Party and Pigs

This afternoon Jim took Colin and Cam and 4 of Colin's best buddies to Topeka to the go-cart races for Colin's birthday. They also ate at Hooters. This is one of those times that I thank the good Lord for Jim, who was not bothered in the least by taking 6 tween-aged boys and letting them be boys. I think that they all had fun (including the big one). Colin even got a shirt signed by a bunch of Hooter's girls - including one who wrote "call me" on the shirt-- much to his dismay when he called the number, he got Hooter's restuarant! AS IF! I am glad he had a good birthday party! I am equally glad I didn't have to endure it!

I haven't posted any pig photos in a while. They are growing rapidly! The Hamp is a huge mess! He is ornery, always spilling his feed, or knocking someone over and he loves to jump on Frank, which makes Frank squeal this awful noise -- Zebra the Hamp is definitely not the most favored pig of the bunch.

We had a good weekend. Grandma came through her surgery and seems to be doing ok for now. We feel blessed that she has come this far! We are now gearing up for the week ahead and getting excited for some relaxation and family time next weekend. I am a bit concerned about the 4th of July this year, Harper does not seem to enjoy the neighborhood fireworks, so I am not sure how she will feel about going to a family party or the city's display. It could be a really sad couple of events for her!

Summer fun

This is a serious baking crew - incidentally these cookies didn't even last for 10 minutes after they were baked (swimming makes kids hungry!)

Colin and Cameron have perfected back flips off the diving boards - and front flips and a multitude of other tricks that make my mom heart hurt.

Preston doesn't want to be left out of the tricks - yesterday he did a couple of back flips and landed them perfectly, then he proceeded to try one more, only to hit his back pretty hard on the diving board. It scared me to death! Lifeguard Jackie wasn't too amused either!

Washing off the mud, but leaving the purple stripe alone - perfect job!

Colin is 12!

Today Colin turned 12 years old. Needless to say we are still looking for where that time has gone! He spent his day much like he spends every day...he doesn't enjoy staying home much. He got

up at 4:00 am to go fishing with his new bait cast reel, followed by swimming at the pool, cleaning out his hogs, and then going to the ballpark. He is now crashed in bed because he has weigh lifting on MWF mornings EARLY! He is a busy boy, and we enjoy watching him grow, try new things, and keep us all moving! He is a great help, and a good brother! We are truly blessed! He will be having a party with his friends this weekend. His requested birthday dinner? Hamburgers cooked on the grill and they had to be cooked by Cam! Cam did a splendid job! Madison baked him his favorite cake - chocolate with chocolate frosting, served on chocolate ice cream! He also requested a watermelon, but the store here had absolutely none when I went to get one. Not sure how a store runs out of watermelon in the summertime, but this is a pretty small town!! Happy birthday Colin, we love ya!

Pimp My Ride???

Jim had to use up some vacation days. Today was his last day "off" - he spent it shopping for Colin's birthday gifts because well, I have no idea what the things Colin asked for even were, and fixing the kids' bikes. It seems we have had a multitude of blow-outs, broken training wheels, and an assortment of other problems! This is the first time that Quincy has had her own "big" bike. She has had a tricycle and had to borrow Preston's bike until tonight. She was beyond excited! Preston got a bigger bike from our neighbor, but it didn't have training wheels, and he is very safety conscious and didn't want to even try riding it without. Jim got him hooked up so he can ride it as well. They both had fun buzzing around the driveway and terrorizing the neighborhood! He also put a new tire on the bike that Cam drug out of the neighbor's trash last week, and Cam was totally thrilled at the thought of getting a "new" mountain bike for the cost of a $13 tire! He is the king of trash for sure!

Also, you may notice an extreme amount of mud/dirt on our driveway - that is from the getting stuck episode that Jim did on Father's day. He can't take his car to the car wash to get the mud off, or the purple stripe will wash away!!

Father's Day (a tad late)

We celebrated Father's day by me jumping in a car with my sister and going to visit my ill grandmother - leaving Jim home with his children except for Harper. I felt very bad about leaving, but it would seem that as always, when I am gone, Jim makes life a party, and they all had fun fishing, getting the car stuck and digging it out by hand, and cooking the most fabulous steaks on the grill! We are so lucky to have Jim in our lives! He is really a great dad!

My grandmother is hanging in there. She will be having surgery on Friday this week. Many prayers are needed and appreciated on her behalf.

Life has been a little bit rushed and hectic around here, the way that it seems to go most of the time, especially in the summer. It is a good, enjoyable hectic though, and I am very thankful that we can spend so much time together as a family!

Good and bad

This weekend has been good and bad. The good part was that Uncle Jay and his new woman came to visit us. We really like Angela, and are excited for him! Of course, it is always a good time when Uncle Jay comes up! And we managed to get some good photos of Harper with her Godfather this time too! It was great to visit - and the kids certainly like knowing that there is someone in the world who can handle their manners (or lack thereof)!!

My grandma (mom's mom) is in the hospital. She has a very large and difficult to operate on aneurysm which she may be choosing to not receive treatment for. While I am saddened at the thought of losing her, I have spent this day remembering all the fun we had at her house as kids. She had these great big bean bag chairs that we used to slide down the stairs into....then we would leave and inevitably she would end up falling down the stairs because we made the carpet slick from our sliding. She is also responsible for my love of fresh berries and melons, as well as taking me for my first swimming lessons. Most likely I will try to make a trip to Wichita on Monday.

Quincy played t-ball this morning. She fell down while running to first base. I could see that there was going to be tears, so I just yelled "hey great slide" at her. She jumped up, turned to her coach and said "did you see me swide?" it was great! We spent an hour and a half at the pool this evening, and when we got home she was a big old grouch! She dumped her dinner on the floor (on purpose) and got in trouble, took a bath and has been asleep on the couch since 6:45. I sure hope that this doesn't mean that she will be up at 5 or some other ungodly hour! Not much planned for Jim for Father's day. He is one who really enjoys staying home, having a steak and watching baseball on TV, so that is what he is getting to do!

Tryin'

This is Quincy and her "man" - he went home from preschool and told his momma that they were getting married. She said YOU ARE? And he reported that Quincy told him that he WOULD marry her. There you have it!


Sunday, when we were getting ready for church I dressed Harper in a little dress....Quincy threw a fit - she wanted a 'beeeaautiful dress' too - just so the world knows it - sometimes she is clean!

I was trying to be prepared today - trying hard to get everyone where they needed to be. We had 3 ballgames scheduled all at different times in different locations, and the girls had their first meeting for the Washington trip. I got everything ready for Quincy's game and dropped her off with my mom, who had graciously agreed to take her for me. I then flew home, cooked dinner, and got everyone else's ball uniforms found. Just about then a huge storm blew in. We had a ton of rain on already saturated soil and I saw water flowing in places I had no idea water could flow! Needless to say, the games were cancelled and I had to go pick up Quincy - who was not amused by another one of her games being postponed! Guess we will try again tomorrow night! It worked out well because it meant we didn't have to hurry away from the girl's meeting. We learned a lot about their trip to DC - and we are starting to fund raise right now....so hopefully we can get most of it paid for. Of course, about 2 weeks ago I had a conversation with my mom - I told her that we had to put the pigs on diets because I had absolutely NO time to go to the Osage City fair. Now, it turns out that the girls CWF group will be working the concession stand. Each kid going had to pick 4 shifts - we did manage to get both girls on the same shifts, but still that means 8 hours at the Osage fair! So much for having no time to go there! Oh well, we still don't have time to go and stay with pigs since that is wrestling camp week and Colin is wanting to wrestle at the Sunflower State games that weekend. I guess we will just fly in and out for their shifts! Luckily, Jim has accumulated some more vacation time and is willing to take at least one day off that week to help me get everyone where they need to be! I don't know what I would do without his help! This is the first time I have wished that Madison had a regular drivers license instead of a learner's permit!!

1/2 birthday girl

Our little lady is 1/2 year old today! It is so hard for me to believe how fast the past 6 months has flown by! Harper Joy really is a joy! Mallory had a fun time taking these photos of her today for her big day! She really wants to crawl - desperately wants to keep up with all the activities in the house! She isn't sitting up on her own very well yet, but she doesn't really need to- as there is always someone to hold her up! She seems to be cutting more teeth, and has been known to devour a graham cracker at record speed!

It has been a good day here at our house - the dryer repair man showed up and pushed the re-set button. I think he felt sorry for me (or he was terrified of having to come back here) and he showed me how to do it myself. That will save me a few dollars! He made me promise him 2 things - first that I would always unplug the dryer before doing it, and second that I wouldn't tell his 'boss' that he showed me how to do it! Truly, it isn't hard and it is expensive and frustrating when the dryer stops for that silly lent trap reason! Since we have no ballgames tonight I expect that I can get the laundry caught up! Clean clothes - what a nice gift for someone for her 'birthday'!! Wonder if I will get off that easy for Quincy next month??

What happens when kids are raised at the ballpark?

Our church has been in the process of being remodeled. It has been a major undertaking, and we have been holding mass in the basement for several months now. We are finally back upstairs, and the work is absolutely beautiful! They moved around some things, and put a "cry room" in the back of the church. Today, as we were waiting for mass to begin, Preston leaned over to me and asked what the little room at the front of the church was. I told him it was the new Confessional. His eyes got huge and his face lit up and he said "they put in a concession stand?"

stormy weather

Quincy was supposed to have a t-ball game this morning. When I got up, the sky looked pretty dark, so I turned on the news. I went out to cook breakfast and heard her screaming "NO DON"T SAY THAT--I have a game" in the most hateful voice - thinking she was talking to Preston I went in to find that she was in front of the tv - all by herself. She was talking to the poor weatherman - actually screaming at him because he dared to forecast rain!

Needless to say she was less than happy when they postponed her game until 1pm, and then was really ticked when they postponed it indefinitely. It sweetened the blow when Preston's and Colin's games got cancelled too! With all the time freed up by not sitting around at the ballpark, one would think that I got a ton of stuff done around the house, but I just didn't. I relished a day to play with Harper, and hang out with the family. Jim and I did a massive amount of grocery shopping - by ourselves! We watched a couple of movies in our PJ's. It was nice! Of course, any time you postpone 3 games it is always in the back of my head that I will pay for this in the future when they are all rescheduled on days when we are busy doing something else! But for today....bliss!

Mallory and Madison got accepted into the 4-H Citizenship Washington Focus program. This means that they will start fundraising for a trip to Washington DC - which they will take in the summer of 2012. They are pretty excited and we are pretty proud of them! I attended this program and it was an awesome experience! We have a lot of work ahead, but it will be worth it!

Cherry picking boot girl

My niece handed down some cowgirl boots to Quincy - she was so excited! And OH YES she did wear them to the ballpark tonight - with her red sundress. She is such a fashionista! She thinks that she is going to wear them when she shows Frank the pig...I haven't told her yet that Frank won't be going to any shows - he has a hard time getting around on his bad leg.

My friend called me this morning and asked us if we would like to come and pick some cherries off her tree. Never one to turn down free stuff I told the kids we were going. Preston and Quincy couldn't wait! Unfortunately, I didn't have enough sugar to make a cherry cobbler, so we will have to try that tomorrow--after going grocery shopping!

Preston's team had their first loss of the season tonight - but it was ok because he still got an ice cream sandwich! Never underestimate the power of ice cream!

Summer - the full deal

Colin and Cameron both attended football camp today, they are both looking forward to playing this fall. Cam will be on the Charger Youth team - tackle football for the first time for him. Colin will of course, be in Jr. High. Quincy really wants to be in football too...and frankly she could probably take out any guy on the field!

The pigs are getting bigger - the diets for Colin and Mallory's pigs are not going well...we discovered that grandpa thought he was supposed to feed them in the mornings, the kids were feeding them in the afternoons, thus they have been getting double feedings....that has now been corrected! They are a little bit sadder as a result!

Baseball, t-ball, and softball are going well...the kids are all on good teams with good coaches this year, so it is fun. Colin's team has been annihilating people and since they are on the giving end it is easy to watch! Last night as they were warming up, I thought they would get their lunch handed to them - the boys from Burlingame were HUGE, but the Chick Magnets (Colin's team) had no problems finishing that game off!

We have been in the pool pretty much daily. Quincy thinks that we are required to go...and she absolutely loves it there! The lifeguards all know her by name and I am happy to say that she has not had to be rescued by them yet! Tomorrow might be another story since Mallory and Madison are both babysitting and we will be watching 6 extra kids there.

Jim and the boys don't seem to be able to get in enough time fishing. They went straight from football camp and wrestling practice to fish. I am not sure whether to think that they are having really good luck, or really bad luck since they have been gone for this long!

And sleep? Well I have discovered that is highly over-rated and for the weak.

Possible sources of my insanity

I picked up Colin and Cameron from 4-H camp yesterday. Cameron met me at the van. I asked him about camp and was told "it was decent" - ooookkkk. So I asked him if his 4-H leader/counselor was still talking to us - he responded with "he only got mad one time, and that was when we all wrecked our canoe."

About then along comes Colin - same question - how was camp? He tells me - it was great until breakfast and now I have a terrible stomach ache. So I said what did they feed you? He proceeds to tell me that he had a coffee with 6 cherry creamers and a half a shaker of salt mixed in it. WHY? WHY did you drink that? Well because they paid me $4! - OF COURSE why didn't I think of that? He then tells me that I should be proud of him because he still had a lot of money left - he spent other people's money - they were paying him to eat crickets, grasshoppers and crawdads - so he hardly had to touch the money I gave him and he got to eat lots of food from the concession stand. GREAT! So happy about your frugality! He also made a leather stamped bracelet for his girlfriend - then tells me that he sure hopes he spelled her name right....aaaah young love!! He was a lot more verbal about his camping than Cam was - he swam in the creek....big highlight. He did not enjoy the horseback riding - those horses are stupid - they dont' buck or spook and they just plod along at a plain old walk. He forgot to take his medication so he had to walk clear across the camp in a big rainstorm to the nurse - sorry all my clothes are wet and smell really bad.

Bunk up little campers!

Colin and Cameron left yesterday for 4-H camp at Rock Springs. They jabbered all the way to meet the bus about how much fun they would have! When we got there I told them they had to stand by the bus and wave while I took a photo. Colin said "NO WAY" so I just mentioned to him that if he didn't he would not be going! He humored me for about a tenth of a second - luckily I snapped fast!! It isn't much quieter at our house with them gone - after all there are still 5 kids hanging out, but the battles over the TV remote seem to be minimized for now!

Quincy's first game

Quincy played in her first t-ball game this morning. She had so much fun! She was especially funny when they put her as catcher, and she turned around and realized that a couple grandmas, aunts, sisters, cousins and some of her friends were there watching - then she had to stop to talk to everyone. Quincy has always been my social one! Also, thankfully they allow dads on the field during t-ball games because she was talking instead of paying attention and Jim stopped her from getting hit in the head about 8 times! She says her team "won" and we all went to eat at McDonalds to celebrate! Preston was very indignant because 'there is no score - a tie of 0 to 0 is not a win' this caused a major disagreement on the way home!

Colin and Cameron's teams both played tonight - they both won - both games were home at the same time. I had to stand between the fields and try to catch both games. Colin hit a monster home run and had some great plays at shortstop. He got the game ball and was pretty excited. Cameron played really well at catcher and got to play some on 3rd, but I didn't see much of that part of the game. Luckily, we don't have many nights like this one!

Also luckily, the Father sent us an amazing baby who seems to be taking her little tag-a-long life right in stride. This is one good little girl! She has been eating her babyfood dinners at the ball park, staying out late and getting up early, sleeping in the car and at the ball fields. She seems to enjoy being out and about! I have noticed that she is really starting to have stranger anxiety, but as long as she can see momma, daddy, or one of her sisters, she is fine!

tall tales and baseball

Colin's eye is much, much better today. There is still some swelling, but comparatively, I would say he is mostly cured. Antibiotics are good! When we went to the pool today I told him he couldn't get his head wet. This meant that he was in the shallower water with the younger kids. They were all asking him why his eye was swollen and why he wasn't swimming. He proceeded to tell them that he got bit on the eye by a rattle snake. His old 5th grade teacher grew very concerned and came right over to where I was to ask how it was that he was close enough to a rattler to get bit on the face. Nice huh?

Cam had a game tonight, for some reason I never took a photo of him before his first game like I did the other kids, so I tried to correct that this evening. He wasn't too thrilled with the idea I don't think. He played catcher the whole game tonight - he is good at this position. He had some incredible outs and some really great action! And he never once argued with the umpire! Even though they did not win, I think that his team is starting to learn to play together and that is a big step!

He's home

Colin got to come home this afternoon. His eye is still swollen but at least he can open it and (thank God) he can see out of it. He was released at 5, and was on the ball field playing ball by 8:30...I tried to talk him out of playing tonight, but it was just wasted breath! We also got home in time to attend Quincy's t-ball practice, pick up Cameron from pig duty at grandma's, drop off the donations for the rummage sale at church and still be on time for Colin's game. How's that for good timing? He will be on antibiotics for a few more days, but at least he had the courtesy to do this whole thing this week, as next week is 4-H camp and after that insane garage sale I would have been very sad to have him stay home!

Colin's eye fiasco

I mentioned that the boys stayed with my cousin last night. This morning I was at work - slaving away for the state when the door opened and Colin says "mom my eye is really bothering me" --this is what I saw! OK I would say that is a bit on the bothersome side son!

I asked him a ton of questions - did you fall, did you get punched, kicked or smacked in the eye? Did you walk into a branch, hook yourself in the eye, etc. NO no and more no. I could not see any place where there was a bite mark from a mosquito or a spider. He was not running a fever or having any other trouble. Weird. So I called my favorite pediatrician who we haven't seen for a couple of days and they got him right in. One look at him and he got a one way pass to the hospital. They called it paraocularcellulitis. I have no idea what that is - but I think it loosely translates into one swollen eye. Our Dr was a little bit afraid if we left it untreated it could possibly damage his eye muscles, so we went straight to the hospital (after stopping at Sonic for happy hour slushes!). They told me that they could not see any place that he had been bitten, the eye was too swollen to really tell if he had scratched the eye itself, and that if it was an allergic reaction that it should be both eyes, and he might be having trouble breathing too. He saw the pediatric optometrist who says that he thinks it is an infection. He is now in the hospital with daddy by his side, getting IV drugs and hoping that by tomorrow he is radically cured because he was very, very upset at the thought of missing a ballgame tomorrow night!

Of course, I was thinking about all the places that we were this weekend, and all the stuff that we did, and there is no way in the world to tell what he did or where he might have picked up an eye infection. So for now, we will just wait and see, they said they would go for 24 hours of IV antibiotics and then re-evaluate him. Colin is my medical fiasco child. Poor boy!