Last night I was trying to get used to the new Facebook format & clicked on the links tab. There was a video of the creators of Awkward Family Photo’s on Rachael Ray & for some reason I clicked Play.
I normally wouldn’t do that.
Guess who was the first photo featured?
I’ll give you a hint. There’s a camel.
Go on, click the link. I know it’s Rachael Ray but you only have to watch the first 45 seconds & it’ll be worth your time. Promise.
Go on…
Told you it was worth it!
K~
Even though Jason was home most of the weekend, he still wanted a blog post so he knows what’s going on around here.
My life in Bullets:
How was that J? Are you caught up now?
K~
Where to start.
Gavin had his 5th polio shot because I am a bad mom & don’t think quickly on my feet.
Tova had her first major meltdown since the middle of September.
Ethan has finally realized he can have a fulfilling life without Little Orphan Abbey over at our house every single minute of every single day.
Tova & I attended our second MOPS meeting & Tova was very brave about going to her classroom. I could tell she didn’t want to go but the promise of Play-doh & the energetic grampa-type volunteer won her over.
We had the boy’s parent teacher conferences this week. Gavin is doing very well except for he’s completely exhausted. He looks to be the complete Kindergarten-readiness package, he knows all his letters & numbers, he loves to learn, he’s very social, & he’s ‘old’, but he’s why we still need half day kindergarten. The kid is tired. And it’s only Wed. Other than the tiredness thing, he’s doing very well. He’s reading, his handwriting is pretty good for a newbie, & he loves his classmates & they love him. Ethan is doing very well too. He’s smart & nice & well liked. He has some amazing test scores. But, & I hate having the but, why can’t I just be happy he’s smart? But, he’s lazy. And messy. And unorganized & this year it’s hurting his grades. Does anyone have a cure for any of those? (I don’t think he’s lazy because he’s bored. He probably is a little bored but I don’t think he’s a genius & light years ahead of his classmates. I think he’s lazy because he can be & he always chooses the path of least resistance.)
Tova can zip all by herself. She’s still only 2.
I nag Ethan way too much.
I am having two neighborhood moms & their 3 & under’s over for lunch tomorrow & I’m trying really hard to not stress over what to make for lunch. I’m debating whether I should impress them with my culinary skills or go the quick & easy, but also tasty, route since I also need to workout Thursday morning.
Gavin needs new shoes. Why is it the boy’s never tell me their shoes are too tight? Why must I find out when their toes poke out the tops of their shoes? Why are light up Skecher’s $50? Why are those the shoes Gavin has his heart set on? Why does he insist on keeping his old shoes ’so his kids can wear them’?
I need to get cracking on my fall gardening. The kids & I dug up a rock garden so we can plant bulbs but I’ve been waiting for a day that’s more than 59° to do any planting. And I still need to buy the bulbs.
That’s my list of things I was going to blog about but never got around to it. Aren’t you sad you missed whole posts about each of those topics?
K~
What a weekend! The weather was perfect. The camping was excellent. The friends were unbelievable.
I love going home.
This past weekend was the Balloon Rally in Rural City. It’s my absolute favorite weekend in RC. We decided to break out the tent for the first time in ‘09 & camp at the local lake. Things were pretty loose & we set up camp about half way between the bathroom & the playground. Perfect.
Friday night some of our church family came out to make s’mores & catch up while the kids played ghost in the graveyard. It was a fun night.
Saturday we went to the Old Dairy for some grilled cinnamon rolls & some supplies. Later we caught a flag football game & then spent some time with a former co-worker.
The main event was the Balloon Glow. Ethan & Gavin were thrilled to see so many of their friends in one place. Eventually we tore them away so they could collect the cards from the balloonists.
Ethan & Grant comparing cards & balloons while Gavin reminds me why I need to always carry earplugs.
Sunday we went to our former church, sent the kids to Sunday School & headed to breakfast with friends. It was wonderful to catch up with everyone & reconnect. You have no idea how much we miss you!
The drive home was pretty uneventful. We learned our lesson Friday’s drive & Gavin was relegated to the back seat all by his lonesome.
I felt completely rejuvenated after the weekend. On to tackle the week!
K~
We’ve had a fabulous weekend so far & we still have one day left. Our former neighbors came for a visit & the kids played non-stop for about 9 hours on Saturday & most of Sunday as well. The boys were so happy to have their friends G~ & L~ around. They all played so well together & their mom & I had ample time to shop & catch up. I love weekends like this one.
Tomorrow we’re hoping to do some biking & napping. Gavin is in desperate need of a 3hr siesta.
To cap off the summer I need to revisit our summer vacation. Jason gave out awards at the end of vacation & I forgot to post them. Don’t worry, there won’t be any acceptance speeches.
Wiggliest Sleeper – Ethan
Person who slept the longest – Gavin
Person who said ‘no’ the most – Tova, Jason & I tied for second
Person who said ‘of coursely’ the most – Gavin
Best navigator while using multiple forms of information, including GPS (Yoda), Atlas, Road Signs, Pamphlets, etc – Kristen
Person best at turning arund after missing needed turn – Jason
Person best at asking ‘why’ we just turned around – Ethan
Best Campfire builder – Jason
Tastiest person for mosquito’s – Tova
Best Sweller form Mosquito’s – Tova
Best new spitter of sunflower seeds – Ethan
This summer went by too fast…
K~
So, you know Pablo, the best cat ever?
Yeah, not so much.
My one complaint about him is that he’s nervous & a little skittish. He has this thing against the dehumidifier. I have this thing against mold in my house. Every time the dehumidifier comes on, Pablo jumps & runs. Sometimes I’m holding him & I get some scratches. Sometimes he’s sleeping on the ottoman & we laugh as he crashes into a wall on his way out of the room.
The past week he’s been upset. More skittish than normal. He’s a smartish cat though so when I was watching him, he peed on a pile of clothes. That earned him a trip to the vet. The vet found stuff in his urine & now he’s on an antibiotic. For a cat, these things are horsepills. He took the pill surprisingly easily. I wrapped him in a blanket, Jason held him & I shoved the pill down his throat. I haven’t seen the pill again, so I assume he actually swallowed it.
Last night, I left Jason & the kids at home & headed out to finish up school supply shopping (Oh the sticker shock!) & get a few grocery’s. Jason called at the very end of my trip to tell me the cat had attacked him.
Jason, Gavin & Tova were sitting on the couch, watching football when the cat launched himself across the room & used Jason’s face as a scratching post.
It’s bad. He has a nice gouge on the bottom part of his nose, a bunch of scratch marks on the bridge & his eyebrow. Gavin had a scratch on his leg, & Tova had 2 scratches on her arm.
I’m still in shock. I’m sure the dehumidifier kicked on & that spooked him, but I have no idea why he would deliberately go after Jason.
It should be an easy decision. Pablo either needs a new home or a one-way trip to the vet. Logically I know that. I’m really struggling with this though. Pablo is such a nice cat. He snuggles, he loves attention, he’s good with the kids. But he attacked my husband & that really should trump all of Pablo’s good qualities.
Jason wants him gone. I want to figure out what’s wrong. It’s so bizarre that as nervous as Pablo is, in the last 18 months he has handled going from the cat of a workaholic & never-home teen, to the cat of 3 kids with a dog, to moving to a new house & he’s never even remotely acted out. Is it possible the bladder infection was making him cranky & extra sensitive? Is it possible he’s finally snapped after all the changes? Is it possible this is who he truly is & we’d better get rid of him before he does serious damage to one of the kids? I’m so confused.
And I shouldn’t be. This should be a no-brainer.
Unfortunately, it’s not a no-hearter.
K~
Just in time too. It’s the last full week of summer vacation & the forecast has highs in the mid to upper 80’s all week! Yippee! We’ll see you at the pool!
~~~~
We had a great time at my sister’s. We didn’t do much, & that was fine with me. The kids rode bikes, fed calves, played farm & stepped in lots of poop. I read a book, watched the kids do their thing (except the stepping in poop) & relaxed. We took the kids to a great indoor pool, who knew Y’s could have nice, kid friendly pools? They had a water slide Gavin & Tova could go on. Gavin was thrilled. The pools in Metropolis have a minimum height & Gavin is 1/4in too short. We’ve tried a couple of times but he’s gotten to the point where he won’t go near the slides because they keep telling him he’s too small. At first he didn’t want to go, but once he realized he wasn’t going to be turned away, I couldn’t get him off the slide. Tova rode with me. I only dunked her once, but she gave me another chance & she loved the slide as much as her brothers.
I also was lucky enough to get a taste of what having a new driver will be like. My nephews were given a kid sized 4wheeler for their birthdays (their 3 & 1 & only grandchildren, as if you couldn’t tell ;-p). They haven’t gotten much use out of it, but my boys loved it. Ethan & I were taking a ride & he told me he would like to drive. Ethan took over steering & the gas. I held onto the brake for dear life. Ethan was actually fairly cautious, but it was still a scary ride.
He's so proud. I'm so scared.
Checking out the cows
Tova taking Coley for a ride
The ride home was awful, but I won’t relive that for you. Let’s just say Gavin’s teacher will either love him or will be driven to an early retirement.
K~
That’s right, 8 hours. It should have taken 3. Granted we stopped at a little zoo & numerous towns in search of apples & crackers. But still. It took me 8 hours to drive from my parents house to my sisters. I’m not looking forward to the return trip. It should take us 6 hours. Any bets as to how long the actual trip will be?
It’s a good thing we are at my sister’s. She lives on a dairy farm & my kids are truly ignorant of animals. Mostly my sister has cows, but they also have a couple of goats, geese, & cats. My boys keep calling the geese chickens & Tova refers to the cows as horses. We could not have picked a better time to get some real world animal experience. In defense of the boys, about the only meat we eat is chicken & there is endless confusion when we have pork. Silly kids.
Speaking of kids. Kindergarten camp went well. Gavin was not surgically attached to my leg when we needed to leave him with the other kids, it only took a crow bar to get him off. He had fun though. When he was brought to us in the library he had a huge smile on his face & even waved at a few kids. Every time we’ve been at the school on official business, a particular kindergarten teacher has always made a point of talking with Gavin. I had really hoped we’d have her as a teacher as Gavin thinks he ‘knows’ her. Classroom assignments came out today & Gavin actually ended up in Mrs. Nice’s class! He was really excited when I told him.
Ethan knows nothing about his teacher which is as much as I know about her too. I hope he has a better teacher in 3rd grade than he did in 2nd. His Rural City teacher was lovely, the Metropolis one was a piece of work. I know the kids are going to have poor teachers. Everyone does. But do we really need to pick on the new kid in school? She was awful & had waaaaaay too much time on her hands. Luckily, Ethan offset the rotten teacher by making friends so it wasn’t a total waste of 2 months.
I cannot believe we have only 2 more weeks of summer left. I have a lot of swimming, hiking, parks, & a zoo trip to squeeze in yet.
I’ve finally screwed up enough courage to read A Long Way Gone. We’ve had the book since our Vietnam trip & Jason was very moved by the book & frankly, that scared me. He wasn’t so much moved by Harry Potter, which really moved me so you know it has to be deep.
It is. I’m only a few chapters in & Wow.
I’ll let you know if I sleep tonight.
My sister is trying to either kill my child or earn the title of Greatest Aunt Ever by letting Ethan try & drive a kid-sized 4wheeler. We are such city people…
K~
Our goal is to leave the house Wednesday by noon. I have tons of work ahead of me, but I thought I’d do one last picture post before I leave you for a week. These pictures were taken by a coworker of the bride & groom – she was their photographer.
I saw that look from Jenny many times but I can't figure out why she's shooting it at the photographer.
Dad & Jenny heading down the aisle
The Bride
The Wedding Party
The Bridal Party
K~
The Over 60 Division
Shamelessly using human shields
The 3 & Under set.
Tova & Uncle J~ ganging up on Coley
Sometimes your partner in crime will turn on you. Never trust a 2yr old.
K~
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