For Your Viewing Pleasure

Some day I will get a good picture of all my kids together.  Until that day I give you attempts 275,489 through 275,494

Back To School

As the first week of school draws to a close I am finally getting around to posting our first day of school pictures.

Thanks to many bags of awesome hand-me-downs Madison didn't really need any new clothes for school. I love hand-me-downs.  I did, however, agree to buy her a new outfit for the first day. Did I mention that she is in SIXTH GRADE now!  This is her last year of elementary school and I'd be lying if I said that didn't scare me.  In fact, lets not talk about this anymore.

Kai is now officially growing like a weed.  He's grown so much the doctor said his friends won't recognize him when he goes back to school.  That ended up being a moot point because a few days before school started he was offered a spot in the 4th grade class at the same school Madison goes to.  He was, of course, thrilled to be going to school with his sister.

A few weeks before school started Chase fell IN LOVE with a pair of bright blue skinny jeans at target.  He begged for them.  You have to understand Chase doesn't really ask for things, especially things like bright blue skinny jeans.  But he was determined to wear them on his first day of school so I bought them.  He put them on in the morning and I tried to find a matching shirt (it wasn't easy but I managed) and he finished getting ready for school.  Only, he wasn't very happy.  In fact, he was down right moody.  When I asked him if he was nervous he said, "No.  Only I don't think I like these pants like I thought I did."  I was so relieved.  Frankly, I think he looked a little funny in those pants.  So we did a quick wardrobe change, took a new picture, and ran to school.

And of course there is Davis.  Davis is now going to preschool three days a week--in the afternoon.  Which means I can go to lunch with out him.  I told Michael I need a stipend.  He thought I was joking.  He was wrong.

Life just gets better and better.

He Learned From the Best

It turns out that Davis is even more Kai than Kai can handle.

D: Kai, do you want to play a game with me?
K: Not right now Davis.
D: Here are the rules, I'll say, "Yes you are" and you'll say, "No I'm not."
K:  I SAID I'm not going to play right now!
D: Yes you are.
K: No I'm not.
D: Yes you are.
K: NO.  I'm NOT!
D: Yes you are.
K: NO I'M NOT!
  . . . . .

The Coast 2011

 It would be wrong to go to Oregon and not go to the coast.  This year we spent a few days in Brookings .

Madison bought a camera right before we left so of course she spent most of the vacation taking pictures.

This is where digital cameras are a nice.  When I got my first camera I went through rolls and rolls of film taking random pictures of trees, bushes and anything else I found remotely interesting. With Madison I don't have to think about how much it will cost me to develop the millions of pictures she's taking.  Though she may need to invest in her own external hard drive.

Chase thinks of the beach as the worlds largest sand box.  So while everyone else is playing in the water he's digging in the dirt.  He only approached the water when he felt like his sand needed to be mud.  Unfortunately, we forgot to bring his tractor this year.  Even though he was disappointed and mentioned his lack of a tractor several times he seemed happy enough with a yellow bucket.

Chase only wears Levi's but after having to wash them several times after our first trip to play in the sand Michael and I bought him a pair of shorts and gave them to him with an ultimatum: no shorts, no sand.

Not only was he willing to wear them (it helped that they were John Deere green) he wore them with a smile.

Baby steps.  Right?

Curse You Central Air!!

Kai:  Um mom.  I just thought you'd want to know that Davis is downstairs fiddling with the wind machine.
Me: He's fiddling with the what?
Kai:  You know, he's messing with that thing that makes wind.
Me:  I'm sorry but I have no idea what you're talking about.
Kai:  Uggghhh, you know how Madison burned all that popcorn and dad put that box downstairs that when you plug it in creates wind?  The WIND MACHINE!!!
Me:  Do you mean the fan?
Kai:  What?  Fan?  Sure, the fan.  He's fiddling with the fan.
Me:  Did you really not know the word "fan"?
Kai: Never mind!

Oregon 2011

Every couple of years we try to get out to Oregon.  We weren't sure we were going to be able to this year, but a few weeks ago we made a last minute decision and jumped in the car.  The drive starts out with a whole lot of this

and ends with a whole lot of this

When we were first married Michael and I always drove out and back in one day.  But then more and more smaller people with even smaller bladders started tagging along making the trip considerably longer. 

With out a doubt the drive out is always better than the drive back.  ON the way out the kids are excited to be going so things go smoothly.  The way back is a different story all together.  At this point they are tired and for some reason this makes it impossible for the younger ones to pee when they are supposed to and not pee when they aren't.  As a result we usually take the trip back in two days.

This time we stayed at a lovely hotel in Winnemucca where the kids insisted on swimming before we went to bed.  The day after we got home Madison and Kai developed a weird rash.  It turned out that this particular rash results from swimming in a gross bacterial filled hotel swimming pool.  Then Chase started complaining about his ear hurting.  The doctor looked in his ear and said, "have you been swimming lately?"  Why?  Because this particular ear infection results from swimming in a gross bacterial filled hotel swimming pool.  You might think this upsets me but it doesn't.  Here's the thing.  I really hate swimming and I used to feel guilty telling the kids I don't want to go but now I have an excuse.  Now if all goes as planned I NEVER have to get into a hotel pool again.