Weekend again

It has been a very fun, but exhausting weekend! We started out the weekend with a backyard camp-out for Colin's birthday. So what do 11 year old boys do at a backyard camp out? Well, they eat, they game, and they eat some more. And they remind Jim and I that we are much too old to stay up until 3 am! What do they not do? Why sleep in the tents that we put up in the back yard of course! They decided it was too hot, and the temptation of playing video games all night was too high!

Yesterday was my grandma's annual 4th of July family reunion and party. We had a great time shooting off fireworks and getting caught up with the cousins from everywhere! We had a huge turn out and I think that we all enjoyed ourselves. Luckily, we attended mass with grandma last night, so sleeping in this morning was possible! But being the bad mom that I am, I forgot my camera, so I have no photos to share!

Today we are doing a bit of catching up, a few household projects that have been needing attention, and cleaning out a pig pen. And most importantly, we are getting the boys packed up to leave for Rock Springs 4-H camp. They are really excited about it! I hope that the county pays for having the air conditioning on this year! It sure has been hot! I have to confess that I am looking forward to having a small break from the ball park this week! Of course, we will still have the girls and Preston to attend games for, but still the number of nights is significantly decreased!!

Future 4-Her

When we cleaned the pigs out today, we let them out for a bit of exercise. Quincy walked the pigs all over grandma's yard. She has no fear of these guys whatsoever! She hugs them, says "Hello little piggy" to them and she sings to them. She thinks they are her friends! Her Godmother will be so proud!! A couple of months ago, the 'little piggy' part was correct, but as they are approaching 200 pounds or more, it hardly fits! This photo is of Quincy and Sarah Piglin. Yesterday Sarah Piglin got stuck in the mud under the barn wall. My brother had to perform a pig rescue! She was scraped up pretty good, but not hurt, thank goodness!

Wild Wednesday

Colin's b-day cake, chocolate with chocolate frosting, served over chocolate ice cream. This is definitely my kid!

Craft day at Overbrook Library

The little ones attended Craft Day at the Library today. They made a ton of cool stuff. My favorite was the magnetic kites. Their favorite part was the snowcones at the end! This is the last day for summer story time. I think they enjoyed it! Of course, we will continue to visit our library, we love to read, and Preston is a movie junkie!

Colin had a good birthday I think. He got a new tent from Aunt Amy, so that will be handy for his sleepover on Friday night! He has invited 7 boys over for backyard camping. Some of them have to get up early for a swim meet, so I hope they will get at least some sleep! Our neighbors to the north are on vacation this week, so at least they won't be disturbing EVERYONE in the neighborhood!

I made Colin his special birthday dinner...most important part of the menu - watermelon. And steaks on the grill. While I was cooking the dinner, Madison baked the cookies for the Melvern Fair that we were donating for the 4-H cookie jar. We got those done and delivered just before a huge storm blew in. This caused Colin's ball game to be cancelled, so we have had a nice evening at home.

Happy Birthday Colin!

Today my big guy turns 11! I can't believe he is this old already! He is such a joy to our family! Colin wanted a new bike for his birthday. We were happy to get him one, as he is a kid who truly uses a bike, and his old bike has been broken for a couple of months now. He has been riding Mallory's bike, but that comes with lots of strings attached (you can ride my bike if you bring me some gum from the store, or you can ride my bike if you wash it when you are done). We took him with us so he could pick out exactly what he wanted, and I am very happy that we did, because what he picked is not what we would have gotten! I especially was suprised by the color that he chose!

And now, because I have been married to Jim for so long, I have to add this sappy part. Colin, we are very proud of you! You are a true blessing to our family, and we thank God every day for entrusting us to raise you! Because of you, we now understand wrestling rules, we know more about fishing, pig raising, dancing altar boys, dirt, diving board tricks, laughter and love.

And because I am still me, I have to add this little story from last night. We had 3 ballgames in 3 locations, all at the same time. My mom took Colin to Eskridge for his game there. When she brought him home she tells us that Colin played a really good game, and that there was a pretty cute girl who was the outfield umpire. When the game was over, Colin's team was all lined up talking and this umpire walks by. Colin looks right at her and says "Call Me" - which made everyone there crack up! What a nut!

Happy Birthday big guy! We all love ya!

weekend recap

Amazingly, the only ball game we had going this weekend was for this kid.

Even though they don't keep score in t-ball, I tried to convince my cousin Melissa that our team beat her son's team and that the losers had to buy the winners a steak dinner. She didn't buy it!

As for the bedroom painting, well it is going SLOWLY. I have finished part of it. A normal person would realize that if you mom got a huge bucket of paint, she painted one bedroom with it, and then your sister took it and painted 2 bedrooms with it, and then the paint became yours and you already used it to paint your bathroom, you are going to run out of paint before you get your bedroom done. Of course, I never said I was a normal thinking person!! So I am running very low on paint. I have a couple of options as I see it...I can test that hardware store who claims to be able to match any color on earth. OR I can mix some paints together from previous jobs and come up with a muted color for an "accent wall" which I keep seeing on those design shows on DYI network! I would prefer the accent wall...seems more adventurous and fun, but I am guessing that my husband is not going to go for that idea!

Speaking of husbands, Happy Father's day to all! I think ours was ok - we accomplished a lot of laundry folding and putting away, and some painting. Nice to be home for sure!

Colin is camping out at the lake with friends. He was looking very forward to the trip. He was only a little upset with me when I told him he could not under any circumstances swim in the lake without a life jacket. He was convinced he would not drown because he is a fabulous swimmer. Luckily, all the other boys who were camping were wearing life jackets, so it was an easy fight!

And now for my exciting Sunday story. I am sitting in church this morning, when I realize that the shirt I have on has a rather large hole right in the boob area. Now how did I manage to get out the door and not realize this? OK so I can fold the shirt over and maybe nobody would notice? Except that this morning I was the Eucharistic minister. So yep, I had to stand in front of everyone and hand out the Eucharist with a hole in my chest. I am all class! Hopefully the people were so focused on the real reason we go to mass, and didn't notice my insanity!

Fun in the sun

We are truly enjoying the heat now! The sun has finally decided to shine, the pool(s) are warming up nicely, and we had no games tonight, so we spent the entire afternoon at the city pool. We then went out to grandma's to take care of the pigs, and we ended up in her pool as well. Until today, Preston has been pretty terrified of grandma's "deep water pool" but today, he decided he can swim well enough especially if he stayed by the ladder, to get in. I think maybe the sitting out in the hot, hot sun might have helped convince him! I gave up on swimming lessons quite a few years back. I have seen that if you take your kids and put them in the water consistently, they will learn to swim. Preston's swimming has really taken off this week.

I am liking having an evening away from the ball park. I am trying to get my laundry caught up (again) and starting to get my bedroom ready to paint. The painting is a project I started a while back, and never finished. I have to get it done, its starting to really bother me!

Colin is busy making plans for his birthday next week. He wants to have a back yard camp out. That sounds easy enough. The big kicker is how many kids to let him invite. He tends to be friends with every kid in town...he is my "Mr. Social Pants" I swear that there is not a kid around who he doesn't know and like! I suppose that is a good thing, until it is time to try to narrow down a list! AAAAH the drama of turning 11! Of course, when he was born 11 years ago, I remember thinking how nice it would be to have a summer birthday. That could mean endless possibilities with swimming parties, back yard cookouts, and parties in the park. Little did I know that when he got a little older simply finding time to fit in a party among the endless summer activities would be next to impossible!

Things I learned yesterday

1. A 3 pm doctor appointment does not mean that you will be welcomed into the doctor's office at 3 pm.

2. The magazines that you will be reading while waiting for your doctor are pretty much the same exact ones that you read the last time you were at the doctor's office.

3. My arm hair is more than one color.

4. The infield fly rule, is a fine rule if you are a major league ball player, but if you are a 13 year old girl, it was a made up rule by a horrible umpire, that will cause your team to lose, cause you undue stress and make your whole softball team cry.

5. Colin's baseball team can beat the boys from Osage City, even though those boys are 2 feet taller, 30 pounds heavier, and are already shaving at the age of 11.

6. Summer ball games cause me to not get to bed until well after midnight which means that my brain is a bit foggy and my arm hair is entertaining.

Careful what you wish for...

I asked for help doing the laundry...I got help! Hard to tell it here, but this stuff was still wet!

Relaxin'

As I mentioned, this was a great relaxing weekend. Here are some photos that we took of the kids enjoying our land.

Laid back and enjoying life!

We are having the first pretty laid back weekend in a long time. We actually had NOTHING on our calendar to do today! It was shocking to see that blank hole staring at me when I looked at the date! Colin had a friend spend the night, we went to clean the pigs, and we spent the bulk of the afternoon swimming at the pool. Jim is once again helping build the soccer field at the city park, and it looks like the dump truck is not sinking this week, so that is wonderful progress! Jim and his friend Jon have really worked very hard on the park expansion project. The park is turning out beautiful, and I am fairly proud of the work that he has put in over there! When he finishes over there, I have some big plans for him in landscaping a new yard, and the kids are still wanting to work on that tree house! We want to keep him busy so he stays out of trouble.

Colin is attending a wrestling camp this week in Burlington. The high school coach is driving them down, so I am happy that we don't have to make that journey every day! He is looking forward to it. The camp is only in the morning, so it won't affect his baseball schedule. He is still planning to wrestle in the Sunflower State Games in July.

We are feeling good that for the first time in the 2 years and 11 months since Quincy came home from the hospital, she is sleeping through the night! The bad news is that #7 and my bladder are mortal enemies, so I am not sleeping through the night!

I was feeling very "Martha Stuart-y" yesterday and Mallory and I made sub sandwich rolls. The kids really had a great time making their own 'Five Dollar Foot longs' - I couldn't believe how much they enjoyed it! The recipe was really easy, and I think it might be a good selection for the county fair. Today we are making home made lasagne. I am enjoying having the time to cook something fun and good. I hope you are having a great weekend!

Cameron's great adventure

My boys constantly talk about going to the creek at grandma's house, and going fishing. Last night Cameron spent the night with grandma and grandpa. Grandma decided that if they took the gator, they could spend some time at the creek, which thrilled my boy to death I am sure! Grandma took these photos of Cam's grand adventure! While they were there, he managed to catch 2 small fish - which I have been informed are coming to our house to live. The dog also managed to tree a coon, although he is not a coon dog! You will have to look closely to see the raccoon up in the branches! I am sure that I will never hear the end of this great time!

This week the kids 4-H club played bingo with the residents at the nursing home. After playing, the nursing home fed the 4-Hers dinner. Our 4-Hers have been assigned pen pals. They write letters back and forth, and then when we visit the nursing home the kids get to play and eat dinner with their assigned pal. It was a very nice afternoon, and since it has been raining and 58 degrees my kids didn't mind spending the afternoon this way! I am proud of the way my kids jump right in and visit, play and wait on their pals! I know that when I was a kid the nursing home was a little bit intimidating, but my kiddos don't seem to feel that way! I think that the kids and the residents all enjoyed the day!

This week has also been busy with Colin in beginning band during the morning, and he is doing football camp for the 5th and 6th grade team in the evening. He enjoys this, but I admit I am happy that it is only for one week!

Garden and more

I had decided that we were not going to have a garden this year. In the past 2 years we have planted it only to have it turn into a huge weed fiasco, and getting any vegetables out of it required a trip into the weed and snake habitat. We just aren't home enough in the summer to mess with it. However, Colin thought differently. He decided after finding some left over seeds that we NEEDED a garden. Between his determination, and my love of fresh vegetables, I caved and he ended up getting the tiller out. So maybe, just maybe amongst the weeds we will have some fresh cucumbers and sweet corn! And maybe we might be able to keep the weeds under a bit of control this time!

Ghosts?

Someone at our house seems to use the last of the cereal and popsickles and not throw away the empty boxes. He also mysteriously added several items to my laundry this weekend. Somehow I ended up with extra shorts, a swimming suit, some extra ball socks, and a couple of other items which were not familiar to me. Nobody at our house seems to know who is responsible for these things, so I am assuming it is a ghost.

Matching mohawks

The kids school has a dress code that prohibits extreme haircuts. Frankly, all it does is create a desire of the kids to have their hair all wacky, but since we are good citizens, we have to follow the rules. This means that the minute school is out the boys start in with wanting the summer mohawks. I had been putting this off since we are generally at the ballpark late and I just don't feel like giving the kids haircuts at midnight. I finally made the time today, and since Cameron had a mohawk, then Preston had to have one as well!

summer fun

Our church has started having donuts and coffee after mass. It is really nice, as it serves as a good bribe for Preston and Quincy to sit still during church. This morning, my sister had donuts with us. I asked her what she was doing for the day, and she said she had to go shopping. Preston immediately announced that he was going shopping with her. He then demanded that we go right now and move his booster seat into her car. Being the extremely nice aunt that she is, my sister let him tag along. Preston helped Aunt Amy pick out a few necessary items and she ended up buying the boys new water guns. They had a ton of fun sneaking up on everyone in the neighborhood and making sure that our water bill is the highest one in town! I am not sure where they come up with their energy, this was all after a few hours of swimming with cousins in the city pool, and cleaning out their pig pen!

another wacky weekend

Its the weekend again...and again we have a million little things to do. We haven't folded laundry in a week, so it is piled in my bedroom and ready to be folded and there is more to wash too. I don't have much hope of getting it all done today, but maybe if I work hard...??? The girls played softball in Osage City last night. It was an ugly game. Not much more I can say about it, just that they only had 8 players and those 8 seem to have forgotten everything they had ever learned about the game. I hope I never have to sit through another one like that! Just a bad night. After the girls played, we drove over to Carbondale to watch Colin's team. They also lost, but they played really well. Colin got to pitch, which I admit racks my nerves. He just is such an easy going kid, he stands out there and if he throws a strike, he smiles, if he hits a kid he smiles, and if he walks a kid he smiles. He is having fun! Which I guess is the reason we are doing this after all! Preston had a t-ball game this morning. His team had fun and there was no crying today at all, so that was a big improvement over last week. maybe it was because it was not hot! Cameron has the late game tonight - I hope that his team does ok, but their main pitcher is on vacation and that means that they are down to 8 players too.

Jim is helping with the city park project (unless it rains). I am saying a little prayer that this week goes better than the last time they were planning to move dirt. I went over to take him a water, and he had sunk the dump truck in mud. I mean buried it. It took them quite a while to figure out how to get it out!

I hope that your weekend is great - we are going to try to get in a little TV time or something amongst the running in circles! I don't think that summer was made for relaxing!!

Self Portraits

By Madison

Musical marvels

Madison took Preston and Quincy to Story Time at the library today. It was family music day. Preston and Quincy both won prizes. Preston got a cardboard accordian (that really plays the most amazing music) and Quincy got a plastic clarinet. They have been making lots of music around our house today. I must remember to write a special thank you note to the library for these great prizes!

Small update

Colin has a great time at the Olympic try-outs. He got to talk to several of the wrestlers, got some autographs, and learned all sorts of new moves! He told me a lot of details about how each wrestler did, how they won, and how fast some of them were. He was exhausted, but not grouchy, so that was nice!

I had a doctor appointment yesterday. #7 has a good strong heartrate at 169 beats per minute. Everything looks good and they told me that they would schedule my c-section already, which I declined to do. It just seemed too early to think about scheduling something! The kids have been "helping" us come up with names. So far, my favorite is Preston's suggestion of Power Ranger. I am pretty sure there won't be any others in the kindergarten class with that name!