I Don’t Get It…

I was talking to my friend C~ this week about the fact that there’s only 3 weeks until school starts. C~ was talking about doing early bird aerobics next week to practice getting up early. I’m not sure what’s more insane, doing aerobics at 5:45am or thinking that practice is going to make getting up early easier.

I have been completely spoiled by the kids this summer. Very rarely am I out of bed before 8am. The boys are up early, but they play Lego’s downstairs & only bug me for the occasional banana. Tova has been a peach, sleeping until after 8, sometimes 9, almost every day this summer. I love her

Here’s a new picture of my Summer Girl.

K~

Those Kids? They’re Not Mine.

Nothing makes me wish for the end of summer vacation like grocery shopping with all 3 kids.

K~

I Blame Man Movie Night

The past couple of days I’ve been researching a certain vacation destination in my spare time & I’m usually cross-eyed by the time I’m done, leaving no desire to do a blog post. But I’m back now because, drum roll please, we’re heading to St Louis. (read with a depressed tone)

We were going to go to New York City.

I had it all worked out. Airfare was $204/person, the hotel was $150/night, I knew where we were going, (Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Waterfalls, Central Park, FAO Schwartz, Ground Zero) & when we were visiting said places. I had it all planned out – we were ready to go! Only, Jason & I needed to see if the budget could handle a more expensive vacation. Sunday didn’t work because I had a major headache, Monday didn’t work because Jason had Man Movie Night, leaving us with Tuesday night. By the time we got around to discussing our NYC adventure, airfare had gone up $25/person & the hotel had gone up $50/night putting the trip back in the iffy category of affordability. And I was upset that I had missed the bargain rates so I couldn’t pull the trigger. If only Jason had stayed home instead of watching some ice hockey movie.

So now we head to St Louis. Maybe next weekend, we haven’t really discussed specifics yet. I’m disappointed but I’ll get over it. STL has some great activities for families so we’ll find something fun to do. It’s not New York, but it has decent restaurants & multiple shopping venues, what else does a person really need?

K~

Anniversary Post

I realized this morning that I didn’t do a very good anniversary post.  I couldn’t sleep last night due to my hip so I decided to blog myself to sleep instead.  I know, whine, whine, groan, groan.  Jason’s heard enough too.

*******

It’s shocking to me that we’ve been married for 11 years.  Time sure flies when you’re having fun.

The best part about the last 11 years is that I have spent them with my best friend.  There is no one I’d rather spend my time with.  Last year when we spent almost 4 weeks together with only Tova as a distraction, I realized how much I had been missing my husband.  It was wonderful to wake up each morning knowing that we had a whole day to reconnect.   I realized how much I had been missing my husband & we made the most of our time together. All the stress we were under drew us closer together & I remembered why I depend so much on Jason.  As hard as it was for me to be without the boys, the time Jason & I had together was very precious to me.

Happy Anniversary to my best friend!  I love you!

K~

Owies

Mine, not the kids.

On Wednesday I took the kids to the pool, slathered everyone, including me, with sunscreen.  Guess who got burned?  My back & shoulders are still sore.

On Thursday I slipped on a wet sidewalk & skinned my knee & banged up my hip.

It is so true, the older you are the harder you fall.

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We all went to VBS last night.  The boys were very excited about family night.  The kids sang their songs & then we all had cookies & the required red kool-aid.  Gavin can be shy but he jumped right up on stage with the other kids & was dancing away.  Ethan tends to do the “I’m embarrassed & will not dance” routine except tonight when he decided to ‘help’ Gavin do the actions.  I was afraid they were going to start wrestling up on the stage, but thankfully it never came to that.

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Today is Jason & my 11th anniversary.  Jason will spend the day working, I’ll spend the day at the pool with the boys.  Later we’ll head out to supper & do a little shopping.  Tova’s coming along since she has a major aversion to baby-sitters at the moment.

And yes, I do remember how hot is was that day.

K~

Swim Lessons Revisited

Swim Lessons are done!  They actually went a lot better than I could have predicted a week ago.  I finally acted like an adult & talked to the swim director & she was more than happy to help.  It seems if they don’t know there’s a problem, they can’t fix it.  I’m regretting that I didn’t say anything after the first few days.  Lesson learned.  Instead of complaining on the blog, actually complain to person who has the ability to change things.

Gavin passed to the next level.  Ethan improved so much this past week.  He’s getting the whole breathing-without-doggy-paddling thing, he’s reaching his arms out of the water during the front crawl.  He looks so much better now.  We’ll keep practicing this summer.  I think I may sign him up for a stroke clinic this fall just to keep the momentum.

Tonight is the boys last night of VBS.  Ethan’s been going all week & Gavin decided to try it on Tuesday.  They’re having a blast, but they are tired.  Tonight there’s a big drawing for an airplane ride.  Ethan’s talked non-stop about this all week.  I need to get the credentials of the pilot before I sign off on that little adventure.

K~

Pet Peeve

My newest pet peeve is boy’s swimsuits.  Click here if you missed the reason for Gavin’s new swimsuit.

Anyway, Gavin now owns 2 new suits.  Neither have ties.  How dumb is that?  I searched all of the pathetic shopping options in my town, – yeah, I talking about you Walmart, Kmart & Penney’s – you all STINK! & found not one pair of swim shorts sized from 3T to 5T with a tie.  Not one.  Lots of tie suits for older boys, but none for the little boys, who are not generally known for having hips.

I suspect children’s clothes designers don’t have children.  Or they like crack, either kind.

K~

Zucchini Bread

This recipe is from my neighbor Kathryn. I’ve tried other zucchini bread recipes but this is by far the best. For the cinnamon, I highly recommend Penzey’s Extra Fancy Vietnamese Cinnamon.

Zucchini Bread

1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Mix together in a small bowl and set aside

1 c. sugar
1 c. finely shredded unpeeled zucchini
1/4 c. oil
1 egg
1/4 tsp finely shredded lemon peel (or orange)

Mix together in a large bowl. Add flour mixture.
Pour into a loaf pan (greased) and Bake 55-60 min at 350 degrees.

Enjoy!

K~

Did You Know…

That swimsuits melt?

Picture it, it’s almost 9:30am, swimming lessons start at 10. I ask the boys to get their suits on so we can run a quick errand before lessons. There’s plenty of time. Both boys comply. I walk into the living room to ask Gavin to get his sandals on & I see a gaping hole in his swimsuit. I look at the clock & decide that I don’t have time to sew the whole side of his suit back together, an iron-on patch is the best option. I run downstairs, dust off the iron, locate the ironing board & get to work. I lay the patch on the suit & begin to press, but instead of the patch sticking, the suit has now melted to the iron.

Oops.

Apparently you can’t iron nylon.

Now we’re in a hurry. I hustle the kids into the car, grab the swimming bag & head to Kmart to buy Gavin a new suit. We find a bunch on clearance, I grab one for Gavin, he okays it & we’re off, but quickly have to go back because the clerk forgot to remove the security tag. Even with that little setback, we arrive at lessons on time. Problem solved.

Or not.

Unfortunately, I overestimated Gavin’s size. As I was watching from the bleachers, he climbed out of the pool & raced over to the diving blocks, ignoring the fact that he was mooning all of the spectators. Guess who’s heading out later to get a smaller suit?

K~

Lego Inspiration

Ethan has been working hard all summer on a Lego City. Lego Cities are what he usually builds, but this one is fairly detailed. Jason & I have been seeing a lot of details from our summer travels pop up in his city. This is one example.

While driving home from ND, we took a detour & saw the world’s largest structure, a TV tower. Here’s the real thing.

And here’s the Lego version.

Here’s one of Ethan’s original Lego creations. This is part of Lego City’s recycling system. The recycling truck dumps the stuff on the belt & then the train picks it up.

This is something Ethan’s created for the newest Lego contest. It’s a family of Dinosaurs. The baby is just hatching from his egg.

Here’s a close up of the baby in its egg.

K~