Wormy Weather

I promised Quincy and Preston that I would take them to the Huff 'N Puff hot air balloon rally in Topeka this evening. Our plans included going to the evening session where they had tethered balloon rides and all sorts of other stuff. As we were getting ready, Mallory (always the weatherman) told me we were under some sort of storm watch, but the sky was mostly blue and looked ok. The closer we got to Topeka, the worse the sky looked. We got to the balloon rally right as they cancelled it due to lightening. So off to wallymart we went. As we went in, we could see the sky was black and tons of lightening off to the north. We picked up a few things we needed and headed out right as a huge storm blew up. Luckily my kids are numerous and they were able to help me load the car in record time - we got in right as it started to pour - but we didn't really get wet! That was about the same time that the radio said that there was a severe storm right over the area we were in. I had to drive about 9 miles an hour, but we did make it home! Sheets of rain and hail made it difficult to see!

We did drive out of the storm, and when we got home it was just barely sprinkling. We got the car unloaded before it hit here. Jim had a few good men over here in the garage sorting bait for tomorrow's fishing derby. The kids said that playing with worms was ALMOST as good as taking tethered balloon rides! The rally goes for the whole weekend - maybe we will go up tomorrow, but it will depend on if that wins out over Carbondale's lawnmower demolition derby or not. Oh the choices for a bunch of rednecks like us!

A TIE???? Can they do that???

Colin's football team played in their 2nd game of the season tonight. We traveled to Sabetha (dubbed Sa-bad-breatha) to watch. The entire game was scoreless. THE ENTIRE GAME! It was cold and drizzling....and there was NO SCORE. So they played sudden death overtime. Sabetha scored a touchdown, and then missed their extra points. SFT then got the ball, and Colin scored a touchdown and then also missed their extra points. This meant that the score was 6-6........and they ended it. A tie. I have never seen this before! I didn't even know that you could have a tie in football??? Jim said yep, you can, but he didn't think it is too common. Colin said "at least it doesn't count as a loss!" Colin, by the way played both offense and defense and had an awesome game. Mom says that is a long way to drive for it to end in a tie....but what does mom know anyway? Harper clapped and clapped - it was very cute - when the crowd clapped, she did too! Quincy ran a mile around the track, which I was hoping meant that she would sleep on the way home, but that didn't work in my favor either!

Newfound fame??

Today, Jim was invited to the local news station, along with the Rotary club representative to speak about the upcoming fishing derby here in town. Jim thought it would be nice if, since it is a kids' fishing derby, he had some kids with him. Because I am a dork, and addicted to blogging about our little life, I took photos of our tv after I made the girls DVR the news! I am so glad I made the girls DVR this, because it is funny! I was in a room where there were 3 camera angles and I could not tell what they were putting on the news for sure! The girls called me right when the blip was over - they were laughing hysterically! Jim did a great job of speaking about the fishing derby, the Rotary guy did a great job of speaking about the derby and giving some forgotten details. I now have some reasons to NOT put your children on a live TV segment:

1. They can see themselves in the TV monitors, so they make faces into the cameras, including sticking out their tongues, and waving frantically.

2. They flash the "L for Loser" sign above their father's head.

3. They ask questions while live on the air.

I am NEVER deleting this little blip - I will be using it to embarrass my children for years to come!

To their credit, they did NOT say anything to mortify us, or to make us need to go into protective custody! To Jim's credit, he did a great job of speaking and staying on task while trying to contain Quincy who was extremely excited with herself!

I am pretty sure that channel 13 will be calling us any minute asking for them to make regular appearances!

An extra weekend day means....

more time to go fishing. Today's catch - catfish. NO eating involved today, these babies got thrown back in the water!

And and extra day to be "stuck" at home doing laundry, and cleaning. And unsticking Harper from all the places she seems to be these days. If there is a place to get hung up, she will find it. Currently, our dining room chairs are her big nemesis.

Colin had football practice today.

Jim and Cam went to a draft party.

Madison baked a million cookies to give to the people who bought pigs at the livestock auction as a thank you.

Mallory read 2 books.

Preston got grounded from tv, and ended up riding his bike a LOT!
Cam wanted to grill dinner, but with the wind blowing the way it was, I was afraid to light any fires!

The boys room once again has a floor.

I managed to get a few things done, and spent some time with my mom on her birthday (Happy Birthday mom/grandma).

Highlight of the weekend: grandpa ran over a rattle snake and Colin got the rattles. (Not exactly what I wanted to have on my dining room table, but at least the snake is not attached to them).

We are off to a week of tremendous running. Thankfully, it is a short one!

Fishing buddy

Quincy has dubbed herself Colin's "fishing buddy." They both permanently reek of chicken liver and fish! This evening, they caught a bunch of bluegill. When I picked them up, they informed me that they would be eating these fish for dinner. I told them if they cleaned them, I would cook them. Colin did a pretty ok job of cleaning them! Not sure where he picked up this skill, perhaps from his friend whose dad likes to hunt and fish and they eat everything - including a beaver they trapped in our pond. I insisted that the fish cleaning be done outside! I did cook the fish, and never being much of a fish eater, I will admit that the tiny bite I ate didn't taste too bad! Colin and Quincy thought they were in Heaven! They kept mmmmming and telling everyone how good it tasted! I am not amused by the fish bait in my garage refrigerator, or the nasty clothes that need to be washed and never really come clean, or by the smell that seems to linger on their hands. I am thrilled, however, that they have found a common interest and that they are having so much fun! I am proud of Colin for teaching Quincy some of the skills that he learned from his dad. I am happy that Quincy has a hobby that doesn't include destroying my house, and I think it is incredibly sweet that they are spending time together!
After church today I spent a great deal of time cleaning out dresser drawers in the boy's room. They have all grown a bunch this summer and now I am starting to feel a hint of fall in the air, so it seemed necessary. I am not finished, but we got a pretty good start on it.
Jim worked on the chimney, and has found a person to loan him some scaffolding for finishing the top. I am still worried about him being up so high, but it will be a little bit safer than the shifty ladder he has been using! He also helped with getting the soccer fields ready. He has informed me that the park and rec commission is a couple of kids shy of being able to have a 3rd team. If say, Preston and Quincy were to play soccer, they could be on the same team, and it would help fill a team. Its not that I am opposed to the game of soccer itself, but more that I dislike soccer season. The games are played early on Saturday mornings - in the fall - the grass is always very wet, the air is always very chilly, and it is always early (yea, I already mentioned that, but that is the part I dislike the most!). Add this to the fact that I have not one iota of an idea of what the rules are, or what is going on, and to me it is a bit like torture. But, I said if they wanted to play, I would not say no. Preston is pretty excited. So it is looking like my ONE sport, per season, per child rule is going out the window, and Preston and Quincy will probably be playing soccer as well as flag football. Football I like - afternoon games, rules I somewhat understand, dryer, warmer game times!
I guess my days of being a soccer mom are going to start up again!

Standing.....

Harper has started pulling up. She does a fine job getting onto her feet, but getting back down...well that is going to take a little bit more work! I foresee a few bruised foreheads in her immediate future!
And today I discovered that you can use pent up 4 year old energy for housecleaning purposes! Quincy not only helped with the laundry, but she actually did a decent job of mopping the floor. So there was a little more water used than what we would normally, it still smelled clean and looks marvelous!

A few days ago Mallory and I made some jalapeno jelly, (Jim loves the stuff). The batch we made tasted ok, but there was no heat to it at all. It was pretty, but really, tasted like fruit jelly rather than jalapeno. The people who take on every odd job in town, including cleaning city hall, gave Jim some sort of little peppers and some jalapenos. I made a new batch today. This stuff has the kick I was looking for, plus a little! I scratched my eye a couple hours later and set my eyelid on fire!

The rest of our long weekend is looking fairly laid back. Maybe I shouldn't type that, as these things have a way of coming back to haunt me. Jim and Cam are going to a draft party on Monday. Cam loves that stuff - he is like a walking fact encyclopedia. Cam also kind of cracked me up today because he grilled us the most amazing brats....as he was eating them, he told me if his career in the NBA doesn't work out, he is going to try to become a famous grill chef and be on one of those pit masters shows. He is torn between trying to master steak or brats! I am telling ya, this boy has a good hand with the grill. Maybe it is his love of playing with fire, but he really has a knack for it.

High school marching band

Mallory and Madison's marching band played at the halftime show of the high school game tonight. They sounded awesome! Great job girls! Madison was the least amused with the fact that their uniforms have capes attached. I still think they are much better than the q-tip hats that I have seen other bands wear, and that they looked really good! Since the boys lost, it was nice that the band looked/sounded great!

It was a really long evening of football. Cam had practice before the high school game started, and then we ended up staying for the whole evening. Harper was really happy eating grass at Cam's practice. All of the little ones did a pretty good job of sitting and being good even though we were there for a long time. Tomorrow morning, we are right back in the same place to watch Cam's scrimmage game.

I am thrilled about having a 3 day weekend. Preston got up this morning and said "when do we get a day off?" Considering this was day 4, I sure hope this is not the longest year of his life.