Orientation

Tomorrow is orientation day at the schools. Cameron will be taken to Carbondale where he will attend 5th grade next year, Colin will be shown around the Jr. High section of the school. Preston goes to "discover Kindergarten" day, and perhaps most scary and hard to believe - my girls are going to roam the halls of the high school. Not sure I am ready, but they all are so I guess I better get in, buckle up, shut up and hang on!

Holding discover kindergarten day in April is a fairly cruel thing to do to a 5 year old. Preston thinks he starts kindergarten tomorrow - and is so very excited. I have tried to explain to him that he will just go for 2 hours and then he has to wait until the end of August to start going every day. He still has a few weeks left with Ms. Becky and then summer break to go through. Four months is a very, very long time when you are 5 years old! I would think it would be nicer if they held this day in early August.

Mallory and Madison both got sun burnt at the track meet today! They said they remembered their sunscreen, but it sure didn't look like it worked very well! They had fun. Colin is doing summer wrestling. He says that the free style is a lot of fun and he is learning a lot of cool new moves which he can't wait to try out. We are also in full baseball mode here. Cameron's age group had enough kids sign up that they ended up needing to split the team in half. Jim is going to be the assistant coach. I think he will be a very good coach - he is a very patient man (otherwise he wouldn't still be married to me!!). He has a real passion for baseball and he wants the kids to understand it and to have fun. It should be a good season! Since I am throwing out randomness here, Madison's pig has seen the vet, and his minor medical problem seems to be ok (he had an infection in his castration sight). I think he will be delivered sometime next week. She is excited. Colin once again has the largest pig, and I believe we will be putting him in his own pen in the next few days just so he can be hand fed and not get too enormous the way Colin's pigs always turn out! Quincy loves them all - and we are definitely getting our money's worth out of her bathwater! I should video her rolling around with the pigs and talking to them - it is pretty funny!

Wacky Wednesday

Quincy had her 2 week check up after her surgery today. I am happy to report that her tubes were clear, she has been released from ear drop duty, and her hearing is about 80% which is much better than the 50% it was before her surgery. I am also pleased to say that although she has a cold, for the first time ever she does not have an ear infection to go along with it.

After returning from Topeka, Quincy had her first ball practice ever! I tried to take photos, but when I got there my camera's batteries were dead....back up batteries - well we don't know what happened to those! She liked it a lot for about 5 minutes and then was ready to go to the playground! I am having flashbacks to why dislike t-ball - because it is 3 and 4 year olds and their attention span rivals that of a flea! She did bat, and she did like the running part at the end! However, after this child has been dragged to all her siblings stuff for all these years, there is no way I could have told her no when she so desperately wanted to play t-ball with her friends!!

Preston and Colin also had practice tonight. Preston is officially playing 'big boy' ball this year. He is really excited! He is on a coach pitch team with a lot of his friends from preschool. He couldn't be happier about it! As a matter of fact he and Quincy both had their cleats and helmets on the minute we got home from feeding the pigs - even though they hadn't eaten dinner yet!

Other excitement - Madison's track team was limited on how many kids could go to tomorrow's meet. Madison wasn't sure if she was going to get to go or not, however after yesterday's good discus throw, she qualified to go and is going to be throwing shot as well. We are pretty proud of her! We also discovered that we had been mis-informed or misunderstood the driving law change. Turns out that at 14 you can still get an instructional permit and start driving - mostly with a parent or adult in the vehicle with you. The girls are pretty excited about getting to start driving! We are just waiting to hear from the insurance company to see what adding them is going to do to us! We might be getting 2nd jobs! We are also in the process of deciding whether to have them take driver's ed or just teaching them ourselves. Either way they have to get the book and start studying! I will toss in here that although they are thrilled I kind of have a knot in my stomach over it - they are my babies after all!

My Q

We have always known that Quincy is a bit on the ornery side. Most of the stuff that flies out of her mouth I like to blame on her big siblings - some of which they think is hysterical and encourage her to keep saying over and over. Last night I was cooking dinner, while Cam was playing with his friend from across the street. Quincy proudly announced that Cam was going to watch her and she went tagging along with him. As I checked on them out the window, there was Quincy jumping on the trampoline with absolutely no clothes on. NONE! She very promptly tells me that she had gotten wet in a puddle and wasn't ready to come in yet. She starts t-ball practice on Wednesday evening. I hope her coach is ready for her to take the ball world by storm!

We are off on another magical adventure of insanity this week. I am not sure that I have even looked past tomorrow....as it just gets confusing! We are taking it one day at a time! It has been busy enough that I realized tonight when cooking dinner that I am either going to have to go to the store and get some groceries or I am going to have to send the kids to beg off the neighbors!

Going back to work never sounded so nice!

We officially survived the weekend! I am looking forward to work in the morning so I can sit down for a couple of hours!

Uncle Jay was up from Kentucky to take the boys to the spring game at KSU. This was the first time that they allowed Preston to go along. Never in my life have I seen any kid look forward to anything like Preston looked forward to getting to be one of the guys. He had a countdown going for days - and I am telling you it was in hours! They had a really, really great time. I wish I had taken a photo of all of them all decked out in their purple - but I was in between prom hair for the neighbor and the 4-H garage sale and just didn't think about it.

I did take a photo of Harper with her Godfather, Uncle Jay, but the photo did not turn out - Jay had his eyes closed and Harper looked like she was going poo - so I will try again in June! (You are welcome Jay for not posting that!)

We did skip the 4-H swimming party this afternoon. We just hadn't had any time at home lately. I am taking a crash course in mudding and taping sheetrock and I think it looks pretty good even if it sounds like I am bragging - but I should probably not say anything until it finishes drying! We are getting pretty close to being able to start sanding and painting I think. I so want to finish this project just for the sake of getting things put away...a lot of the stuff that had been in the basement and the kids rooms has been misplaced into my living areas and it is feeling a bit overwhelming at this point! Jim, Colin and Cam have worked very hard though, so I am not complaining at all. I am starting to want to push it forward though because I know once summer break hits it will be hard to find the time to get it done. Speaking of summer - school really needs to let out because we are getting to that time of the year where the kids are so over it, and now school is just getting in the way of all the activities. I know it sounds awful from a parent, but it is honest.

Jubliant band

In addition to the garage sale we had a very busy week. Mallory's 8th grade advanced art class hosted an "art jubilee" where all the projects that they have done this year were on display (and the other grades' were on display as well, but the feature was the the 8th grade). We took some photos, but some didn't turn out very well. She made a cardboard cake - she was very proud of it and I do think it turned out pretty good. She also had several paintings and some pattern drawings...I know she really enjoyed this class and is turning out to be pretty artistic!

The same night as the jubilee, Colin's 6th grade band had a concert. Again, I am blown away by their band director and what he can accomplish! They sounded awesome - and I would have not guessed this is a beginning band - they even played "Funky Town" - and it sounded awesome - people were dancing along in the audience!

We also took Harper to her 4 month check up - where our doctor told me I could start her on cereal (I just smiled and shook my head). She seems to be growing well, and is very healthy! We probably did some other stuff this past week too, but since I am in a fog, I can't remember what it might have been!!

Its my blog and I will rant if I want to

This is my new dining room set that I bought at a friend's garage sale this weekend....notice that it is already sufficiently covered in 'stuff' - after spending the past 3 days setting up and running a garage sale for the 4-Hers I think we will try to clean tomorrow!

I officially have worked my last garage sale - ever! Kudos to those of you out there who are patient enough to put together, run, clean up, sort, price, and then haul off your 'things' but to me, really folks, I am more of a thrower-away, give away, or donate to Goodwill sort of a girl. Yes, the 4-Hers did make some money to go toward their camp expenses...however when I figure what I lost in time at work, what I spent on concessions because we spent 2 days straight there in the concession stand, and the fact that another garage sale had a table and chairs that I fell in love with and bought, I am in the hole I think! And there are other issues for me as well....this particular sale we asked for donations - and donations we got. Used underwear? REALLY? Old shoes? HUH? Holey old sweats? UUGGHHH! And they still want to charge for these things. And then there is the issue of cost - why in the world would you buy clothes at a garage sale for the same price you can get things on clearance? Is it the thrill of the find? Is it that you see old classmates when you are out there looking at the city wide garage sales? Is it that I am ultra cheap? Is it that I enjoy going into a store where things are sorted by price and size and I don't have to dig or look at all? EXPLAIN IT TO ME! Suffice it to say I learned a lesson and am complete on this part of the journey!!!!

Harper is no longer the baby of the family!

Welcome to 4-H hogs 2010! Colin got a Spot -(the black hog). Cam got a blue butt (yes that is the technical name for it) - white hog with the dark rear end - he is naming his hog "Barack OBacon.

Mallory got a York - which is the solid white hog. Madison is getting a Duroc, but he is having a small medical issue and won't be delivered for a few more days!

You might notice Quincy "Princess of the pigs" in the pen - a lot. I had to drag her away tonight - she has already claimed Cam's little hog as her own! I think we are going to purchase a hog with a bum leg for her and Preston to raise. We won't be telling her that he will be in the freezer at the end of the summer...when we were picking Godmothers for Q we hit the nail on the head - this girl will make Grace so proud - I kept smiling to myself about that as I watched my daughter hugging and scratching pigs and claiming them for herself!

working all weekend

We had one of those weekends where you meet yourself coming and going. Jim got up early Saturday morning to open the tree dump and help with the PRIDE's city wide branch clean-up. I got to be on ball practice duty, with both boys having practice in 2 locations at almost the same time. Luckily I have a friend who I grew up with who has boys the same ages as Colin and Cam (and are the pretty good friends with our boys). So I had some help with getting everyone back and forth! While I was driving Cam and his friend to their practice, my phone rang. Work crisis - landowner locked out of his pasture - and he had cows out. So I had to drop boys and fly to Auburn. I got back in time to pick up kids from ball practices and I sat all the kids down and described the desperation I was feeling at trying to get the house work caught up, lawn mowed, garden re-tilled so we can plant the tomatoes and peppers I bought on Friday, laundry caught up and whatever else. Luckily I must have sounded sad or mad enough that they all pitched in and we got all the stuff on the list accomplished in record time! I then enjoyed going to margarita night with some friends from church!

After church today we had time to burn some large trees on our land that had died and had been cut down some time ago. The kids had a really good time roasting hotdogs and marshmallows and hanging out. Preston even proclaimed that our pasture is the greatest place ever! While Jim and the kids were working like slaves cleaning up branches I attended a PTO officer meeting. I am rather proud that I will not be serving as an officer next year. I will still donate my time, and help with some committee work, but I won't have near the commitment that I have had for the past 2 years! When I got back I took the kids to build their pig fence because we are getting a delivery tomorrow! My mom then helped Mallory cut out all these flower parts for her final art project for school - mom got one of those fancy machines! The girls and mom were having a great time seeing all the stuff it could do. Unfortunately, we will be having to do all that work again because Mallory dropped her envelope with the parts in it right at the same time that Quincy dropped her bottle of water! Timing was horrific! I wish I could say that our week looked a little calmer, but it is just not going to happen!

This kid is killin me!

It is really not news to say that Quincy doesn't know a stranger! How could she considering that she has been dragged to every event under the sun starting a minute after she was born? Yesterday I had the satellite guy here and she was chatting away with him. I am sure he was not overly excited to continually answer her non-ending stream of questions, but he was humoring her (what choice did he really have?). I had to laugh out loud when I heard her ask him "do you poop your pants?" He said - well no, I don't - do you poop your pants? She then says "of course not! I am a big girl!" Take that world - this is the child my parents wished off on me!

Lovin' this 4 month old!

I think it is totally safe to say that we are all in love with this little girl! At 4 months, she is a ray of sunshine and dripping with baby sweetness! Unless she is hungry, she is always so happy! She loves her brothers and sisters - they are the funniest people ever! She is also pretty popular among the neighborhood kids, and her sibling's friends! She is rolling over, trying desperately to sit up, don't even think about trying to hold her like a newborn baby - she sits herself right up...she will have none of that! She wakes up extremely happy in the mornings, which makes her the odd man out around our house! She is sort of sleeping through the night, only waking up once or so. She is fond of her swing and likes to bat at the toys on her exer-saucer and bouncy seat. She also started eating rice cereal this week, although she doesn't seem impressed with it yet! She was at the doctor's office last week and weighed 14 pounds 2 ounces. I can't believe how big she is already!




Madison and Mallory watched Preston and Quincy this evening while I was at Colin's ball practice and Jim was at Cameron's ball practice. They took some hilarious photos of them with Quincy's new Harley! I am not sure if this was them being sweet, or the beginning of a fist fight! They tend to be hot and cold that way all the time!


Madison wiped out at track practice. This is her self-portrait of the worst of her knees. I smell scars in her future. They look awful and she is walking pretty stiffly! She has a meet tomorrow afternoon, I hope she will be able to move her legs!

And just in case you wondered, the boys next door did find their turtle! Colin and Cam were over there for a long time after school today...and I am not sure who found him but he is now safe and sound in his cage again! They offered the boys $ for helping, I used it as an opportunity to tell them that we help our neighbors when they need us without compensation for it! They might have been disappointed, but then I pointed out the Bible says so - that usually shuts down any real arguments in a hurry!

Later that day - -

I did everything I could possibly do to keep Quincy 'quiet' today. I do mean everything-movies, TV, Popsicles, sitting outside quietly on her blanket in the yard, grandma showed up with coloring books and new crayons, we tried reading stories, I tried letting her help me bake some cookies. By 4:30 this afternoon I was out of tricks, and finally decided when Bev (our next door neighbor) showed up with a ride-on Harley Davidson motorcycle that was left from her grand kids it was completely, and totally pointless to try to contain this little wild woman any more! Surely if she feels good enough to be up running, she is well enough?

My heart was really touched today too, when Mallory and Madison's friend showed up with a stuffed giraffe for Quincy. This friend is really one of the sweetest, gentlest kids I have ever met. She was so worried about Quincy! Of course when she got here and Q was running all over like a mad maniac, she was less worried, and happy to know that she came through everything just fine!

Also, for today - Preston got in trouble at preschool. He wasn't following the rules and had to be told several times. Nothing too major, but when we were trying to talk to him about it, he looked at us and said "I am just a little kid, I am not in control of my behavior yet." Wow! How could we not have realized this?

Money making idea - helping the neighbor kids locate their missing turtle - ooops I mean tortoise. Apparently the youngest one was trying to fashion some sort of a leash for him and before he could perfect it, the turtle escaped. Colin and Cameron were over there from the time they got home from their religion ed class until I forced them to come in because it was too dark to see. They are planning to get up early to go back before school and look some more....the youngest brother was in so much trouble by his older brothers for losing the turtle he has offered a $35 reward for its safe return!! That is an enormous amount of money on the line - Cam is pretty sure he will find the turtle in the morning!

And in case anyone was still questioning it, spring is officially here. I know because tonight my phone rang off the hook and my calendar is now full of baseball, softball, and t-ball practice schedules. Quincy is getting in on her first year of action. She has her cletes all laid out, and can't wait to get her t-ball shirt! She has been waiting for this moment for 3 whole years now!

How She Rolls...

Quincy had her surgery this morning. She was in, had tubes in, adenoids out, and kicked out of the single day surgery place in about an hour and a half. We stopped and let her pick out a movie, (as promised) and were home in time to pick Preston up from preschool.

Preston picked Quincy out a stuffed pig to take today. The surgical center gave her a new stuffed bear, she also got a new movie, (or 2 thanks to daddy) but the best part? She is super excited about the plastic 'puke tray' that they gave her when she woke up. Luckily, she hasn't needed it at all, but she hasn't put it down either! She seems to be feeling pretty good, was able to eat lunch (after reminding me 20 times that she didn't get any breakfast today), and is now sleeping. Hopefully she will continue to do well and all the ear infections that she tends to get will be a thing of her past!

Quincy

Tomorrow is Quincy's little minor surgery to get tubes in her ears and have her adenoids out. She has been very excited about her "suwgewy" and told everyone that she could about it. Tonight, she decided she doesn't want tubes in her ears - she thought that they would stick out of her ears and she didn't want to bump them on stuff. I tried explaining multiple times that she wouldn't be able to see them but she just decided she is NOT going tomorrow! Promises of new movies, ice cream, and jello have not really helped either! Hopefully everything will go smoothly and by the time she realizes what has happened it will be over for her and we will be back home. Her doctor thought the worst part might be trying to keep her still for a couple of days! Say a little prayer that all goes well, and that we have made the right decision for her!

Monday

This is my new "best friend" I was really excited to get my hands on it - as our mountain of laundry was getting a bit out of hand!

We have been really enjoying the nice weather! Harper loves her swing!

I was tax compliance checked at work today - by the IRS. It was not the funnest thing I have ever been through, so I am especially happy it wasn't an audit because I am sure that would be much, much worse! As un-fun as it was, it might have been more fun than the trip I took to the eye doctor with Preston and Quincy this afternoon! Our eye doctor is a very sweet, and soft spoken man. Quincy is, well, a little more used to uuummm being spoken to in stricter, louder tones! She acted like she couldn't hear him when he asked her stuff - so I had to 'translate' for him. It was atrocious! When he got done, he said he wanted to see Preston in a year, but said we could wait 2 years before bringing Quincy back! I was kind of surprised he didn't say we could wait 10 years to bring her back!!

No sporting events means we do what?

Today the guy who rents our land decided that it would be a good day to do some burning. As I stood out there with my camera, I am thinking to myself maybe I am addicted to blogging if I take pictures of us burning our pasture. And maybe my kids are a tad bit sheltered if they think burning a pasture is the greatest thing we have ever let them do! I said I would blog our family events though, so this is what it has come down to!

Last night Colin was excited as all get out because he finally caught a big fish! He has been trying all spring to land something worthy of some photos, or at least some sort of bragging rights, but until last night he hadn't been having much luck. This guy was 9 pounds, and was worthy enough to both get some photos, and intrigue Preston and Quincy! The photos are a little dark because I wouldn't let him bring it in the house and it was late!

track meets and fish stockers

Madison ran in her first track meet yesterday. Mallory was working hard keeping track of times for everyone there. It was a beautiful day and I think that everyone had a good time. Preston and Quincy definitely enjoyed themselves, and since the high school baseball team was practicing, Colin and Cameron were really happy with watching that between events.

Jim and the boys went today and bought some fish to stock our pond with. The boys had a great time. Quincy enjoyed seeing the fish, and immediately wanted to get her fishing pole out and try to catch some. We tried to explain that they will need some growing time first! Jim is so excited about owning a pond it isn't even funny! We have a ton of work to do out there, we need to do some major tree cutting and some fence re-building. It will be a lot of work, but a lot of fun too I think! I hadn't been out there since last fall, this hard winter really took a toll on the trees and we have a lot of clean up to do - but I forsee it as

a good way to have some campfires and family fun too!

The rest of this week has been much better than the first part was. We did purchase a washing machine yesterday, and it will be delivered on Monday morning. I suppose I can suck it up and go to the laundromat one more time so we can have clean undies for church in the morning and a towel to dry off on! This time we are buying the extended warranty - no more worries about it breaking down for a few years! I just hope that by Monday I am not buried alive in dirty clothes!

Thumbs down for this week so far

This week has been a vicious one. Harper is very sick with bronchitis. She has been coughing until she throws up and she pretty much wants to lay on my chest and not move.

Our pediatrician put her on some breathing treatments, but so far I don't think she seems much better. Colin, Preston and Quincy have the same thing but not as severe. And now Colin is breaking out with poison ivy (which I have no idea where he picked that up at). This comes during a week when I had quarterly board meeting, and am being tax compliance checked by the IRS at work. To add to my misery, the washer which has been on its last leg finally gave out today, so I had to go do a couple of loads of towels at the laundromat so we could take showers before the girl's band concert. I will mention here that of all the things I occasionally have to do, I hate the laundromat the most - like I really want to drag my granny panties across town and put them into a washer which other people use to clean kid puke off their area rugs etc. I just don't like it...at all! So yes, I have seen happier weeks and I have been in better moods before! The girl's band had their spring concert tonight. They played great! I am once again blown away by how good they are! Of course, Quincy is now grounded because she wouldn't stop licking me and Harper during the concert. (Yes I said licking - such a delightful child). I am also considering pulling Cam out of school and just letting him gamble full time. This kid's school had a little guessing game on the national champion for NCAA basketball - Cam was the only one who guessed Duke - he won some fabulous candy and soda from the school principal...he was really excited! He also won my uncle's bracket pick-em pool - schooling all my cousins and uncles in how to pick teams! I think it is a bit scary that he is able to pick these things so well....at least he will have gambling to fall back on if the priesthood doesn't work out for him!! I am now trying to decide if I should just crawl into bed and stay there for the rest of the week!

Happy Easter!

Cute or Cruel? Depends on which son you ask! I thought it was neat to dress them alike, one of them did not agree!

We had a busy Easter weekend! It was a lot of fun to see everyone! And it is nice to have Grandma feeling good too! Many blessings have been given to us!