New Week...more fun!

On Sunday, we braved the 400 mile per hour winds and had a picnic in our pasture. The kids had a great time running around, exploring and eating! Jim might have overdone it with the chainsaw and is paying for it today in the lower back! Poor guy is just so excited to have unlimited stuff to chop up!

Tonight Mallory and Madison played softball against Burlington. I would by lying if I said I wasn't a little proud of my girls! Mallory started both games at 2nd base. Madison started the first game at right field (her favorite spot) and then pitched the entire second game. They both played really well!

Cam spent a lot of time taking photos and I thought he did a pretty good job! He was having a great time! In between his photo sessions he took Harper to the concession stand for MORE popcorn, MORE Laffy Taffy and MORE M&M's! She had a really good time tonight too!

Quincy is so excited she can hardly contain herself because she gets to go to her first softball practice tomorrow night! She wants to be a pitcher like Madison - I don't have the heart to tell her that she is on a coach pitched team this year!

Preston had his first practice tonight too, Jim said it went really well and he is on a great team! We are excited about ball season - warm weather, late nights at the ball park, nachos with jalapenos keeping you up even later, seeing old friends who we haven't seen because we have been hibernating all winter....aaaahhh bring on summer!

Weekend (finally)

Colin ran in his first track meet on Friday. It was a really nice evening to be outside! He did not place in his first two events, but his 4 X 400 relay team did come in 3rd. Once when I looked at him running by he was jogging, chewing gum and smiling at everyone....not sure what the heck he was thinking, but it was definitely not about winning at that moment! He had a good time, but said that he didn't realize that it would take so long! Since he went to several of the girl's track meets last year, I guess he forgot how long they last!

We went to Topeka today and explored a lot of modular homes. I did not like a lot of them, but when we found one that I did like, I totally fell in love with it! We are seriously considering this as an option for a new home in the country! Of course, we have to sell our house in town first! That might be a major issue! I am not really sure how the housing market is here as I have not been following it!

We followed up the house looking with Colin's baseball practice. He is having a good time on his new team, and they really look good. I think that it will be a challenging team to be on.

While we were waiting on Colin to get done with practice, we got a phone call that our land was on fire and that the fire department was out there. So we ran to the country. Apparently, our neighbor decided to burn off his land and it got a bit out of hand! Considering that we were planning to burn today and thought it was too windy, we were not upset that he got most of the job done for us! We still want to burn a little of the front, but ALL of the back and the pond dam are done! The fire trucks were still there when we showed up, so that was a nice treat for the kids! Of course, they pointed out that we have now had an ambulance AND firetrucks involved in the past week!!

What I never learned....

My parents were sure to teach me a lot of important stuff growing up. I learned how to change a tire, I learned how to check my own oil. My mom made sure I knew how to cook a lot of different meals out of a very few ingredients. One thing they failed to teach me is what the heck kind of a twisted screw is on the back of my dryer. I know about Phillips heads, flat heads - star shaped? I don't know where one finds the star shaped screwdriver. Did the dryer company put weird star shaped screws on there to keep inept people like myself from working on the dryer? Or is it a conspiracy to drive me bonkers? Really? Star shaped? Dad did not provide me with this information, and my little sad tool drawer does not contain a star shaped screwdriver. When I was fond of watching Uncle John take apart and rebuild antique tractors, I do NOT recall him ever asking me to hand him the star shaped screwdriver! So I guess I will have to wait for tomorrow when I can get Jim to tell me that we have had a star shaped screwdriver all along, to take the dryer apart so I can push the little button to restart the heater so I can have a towel to dry off on! I guess I better hope that the towels Quincy and Harper used tonight are dry by morning - and yes, Grace, I know that you can technically re-use a towel, but I don't want to!

Almost new news...

Harper has been showing some signs of having lazy eyes. We have an appointment coming up with a pediatric eye doctor. I was thrilled to get this photo since it clearly shows what I have been seeing for a few weeks now. I hope that they can help her painlessly!

We have all been enjoying the warm weather! This is "Tom" - Quincy's new pet garter snake - who lives in the rocks around the flower bed in the back yard. She had to go show him to our neighbor Randy, and she has to look to make sure he is still hanging out back there every day! If he was a smart snake, he would move someplace else! She would like to keep Tom on her dresser in her room, but I worry he would escape!

Yesterday was the school board election. Unfortunately, Jim was not victorious. I think Jay is the reason - he was in charge of dirty tricks and we just didn't have any! (Just Kidding!). We are disappointed because Jim had some great ideas, and would have been a great asset to the board, but on the other hand, we really do have enough to do - especially on Wednesday nights - so we are not extremely upset!

We also are happy to announce that there will be an 8th baby in our family! Sometime around Jim's birthday in November! Jim wants to name the baby "Henry the 8th" but I vetoed this! We told the kids this morning - Jim said - "we have some news" then he told the kids. The teenagers said "geez this is your 8th child, this is HARDLY news!" :) Gotta love them! We are very excited, happy and feel very blessed.

Wright Flight

At school, Colin participated in the Wright Flight program. The kids set an academic goal, and then if they reach their goal, they get to fly with a pilot and get to assume control of the plane for a little while. Colin made his academic goal, and this morning was his flight time! He had so much fun flying! They got to fly to Lawrence from Topeka, and then they landed in Lawrence, traded spots and he got to fly in the front seat of the plane. He got to control the plane! His pilot did the "roller coaster" where he took them straight down and Colin said it looked like they were going to crash into Clinton Lake, and then he brought them straight back up again! Colin got to fly with his friend Caleb, and they had a great time! Colin said that they quizzed their pilot "Larry" about all the tricks that he could do in his plane. Luckily, the only trick Larry was willing to do was the roller coaster, and Colin said that was probably good! He said that he definitely wants to fly again! Pretty awesome program!

First softball game

Mallory and Madison played in their first high school softball game tonight. Their team won both games of a double header against Eudora. The girls played really well! The whole team played really well, but I happened to notice that our girls did a great job! :) I forgot the camera due to trying to pack enough other stuff to keep the little ones entertained and warm for the evening. Next week I will try to get photos! It was much nicer tonight than it has been any other day this week so I was thankful for a nice evening to sit out and watch! I am sure it won't be long before we are sweating at games instead of reaching for jackets!

We are having a pretty relaxed weekend around here. Cam has a friend over and the boys are having a scary movie marathon. Since Preston had bad dreams from watching "Tangled" this week, I am not sure how I feel about this! Hopefully it isn't a giant mistake! I hope to finally catch up the laundry which I have been battling since we got home!

A whole lotta weird

This week has been one to try to forget! We were home for exactly one day, and then Jim left for Wichita for training. Jim was gone for one day when Harper had a febrile seizure and even though I knew what was going on, and even what was causing it, we could not get it under control and I had to call 9-1-1. Now, for anyone living in a small town, you know that calling 9-1-1 is truly a last resort. Not to say that you don't get some of the greatest, fastest care in the world because you do, but it opens a whole other ball of worms. For example precisely 8 seconds after dialing the phone, you are on every prayer chain for all the churches in town. Prayer chains are awesome - except that my ability to go out in public quickly has now been compromised as everyone in town knows that Harper is sick, and even people I don't know stop me to ask how she is doing. Small town life! Harper has an ear infection. The infection caused the fever, the fever caused the seizure. The ambulance ride was nauseating, but I am thankful that our little pumpkin is going to be fine! She is on more antibiotics and is almost back to her sassy old self. I am also thankful that grandma was willing to drive to Topeka in the middle of the night to pick us up and take us to Walgreens for an amazing freak show while we waited on her antibiotics!

The girls were supposed to play their first softball game this evening, but it got cancelled due to cold/rain. They now have to play tomorrow evening instead. Colin's track practice got cancelled as well. That worked out ok though, as Jim came home today and we had all missed him, so it gave us a chance to catch up! I also made an important discovery today - Velveeta's new Queso Blanco. Truly a life changing invention!

I enjoyed our vacation last week, but I think it truly is exhausting to come home - as we have been swamped with trying to catch up. It has been a very long week and I am more than a little happy to see the weekend on the horizon!