Once upon a time...

Some nights, I am just so drained from the day that I just don't have that extra fifteen minutes in me to read books to the kids. So I opt for a different bedtime routine. I tell the kids each one story. It's usually very short, 100% ad-lib, and they absolutely love it. The stories vary from night to night. One night Alex wants to be a tractor and Abby a princess. The next night Abby wants to be a pony and Alex wants to be a dump truck. See a trend? Anyhow, occasionally the kids ask if they can tell me a story. Usually the story starts and ends in about three seconds flat and aren't much in the way of creative. But tonight, Alex asked me to sit on his bed so he could tell me a story and I listened as he weaved a magical tale from his young mind. And it was the most wonderful story I've ever heard. Though I will try to tell it as he did, I am sure I will miss a few things. I literally came straight to the computer to write it down so I would never forget. Just imagine the story being told in a four-year old's voice and the adorableness will shine through. My story goes something like this...

Princess Mommy

Once upon a time, there was a princess called Princess Mommy. Princess Mommy was very great and very cool. She was very fantastic and she always would play with me every day. She drove a tractor too. Princess Mommy was so really fun and played with me. She would run, jump, play games and do all kinds of things with me. She danced and went outside to play. And it was really fun. One day she flied on a really big airplane with me and we went high up in the sky. The sky was very cool and mommy was very beautiful. And at the end of the day Princess Mommy went home and she sat on my bed. She sat down on my bed with me and Abby. It was really great and fun. And I love her veeeeerrry much! The end.

(insert happy mom tear drop here.)

I love these little faces!

Nothing proves that your kids are actually yours like a super-duper close-up photo. I see myself in Abby and I see Josh in Alex. Have I mentioned how much I love these kids? Well, in case I haven't. I sure do love my two kids. They are the light of my life.

Donut as I do

This past weekend, we got to visit Josh's family for some birthday fun. It was really nice to get to actually be there for one of my niece's birthdays. It seems that we can never really make it out that way for things like this. But of course, I'll write more about the weekend in a later blog. For now, I have a little moment to share. If you know anything at all by now after reading this blog, then you are more than aware of my son's deadly milk allergy. So I won't bore you with the blah, blah, blah of that history. My daughter, on the other hand, is allergy-free but lives the life of a milk allergic kid. Why? Eh. It's easier that way. Safer too. But as both the kids grow, I've become more and more aware that my paranoia about Alex's allergy has inadvertently been transferred to Abby. Oops. It has been so second hat to me to keep her just as far from milk as Alex that I've almost become blind to the idea that milk won't hurt her. This weekend, as tradition seems to show, my father-in-law woke up on Saturday with the usual cravings for sugary goodness. Donuts. Dreaded donuts. Those blasted pastry concoctions are impossible to find dairy-free. So I've resorted to making donuts from scratch. Due to the deadly nature of donuts, miss Abby has also missed out on their sugary goodness. But this weekend, when the four large boxes of donuts were spread haphazardly across the table, she merrily crawled up into a chair to have one of her own. I, of course, was not present at the table as I tore through the kitchen attempting to find something of equal value to replace the lack of donuts for Alex. This is when Ben approaches me and quietly asks me if it's okay that Abby has a donut. Because like or not, she was already chowing down on one. It turns out that she popped her little hand into a box, picked out her very first donut, and proceeded to swallow it whole. Okay, so she did actually chew it, but I honestly don't believe that I've ever seen her eat anything so quickly in all her life. I must admit that when I was alerted to the situation, a mild wave of panic swept through me. I immediately did a mental run of what I needed to do in super-speed. Medical bag, dose of benedryl, epipen in hand for the anaphylactic shock and 911 on hold. Of course I didn't actually do any of that for Abby. But hey, I can't help it. Four years of constant milk radar doesn't slide so easily. After my brief moment of panic I shrugged and gave in to the inevitably obvious conclusion that has somehow evaded my mind for her 2 1/2 years. Abby isn't allergic to milk. Duh. Then the new panic set in. What if Alex sees? What if he cries? What if he doesn't understand why Abby is different than him? What if when I'm not looking he grabs a donut because she grabs a donut? Turns out that Alex didn't notice and all was right with the world. I suppose I'll have to face those questions some day but for now we'll just stay milk-free. And maybe when I'm feeling sneaky, I'll share a donut with Abby when big brother isn't looking.

Apostrophe What??

Teaching a language naturally is wonderful and all, but you really don't need to do much to pass on the knowledge. As children grow, they will inevitably pick up your language whether or not you spend time teaching them. It's simply the natural order of things. Sometimes they even pick up on a few extra things that you didn't mean for them to catch. Stub a toe and curse just once and your kid won't hesitate for even the slightest second in storing that word for future use. Even if the context is all wrong. But what has completely amazed me lately is Alex's ability to make 'new' words. For a quite awhile now, he's discovered the glorious ability to shorten the English language utilizing the ever present apostrophe. I'm, you're, we're, they're...the list goes on. But perhaps my favorite word that he's developed all on his own is 'amn't. "Amn't??" you exclaim. "What on Earth is Amn't?? Sounds like a cuss word." Well, this word does not belong on the forbidden word list. He has somehow learned to string together 'am' and 'not' thus creating, 'amn't'. He uses this word all of the time. Seriously. All of the time. Example:

Me: Alex, what are you doing?
Alex: I amn't doing anything!

or...

Me: Alexander! You stop being mean to your sister!
Alex: I amn't being mean to her!

or even...

Me: Don't do that please.
Alex: I amn't!

I try and try to correct him, but he's adamant on using this new word. I give it two years and it will be in the urban dictionary.

The Fish Whisperer

I've been fishing since I was a relatively little girl. I've never been super-great at it by all means. But I've always loved it. It's something that gets you back to nature and is very rewarding. Even when you get the tiniest nibble and you see your cork bob just once, you get all warm and fuzzy inside knowing that you might just catch something. Even if it's just a wee little perch, it's all worth it just to see what you might have on the line. My parents are lucky enough to have a wonderful neighbor just a quarter mile away from them that just so happens to own a small stocked pond. It's purely catch and release, but I've never really been in it for the meat so that suits me just fine. The rule was generally: You catch it, you skin it. Um, yuck. Call me a pansy, but I just can't bring myself to skin, gut and de-bone a fish. Mostly because they are quite frequently still alive when you do it making such a task disgusting and, quite frankly, a bit disturbing. I'll leave that bit to the pros and continue to buy my fish in the freezer section. Now that I've slightly strayed off my point, I'll get back to it.

Most of my fishing experience has been about average, but after marrying Josh, I've got to spend some time fishing with his brother, Ben. Actually, most of my most memorable fishing times have been with him because he just so happens to be one of those 'pros'. Sadly, we've all moved on from the Land of Many Waters (places to fish) and Ben is actually farther away from fishing areas than even I am. So this summer when my folks introduced me to the cozy little pond down their street, I was pumped to be actually casting my pole once again. You can imagine how excited I was when I actually reeled in one of these...

It was a pretty nice lookin' bass for the size of pond it was and I was beaming. I hadn't caught much more than perch for quite some time. So being the pain in the butt that I am, I had to brag. And who better to brag to than my brother-in-law who is currently fishing-deprived. (How evil, right?) So I promptly emailed him a picture of the bass we were catching to rub it in just a little. (Okay, I'm not as evil as I sound. Really.) I told him that if he ever comes for a visit that we should totally go fishing down at this pond because it's pretty much a guaranteed catch.

Fast-forward a few months. The cozy little pond has been rain deprived and is an even tinier little pond that you can literally throw a stone across if you give it a good heave. And guess who came for Alex's birthday party? Yup. Ben and his three girls. Now, we didn't actually expect to catch a whole lot what with the pond being so itty bitty and having five kids to tend to between us both. But, I brought my camera. You know...just in case. I jokingly mentioned that I had a camera 'just in case' he caught a big one. The sarcasm was thick in my comment of course. We all tossed our poles in and Lauren caught the first fish. A perch. To be expected. What else could be living in this tiny under-oxygenated water? We saw a few frogs and a beaver moseyed by. Then I hear Ben say that he caught something big. I picture the bass that I had caught earlier this year and thought, "Aw man! I can't brag if he catches the same bass as me!" Well, whatever was on his line was definitely no bass. We were fairly worried that he'd hooked the poor beaver that was minding it's own business. Then Ben's pole looked like it was about to snap in half and something broke the surface. My jaw dropped and I couldn't believe what I saw. My bass from summer was now but a mere minnow to the whale that he was pulling into shore. In that pathetic little fishing hole...this is what my brother-in-law catches...

Holy. Freakin'. Cow.

I was stunned and the kids were screaming as he finally scooped the behemoth out of the water and tossed him ashore. Of course, you might remember from my earlier Branson posts that he showed everyone up by catching this during our vacation...From here on out, Ben shall be called the Fish Whisperer. Not only did he catch the fish, but he also helped ease it back into the water with his freaky fish powers so that it wouldn't die from the fifteen minute struggle that it took to catch him. It was absolutely fascinating and the kids had fun. Alex keeps calling it a shark when he sees the pictures of it. That makes me giggle

*sigh* So yet another life lesson learned. Never brag about the minnow when the whale hunter is your brother-in-law.

Here's a video of the last few minutes of the ordeal and some more pics from fishin' with the kiddos. My parents could hear the kids screaming from 1/4 mile away.

Happy 4th Birthday Alex!

My big four-year old birthday boy!

I can't believe that my baby boy just turned four years old today. Whew! Where the time has gone, I shall never really know. He's growing up into such an amazing little boy and we couldn't be more proud of him. He's become such an independent, clever kid and I swear he does or learns something new every day that never ceases to surprise me. He is very proud of the fact that he is four years old. Whenever I ask him to eat his vegetables, he answers, "Okay, but I only need to eat four bites because I'm almost four years old!" It's so cute that I'm hard pressed to argue with him. I think he's developing his logic. But in that case, I would need to eat 31 bites of my vegetables and even I have to draw the line somewhere.

So this weekend was awesome for Alex. He asked if all his cousins (and then proceeded to name every cousin he could think of. Long list.) were coming to his birthday party. I felt bad when I thought the answer was no. Turns out that Ben was super-awesome and brought all his girls (Lauren, Linsey and Kate) for a visit for the weekend. We missed Aunt Heather because she had to work. And it's her birthday today too so a big Happy Birthday to my wonderful sister-in-law even though she couldn't be here. Alex was beyond thrilled and is still wound up from the excitement. He sure loves and misses all his cousins even when he doesn't get to see them that often. So thanks to Ben for making his birthday so great. The worst part of the weekend was when we discovered on Saturday night that Josh wasn't going to be able to be there. Turned out that his blasted job decided, last minute, to make everyone come in and work yet another 12 hour shift today. Poor Josh had to miss his son's birthday and I felt just awful for him. But the jokes on his job because Josh is taking three days off to go with us to visit Ben and Heather for Lauren's birthday.

This weekend was a busy one and we sure had a lot of stuff going on but I think it would be more justified to just concentrate this blog on Alex's actual birthday. So here are the pictures that were taken by my wonderful friend, Mandy. She was kind enough to be my photographer. Thanks Mandy!

I couldn't believe how lucky I was when I stumbled upon the entire Wiggles doll set at Toys-R-Us. I took the kids to look around out of boredom one day and there, sitting pretty on the clearance shelf, were two large boxes of these guys. At a whopping $3 a piece, I decided to get Abby a set too to prevent the mass fight that would surely ensue upon opening the presents. I was right. Tonight I had to write their names on the tags so they would stop battling to the death over them.

Abby was really excited about the presents even when she knew they weren't for her.

Kate and Lauren posing for the camera. Have I ever mentioned how much I love being an aunt?

Linsey and Kate enjoying the birthday spoils.

Grandma was helping open presents for all to enjoy.

Greta and Uncle Sean chillin' at the party.

Alex's buddy Wesley was there in all the madness as well.

Can you tell I wasn't the one taking photos? I'm actually caught on camera. *gasp*

Uncle Ben came in handy with his pocket knife. Toys these days are almost impossible to open. And yes, Alex is tucking his shirt in. He won't wear his shirts untucked. I call it the 'Wiggle tuck' because he only wears them tucked in because, and I quote, "Because that's how the Wiggle's wear them mama!"

More present goodness.

This is the cake I decorated. Alex asked for a Wiggle, snake, tractor cake. I talked him down to just tractors. (phew!) I stayed up on Saturday night after the house was quiet with the sounds of five sleeping children and two sleeping brothers (Josh and Ben). I'm quite the night owl so this didn't bother me a bit. It took me an hour to decorate. It then took me 1 1/2 hours to clean up afterward. And turns out, crushed Oreos on frosting? Sinful.

Yummy birthday cake. I think it was a hit. The kids all wanted to eat the 'grass' on the cake. I kept laughing when they asked to eat more grass.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. I was especially grateful to have my brother-in-law here. He was great with all the kids and even Abby was just wonderful with him. I felt bad that he didn't get to spend time with his brother. But he was a big help all around so a big thanks to Ben. Thanks to my mom who was sweet enough to do all my birthday dishes. That took a huge weight off my load for the day. And thanks to Josh's folks for coming as well. And if you are curious, Alex is currently sleeping in his bed with every Wiggle and his new garbage truck seen below. Thanks to everyone for making him one happy four-year old this weekend!

Sniffles

Welcoming fall in isn't quite complete until the first cold. We're on our second cold of the season actually. Luckily, I 'missed' the first one. I got away with a mild sore throat and one night with a runny nose. I suppose my immune system was tired after the last round so I am currently sitting here attempting to mouth breath while I drown out my snot with a cup of blazing hot cocoa. If you were wondering, it's not working. Still can't breathe. But I'm hopeful that I'm all better by the weekend, as I have a date with the clothing store. I am in desperate need of a pair of jeans that don't have holes in them or fall down when I walk. It's also a great excuse to drop the kiddos off with my folks and get out for awhile with my good buddy Mandy. She never turns down an opportunity to look for jeans, as she is a jean junkie. ;-) I'm actually not as bothered by colds as I used to be. I used to hear a kid sneeze a half a block away and I would herd the kids inside to hose them off with sanitizer. Okay, I'm just kidding. I was never quite that bad. I hosed them off with a mild soap solution (just kidding again). Of course, my paranoia was always based solely on Alex's asthma and the fear that I'd hear the dreaded wheezing only to end up back in the hospital. With his asthma under control I am not nearly as panicked about it. Don't get me wrong though. I hate...and I do mean hate...colds. Mostly because I get a doubled version of whatever the kids get. Don't ask me why, because I haven't got the slightest inkling. Anyhow...tis the time for sniffles. Which also means tis the time to go to bed before 2:00 in the morning. Mama needs to heal.

Catching Up

Well hello there, little blog. It's me. Your administrator. Long time, no see. It looks like we have a lot of catching up to do.

Sorry. I was having a special moment with my blog. It seems that I have been increasingly getting worse at updating the internet world with the happenings of my life. I'm sure the world has been managing just fine with my literary absence. Nonetheless, I'm going to attempt to play catch up with life as my humble, little family knows it.

Let me start by saying that despite the apparent lack of photography uploaded into the web world, my camera has, in fact, been quite busy. I can only blame my poor updating skills on my sheer laziness (and Farmville. Darn you, Farmville! You're sucking the essence out of my life!) So let me kick off my hopeful updating with a good old fashion bunch of photos. Oh, and a video to boot!

We went to the zoo. Again. And who doesn't love a good zoo blog? Oh. That's right. Me. I'm actually really tired of blogging about the zoo. So let me just sum it up for you. Josh's Union paid for us (and special guests...AKA my folks) to go to the zoo again this year. They gave us lunch. We looked around a lot. The kids had fun. The animals were the same. The food was the same. Lots of fun. Lions, tigers and bears...oh my! And that's about it. So here are a few photos for those who might enjoy them.

Please note: This a rare moment. A photo actually documenting my parents. Together. Aww.

The hippos were very lively for a change. It was very awesome to watch.

And just to prove how awesome the hippos were...

Finding Your Inner Princess

Let me just start by saying that when I was a little girl, I have no recollection of ever needing to be a princess. My mom may be able to disprove this memory, but I can't imagine I was ever bouncing around the house in pretty pink princess dresses. If I ever did such a thing, I quickly outgrew it when I realized the awesome power of Star Wars. Lightsaber vs. fairy wand? Lightsaber for the win! Who's with me? Anyhow, pardon me as I stray from my post. You see, I assumed that because I seem to lack the fairy princess gene, that my daughter would naturally be exactly the same. I was even hesitant to put her in dresses after she screamed and ripped her Christmas dress off in the not so distant past. Fast forward half of a year to the present day. You can now find my daughter running amok through the house wearing tutus and princess costumes pretty much any given day of the week. I can't help but ask myself, where the heck did she get this from? I mean, you sure aren't going to be catching me dancing around the house in a frilly pink tutu while I do dishes and laundry. Okay, okay. I'm lying. I actually do have a special tutu that I wear when I'm mowing the lawn. That is, of course, if by 'tutu' you mean 'Lord of the Rings shirt with the sleeves cut-off'. Details, right? Nevertheless, Abby is most certainly tapping into her inner princess these days. She even wants to be a fairy princess for Halloween. As much as I'd love to see her wielding a lightsaber with her costume, I'm just fine with the princess get-up. She's still too young for sci-fi anyhow. Who knows. Maybe the day will come when she wants to trade her fairy wings for princess leia buns. But hey...that would still be a princess right?

Here's my little Princess Abby. She is actually only 50% princess. The other 50% is tornado. Those kleenexes she's holding? Yeah...they were everywhere. She pulled the whole box out and threw them around the house in a matter of one minute. It's amazing how much destruction they can do while you pee.

But waste not, right?

And I had to share a picture of Alex. He, too, wants to be a princess off and on. I fully plan on using these photos for the sole purpose of torture at his future wedding. Know what he reminds me of?

Ace Ventura. I can't stop giggling.

Strangest Teddy Bear Ever

Miss Abby. She sure is a cutie, if I do say so myself. I may be a bit bias, but I'm okay with that. She can make me smile even when I'm as mad as a hornet. Even her over-the-top temper tantrums make me smile. Yes, it's true. No one can throw a temper quite like miss Abby. But most adorable of all, is her teddy bear. I think I must use quotations when I say 'teddy bear'. You'll understand after I explain. She is absolutely, positively, madly in love with one thing in this world. She takes it everywhere with her. To the store, in the van, outside to play, over to grandma and grandpa's house, and to the table to eat. But most importantly, she must...and I do mean must...have it to go to sleep at night. She's been obsessed with this object for a long time now and I can't understand why. I will never quite grasp the reasoning behind her love, but it's definitely there and just as strong as ever. She is in love with a yellow, plastic drumstick from a toy drum I bought a few years back. The drumstick was originally connected via string to the drum, but Josh cut the string on the first day that Alex got it for his birthday. Turns out that it has become the most beloved toy. Where is the drum? It's hiding at the bottom of a toy box. Unused. Where is the matching drumstick? Who knows. But I think I better find it just in case she loses the match to her precious drumstick. Honestly, I think she'd be lost without it. This just has to win the title of strangest teddy bear ever.

I took this picture of her clutching her drumstick when she fell asleep at bedtime. This is pretty much Abby every single night. Too cute.