chunks the empty bottle across the room when she is done and proceeds to follow me around the kitchen screaming and grabbing my legs. I figure...OK...I'll grab the sling, slip her in it and carry her around with me while I pack lunches. Things are going great! She is calm. Things are running smoothly...

Events quickly cascade out of control as we are approaching scripture reading time. Jared announces his arm is really itchy and he needs medicine one it. The poison ivy is looking a thousand times better thanks to our new favorite medicine, Domeboro solution. I send him to get a washcloth and we'll soak his arm while we are reading. I get the benedryl out for Jared and Josh and I move to stand next to Josh who is still at the table. As I am pouring the Benedryl into the little cup, Carlie suddenly arches back, straightens out her legs and drops right through the sling onto the ground and starts howling. Patrick shoots across the room and is just bending down to pick up Carlie when Josh starts shrieking in pain. On her way down Carlie knocked the Benedryl out of my hand and it is now in Josh's eye! Now...if I didn't have two children screaming at this instant I would have burst out laughing because Patrick was frozen for a moment bent half way to the floor trying to decide which child he should pick up...both are hurt, but which one should he grab...his eyes are darting back and forth between them...HOW does he choose! That is when I spotted Jared, shoved him toward Carlie and said "take her" and Patrick scooped up Josh and ran him to the sink while I guided his head under the water. This is no simple task as Josh is putting up a pretty good fight and is screaming with a mouth full of food, which I then worry he will choke on so I swipe the food out of his mouth as we are running water over his eyes. Within a few minutes Josh was fine, Carlie was fine, Patrick and I were wiping up all the Benedryl and not even looking at eachother...I don't know if it was that we didn't want to bust out laughing just then or we didn't want to have to ask "How do these things happen to us?"

All I need to know...I learned in Kindergarten

"How does Josh like kindergarten?" We get asked that a lot. A month into school and still the answer is....we really don't know. Every morning he is angry at having to get up and get ready for school. Breakfast is a trial, finding his shoes is a meltdown, everybody gets yelled at for looking at him. After school when you ask how it was he says, "eeeeeh!" I even emailed his teacher asking how he was doing in class. Great! Happy! Loves it! We figured he needs more one on one time with us so we've been trying to have more of just Josh and Dad time or Josh gets to read with just me after school.
Patrick sits down with Josh every morning and they work on tying his shoes for school. He's almost got it. We thought...well...he just needs to ride this out...we think he likes school and just doesn't want us to know. Then our little neighbor told her mom that some boy hurt Josh on the playground. Hmmm...a clue. I asked Josh about recess and is anyone mean to him. Yes, there are 2 boys that push him a lot. Are they trying to play with you? I don't know, they hurt me. Are they playing tag and you don't want to? I don't know, they push me. Well, talk to your teacher when it happens and see if she can help you. I suspect this is no big deal. Then this picture comes home from school and my heart drops.
Josh, is this a picture of you? Yes. Why are you crying in it? He looks at me and then starts to smile and says, "Because I have a horrible disease!" What a stinker! Jared looked at the picture and said, "oh, they read the book about the kid with striped disease...see how his arms are striped!"

If I had a dollar....

Jared! How to describe him? Sometimes there are no words! He is my adventurous middle son, always jumping headfirst into everything...literally. Last week Jared came to me with a rash on his neck, which isn't unusual because Jared has ultrasensitive skin. I didn't think much of the rash because I had been slowly working to switch laundry detergents by adding half of our old to half of our new, and I had been specifically watching for a reaction from Jared. I rewashed all of his clothes and bedding in the old detergent and figured the rash would clear up with that.

A couple days later the rash has spread all over his chest, his neck, his face, behind his legs. I put him to bed with some benedryl and had a nagging feeling that this wasn't good. At 3 am he comes in our room in a panic. He is itching sooooo badly he can't sleep and is frantic for an icepack. At the same moment Patrick and I both say, "he has poison ivy." Now we did this poison ivy thing with him last spring and can I say it was 2 miserable weeks of h-e- double hocky sticks (Jared said I can't write what I wanted to write for that). We woke up every two hours every night for 14 days changing icepacks on his arms and rubbing creams on him and giving him medicine...basically doing anything to keep him comfortable enough to sleep. He was a trooper and rarely complained and we got through it, but we definately didn't want to do that ever again. We're doing it again! SIGH!

Now the big question....HOW did this child get poison ivy again? Again, meaning the 3rd time again. In the middle of the night it finally came to us...geocaching. Patrick and the boys had gone off in the brush searching for a geocache on Saturday and Jared had even pointed out a tree that had poison ivy on it and warned everyone away from it. Apparently he found another source. I don't know if he just rolls around like a dog in nature or what but he managed to cover his entire body in this stuff. Really, it is a shame that bad poison ivy has no monetary value because this knack he has for finding it could've be quite valuable.

So....today he stayed home from school. Apparently the solution we soaked on him and the benedryl cream we rubbed on him ten minutes later had a mild exothermic reaction (Mr. Faddis, my HS chem teacher would be so proud of me for remembering that word, although Jared wasn't really impressed with my scientific knowledge at that moment!) Over the top of his hysterical screams I was able to get him to head up to the shower and wash everything off. At that point...I was too wiped out with trying to get him to school, and honestly his chest looked so swollen and red I thought he really couldn't make it through the day there.

Tangle of brothers

This is one of my favorite pictures. This summer we went to Washington and we had a really early flight out of Portland so we got nearby hotel room. The boys had to share a bed and this was the result the next morning. They are never truely still in their sleep though because one boy shifting causes a domino effect effect across the bed.
Here are the kids at the beach near Tillamook. My brother Eric took us all crabbing and we went to the Tillamook cheese factory every day for icecream. Each day we went for someone's birthday...as long as they had one that year, we celebrated. Josh and Ashley had fun together at the beach but when we got back to Grandma's things got interesting. Shall we say they are two managerial peas in a pod and argued back and forth about how the other one should listen and obey. At one point we were stifling laughter as Josh put his hands over his ears and Ashley told him he shouldn't do that because he really needed to listen to her.

Carlie got to terrorize her cousin Lindsey. Lindsey had fun pigtails and Carlie was beside herself with excitement over those floppy pigtails. She could not keep her hands off of them...funny...after about 3 days Lindsey didn't show up at grandma's with pigtails anymore! Lindsey and Carlie are complete opposites. Lindsey is quiet, mild, content to sit, content with her toys, never fusses and Carlie is constantly on the go, climbing everything, hollering and throwing anything she can. They were truely a curiousity to eachother.

This Angel?

This is Carlie. She turned one last month and handful doesn't even begin to describe her. She IS perpetual motion. I love watching her strut around the house like she owns the place and oh my...if things aren't going her way you better cover your ears because the high pitched scream will be unleashed. Last week we were in a dressing room at the store and I wouldn't let her climb up on the bench or crawl away under the doors. She became enraged. She threw her dolly on the floor, started screaming and then began stomping on her doll. I was trying so hard not to laugh because it was so ridiculous! But as always, the next minute she was laughing and chattering happily!



Josh is six and in Kindergarten. I haven't quite figured out if he likes school. He never wants to go and gripes and gripes as we force his clothes on him every morning and tell him a hundred times to eat! He says the teacher talks too much at school and there are too many rules. He did say he likes "middles!" It took me a few days to figure that one out....middles means centers. They have activity centers but he can't remember that is what they are called. He was very excited to tell me they have a science center but then he got very serious again because apparently they aren't actually allowed to mix any chemicals so that center is not up to snuff in his book!