Update

Probably the most exciting news is that I've figured out the summer chores for my kids and one of Anna's jobs will be folding and putting away laundry twice a week!!!!! That is the part that clogs the whole system every time. Plus, she's actually excited. I told her she can watch Animal Planet while she folds. It's a win-win! You know it's bad when the closet is the last place people look for their clean clothes :( The other exciting thing is that the weather has been just perfect. The days are usually nice and sunny but by dusk a little storm rolls through and we can open the doors and let that just rained smell and cool night air in.

Brennan had a nice birthday and is adjusting to his old age well. We also celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary last week. Hard to believe it's been 12 years. Time flies when you're having fun, or when you're too tired or busy to keep track of it anymore. Just kidding, it really has been a wonderfully fulfilling happy time. Tonight Brennan got to escort our two daughters to a father/daughter activity at the church tonight. The activity had a western theme, so this is what they came up with.

"Scarecrow and the Misses King"

The girls had their ballet recital on Saturday night and danced beautifully. I'm especially proud of the fact that I managed to snap a picture wherein both of them were doing something weird with their eyes and/or face. Whatever grace and skill they have in dance I can't take credit for, troubles with being photogenic on the other hand... I'm afraid I have to take full credit.


Anna came home so sad from the last day of school. She loved her teacher so much and knowing how much she will miss her sort of cast a cloud on the big day. That said, she seems to have recovered her good spirits and is LOVING the freedom of summer. Her favorite pastime lately is borrowing my Ipod and singing her guts out while doing her chores. She's a fabulous mimic and can sing just like Elvis. Cracks me up. We love Anna.

My parents came by on Brennan's birthday to give him his gift. It was a great visit and after they left I said "What a lovely visit that was" in a British accent. Without missing a beat Abigail replied, "Indeed it was!" Totally caught me off guard. Indeed? Where did she get that? Another night for some reason we were discussing feet and I was teasing Brennan telling the kids that their Dad is disgusted by feet and is a kind of a wimp in that regard. Abby said, "You're calling your love a wimp?!" We love Abby.

Tonight while the girls went with Brennan I took the boys out for ice cream. We went to Dairy Queen and I was telling them they could get a dipped cone in Chocolate, Cherry or Butterscotch. Nate enthusiastically jumped in about how delicious the hopscotch kind was. Hopscotch, butterscotch, close enough. The other night I went in to check on the boys and Nate was still awake. He looked over at Benny and said to me, "Mom, isn't he so cute when he sleeps?" This sweet little guy will be 6 years old on Saturday! We love Nathan.

Benjamin seems to be sensing a big change coming and has been wanting more mommy time lately. He was struggling to get comfortable on my ever disappearing lap and finally in exasperation said, "Mom, the baby is taking forEVER to come out!" I know just how he feels. He's a funny little man who isn't always eager to embrace changes. I re-arranged the boys' room and he did NOT approve. Every night he told me, "I can't like my bed right here!" We got some new french doors in our family room and for the first several days after I'd watch him walk by and mutter, "I can't like those new doors." Let's hope he has a little more enthusiasm for the baby. We love Benny.

Happy Summer Break!

The Last Day of School

Yee Haw! I am so happy that today marks the last day of carpools, homework, projects, and classroom drama!!! Most of all I'm so excited for my kids to be around and to actually have some free time in their lives.

Yesterday the Kindergartners had their program. I know I keep saying this, but watching Nate perform is one of my all-time favorite things in the world because he takes himself SO seriously. There's just something funny about a little boy singing happy light little songs with happy light little choreography with his eyebrows furrowed in total concentration and seriousness.

Nate's End of Year Kindergarten Program from Andrea W. on Vimeo.

I had the girls each make a card for their teachers. This is what they came up with.

Anna's

Abby's

Birthdays!

Two of the people I love the very most have birthdays within days of each other. I've done many posts about Brennan, so I figured he could share this one with my sister, Eliza, who I've never done a post about.

First, since this very day is his 38th birthday, we'll start with Brennan. I love the picture below because it captures what I love very most about Brennan. Here he is having fun (which he can always manage) with our 4 kids. Having a big family wasn't necessarily in Brennan's plans. He's always liked kids and been really good with them, but for as laid back and mellow as he may seem he's truly a guy who likes order and simplicity and lots of downtime. Well, he doesn't get much of any of that, and yet he's embraced the path his wife has chosen for him (I'm mostly joking) and loves his kids and me and has learned to put up with the chaos and the disorder and the lack of downtime.


No one ever has to guess where they stand with Brennan. What you see is what you get and while I'm admittedly sometimes horrified by some of the things he says to people, in the end most people appreciate his realness and candor. I think too that most people instantly feel comfortable around him because of his total lack of pretentiousness and appreciate the freedom they feel to be themselves. He's always ready to laugh at himself and his quirks and lets me post freely about them, which I love. My book club comes ready each month to hear the latest Brennan story. Because he is so lovably open and willing to admit his lack of perfection, people often miss his depth, intelligence and sensitivity. He really is one of the most compassionate, tender-hearted people I've ever met and has naturally wise instincts. He's the whole package: a little crazy, fun, funny, genuine, loyal, game, good, and smart. Happy, happy birthday Brennan dear! I love you!



This is my little sister, Eliza, with her twin-I-mean-daughter, Belle. I have 4 brothers who I love dearly, but by the time my youngest brother was born I was getting sort of unamused by my sisterlessness. Finally a few months before my 12th birthday Eliza was born. She was my real live baby doll. I doted on her. I loved to fix her hair and dress her up and just love her.



I adored my sweet little sister. Then I grew up and got married and moved away. We were always close, but in totally different realms. When we moved back to the same state she was in high school and had really grown up. She doted on my kids and babysat and kept me company during those crazy young mothering days.

Then she grew up and moved away to school, came home, got married and had kids of her own (all within about 10 minutes I might add). Seven weeks after I had Ben she had Abe. Suddenly our 12 year difference was gone and we were both in the same stage of life. Now more often than not I look to her for advice and help and perspective.

Eliza has faced some pretty huge hurdles and in each instance I have been so impressed with her faith and strength in overcoming them. I admire her so much for our differences: she's creative, energetic, persistent, deep, open, sensitive, naturally and deeply spiritual, and totally unaware of her strengths. I love her so much for what we share: a need to extrovert, spontaneity (or what our husbands affectionately call "hopelessly unorganized"), a love of motherhood and family and the Gospel. She is truly one of my greatest blessings and a daily example of goodness in my life.

Happy birthday my dear little Lizey. I love you!

Introducing the Newest Member of Our Family....

Patches, the guinea pig, (look carefully, Anna's holding him) aka another blatant attempt to stall getting a dog as long as I possibly can.

Going for a ride on the toy fire engine wondering why on earth those mean pet store people let him be adopted.

The most bitter family member about the fact that patches isn't a dog. "Guinea pigs are nothing like dogs, what good are they?" Yeah, that's the point.

Update

A random shot of the kids on Mothers' day, particularly nice of Ben in the doll stroller, don't you think?

First order of business, see and PLEASE reply to the post just before this one.

We had such a great weekend and it was the perfect antidote to whatever ailed us the week before. Thanks, by the way for all of your sympathy. Sunday night we met with my Mom's fun family at the cemetery and then to my aunt's home for a delicious BBQ and great company. Monday morning we rolled out of bed and packed up for a day at the park in one of the most beautiful, picturesque mountain valleys ever with my Dad's family. We arrived to a yummy breakfast served up by my parents and aunts and uncles and then settled in for fun. I passed up volley ball this year, but Brennan played and loved it. The kids had endless amounts of fun on the playground, a hike a long the river with a brave uncle and brother of mine, an exciting soccer game and just hanging with all the other kids. Good times. I was sure to bring my camera to both events, but was having too much fun to actually take a picture :(

For the end of school the teachers don't typically do SEP Conferences (Student, Educator, Parent), but Anna's teacher said she wanted to do them anyway. I went down with Anna yesterday and was so touched by this sweet teacher. She got emotional as she said, "Anna, I want you to always remember your fifth grade teacher loved you and expects to hear great things from you." I was in tears by the end of it and so grateful for wonderful teachers. I'm sure she did that for each of her students. Anyway, she only had some of their end of level testing totally graded, but for the science portion Anna got the highest score in her class. That kind of blows my very unscientific mind! We love Anna.

Abigail has been busy preparing for her class talent show, it's actually a shared talent show with their study buddy class who happens to be Anna's class. Anyway, she decided she would write a poem and share it for her talent. She composed it and then carefully typed it and pasted it onto a darling little backdrop. I'll have to try and get it from her and scan it later, but here's what her poem says:

I think I'm cool

I think I'm great

I love my self at least

better than fish bait"

We love Abby.


The other day we pulled up to my nephew Abe's birthday party which began at the fire station. As I drove up I looked around and said, "Looks like we beat the guest of honor." Nate immediately asked, "What the heck is a yestabonner?" He does that ALL the time and it cracks me up every time. He was then really worried about the fact that we brought a present for Abe when Eliza had specifically told us not to worry about gifts. He, like his mother, takes rules very seriously and thought about it for a while before saying, "Mom, just tell Liza we accidentally brought Abe a present." We love Nathan.


My mom asked the boys the other day what they thought our baby was going to be, a girl or boy. Nate quickly replied that he really hoped it was a boy. Benny said, "I hope it's a girl for my Mommy." Awwww. On Memorial Day when we were at the park he stayed very busy playing but at one point as I walked by the playground he looked up and saw me and said, "Mom! I'm so glad to see you!" We love Benjamin.

Abey's 3rd birthday bash

Belle really enjoyed the cake

What's For Dinner?

PLEASE, please blurkers (I realize I flatter myself that I have some) and regulars alike I NEED your input. What do you make for dinner every night? I am so in a rut and would love to know what you make night after night after night. Especially any great summer ideas. Also, what do you grill other than hamburgers and hot dogs?

Update

Here's one of my little lists that helps sum up our week:

Try not to be distracted by how pretty my hand-writing is.

When the kids are sick I let them watch a lot more tv/movies than I normally would because there's not much else they can do to keep their minds off their misery (the stoicism gene seemed to have passed us up all together). Can I just say that I HATE having the tv on a lot, it sucks the life out of everyone and everything and is just plain depressing.

Ben crawled into my bed a few nights ago to tell me "my nose are bugging me!". He also keeps changing his status from "I'm feeling better!" to "I not feeling very well again, Mom" depending on which is most useful for him at the moment. One time I asked him how his throat was feeling and he told me it hurt because it was in his tummy. He also told Anna if she didn't move away from him he would throw up on her, (even though none of them has thrown up - thankfully!). We love Ben.

Nate got pink eye right after Ben did and was super worried about the eye drops involved. When I took him to the doctor our good doc. told Nate he had a irritation-free method and instructed me to put the drop in the inside corner of his closed eye then open it and let it run in. Nate was so excited to get his drops each time and has told me about 353 times that we have the nicest doctor in the entire world. That saved so much grief, what a blessing. Plus we were able to use our new method with Anna and Abby when they got it the next day. We love Nate.

Abigail has had the worst of it and is kind of a worrier, so she's been in tears several times asking me if she was going to die. It was really sad. She was tested for the flu which was negative, but she's still convinced she has the Swine Flu. When we can keep her fever down she perks right up though and is as entertaining as always telling us that a couple of boys in her class want to be "stunk devils". I think she meant stunt doubles/dare devils?? We love Abby.

When Anna gets bored she likes to tease and she's had 3 perfectly vulnerable victims at her disposal so, I think she's actually kind of enjoyed herself this week :) She's also truly been extremely helpful and cheerful for the most part. Today I left her in charge so I could run get more medicine and evidently the boys went into full battle mode. When I got home she had them both in time-out and had managed to talk both of them down. I was so grateful and impressed she handled it all so well in spite of not feeling well at all.

Brennan has been a true hero, he's the latest victim of this sickness but has still managed to work hard at work and then come home to 5 grumpy people and pick up the slack while his healthy but good-for-nothing wife lays around with her eyes glazed over. We love Brennan.

The boys seem to be back to their healthy selves and I think the girls are well on their way to a full recovery - woo hoo!!! I've been so grateful all of this happened while baby is still inside me, I would have been so stressed out to have a newborn exposed to all of this. So many tender mercies. Yay for the end of this week and a holiday weekend and a whole new week ahead.