When in doubt trust your gut

You just might be right.  I was leaving Target last night and as I was getting in my car, I noticed this guy who was looking into a car.  Ok, I thought maybe it was his car, the way he walked around it, but then I looked up again and he was looking in a different car.  Hmmmm, I thought.  I better see what he's doing.  So I sat in my car and watched through the rear view mirror.  Sure enough he went to another car. I saw him open that car door and close it again.  That's when I decided I should call 911.  *Doof alert*  When the operator answered I said "hi I have a question." Right after I said that I thought oh geeze, why'd I say that.  I think Kenan rubbed off on me for a moment.  I proceeded to tell her what I noticed.  She asked me to stay on the phone and keep an eye on the guy.  So I drove in circles through the parking lot giving her updates on where he was in the lot.  The squad showed up and the guy walked right toward her and she immediately put cuffs on him.  I left figuring my job was done and I didn't really want to sit and watch.  I should've stayed because right as I walked in the door at home, the operator called me and asked me to please come back to the store so that I could give the officers a statement.  There were 3 officers, 2 of which were taking care of the suspect and one in her car.  I was told to just approach an officer so I approached the officer in her car.  She told me to talk to the officers that were with the suspect.  Ok, I have to approach the officers and the suspect is right there.  He was in the process of getting frisked.  How do you approach an officer when they are in the middle of something?  Do I stand there and wait my turn? Do I tap one of them on the shoulder?  I politely squeaked out an "excuse me.  I was told to talk to you."  Then I quietly said "I'm Amanda."  They said "oh you're our RP? "  The blank stare on my face must've showed that I had no idea what that was so they clarified with "you're the one who called?"  me: "yes."  Officer: "Please wait over there."  So I stood by another squad and kept thinking "oh man, I look like I'm in trouble too!"  Everyone going in and out of Target either looked at me with this look of "poor poor girl, getting up with that guy and getting into trouble" or they avoided looking too.  I kept trying to figure out how to stand there.  Should I stand straight or lean on one foot?  Should I put my hands in my pockets or have my arms folded across my chest or should I fumble in my purse?  What the officers think if just busied myself with texting my sister or calling Jeff?  Is using my cell phone even appropriate in this situation?  I didn't watch what the officers did with the suspect either. The officers finally walked over and asked me for my information.  I told them all that I saw and how I drove around keeping an eye on him until they arrived.  He asked me if I saw him actually get in a car, and I said no.  I didn't.  Doesn't mean he didn't.  There were times I lost sight of him because he was in between cars and out of my view but I have no idea if he did.  I did see him open a car door but he closed it right away.  The one officer got a call on her radio that said the names he gave them didn't come up at all.  The one officer said "the felony theft wasn't there?"  Then she looked at the officer talking to me and said "hmmm, maybe he should go to jail."  The 2nd officer said "sounds good to me."  From what the officer told me, it sounded like he was going to be charged with something, he just wasn't sure what it was.  Maybe a misdemeanor of some sort.  He thanked me for calling and sent me on my way.  I was happy that I did the right thing.  So when in doubt, trust your gut.  If something doesn't seem right, it just might not be.  It's better to call and have it be nothing then to ignore it and it is really something bad.

A funny Kenan Story

Last night was curriculum night at the kids' school.  This is where you go to talk with the teachers about the curriculum and ask questions you may have.  The first teacher we went to talk with was Kenan's teacher.  She shared a funny story about Kenan.  She was commenting that Kenan isn't afraid to us filters when he talks.  He tends to speak his mind and just blurt whatever comes to mind out.  Yesterday the classes were testing on laptops and it was very quiet in the classroom.  All of a sudden she hears "I NEED HELP!!!"  SOMEONE PLEASE COME HELP ME!!!"  (caps signify loud loud loud)  So the teacher walks over, while trying to stifle her laughter, and helps Kenan and reminds him to just raise his hand and she will come around to help him.  Then after about 7 questions, Kenan closes the laptop and tells the teacher he's done.  The teacher says, "ummm no.  You need to finish the test."  Kenan then said, "I closed the laptop so I'm done."  The teacher then logged him back in so he could finish his test.

A good reminder

You know the saying 'the grass is always greener on the other side?'  I was reminded of that today.  My sister sent me a bunch of links to other blogs that she reads one day.  I started to slowly check them out.  It's hard for me to jump right in and start following a blog.  I have to go back in the archives and read back a ways until I feel like I've gotten to know them a little bit.  One of the links she gave me was this one about a woman who has triplets.  I went to check her blog today and she had a post titled Holland.  Her mom had given her this article soon after they knew there were having triplets and then someone recently emailed it to her again.  The article itself isn't about multiples but rather I felt it was about finding that contentment in what is thrown your way.  First here is the article 

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by Emily Perl Kingsley


I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

This was such a good reminder to be happy and content where I am at.  I am a stay at home mom.  I have 4 kids (3 of which are in school full time), I watch my niece every day and I love it!  I love seeing Micah and Lucy play and learn and grow together.  But sometimes the grass seems greener on the other side.  Like my life is Holland, and  I'm longing for Italy.  I don't know exactly what about Italy it is I'm longing for.  Maybe Kid free days, or maybe a bigger house, or whatever.  I'm not saying that I don't love being a mom or that I don't love being home with them.  It the hard days that are trying and I need to find my contentment in where I'm at.  God has placed me here in this season of life at this time for a reason.  Otherwise I miss the beauty of where I am at right now.  1 Thessalonians 5:18 says "Give thank in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."  (emphasis mine) I think that God's will for us is to be thankful for where ever we are and not let our longing feeling of discontentment take over.  

Locked Out!

Today I went outside after lunch to clean up the yard a little since I noticed it had sprinkled and we probably won't are "supposed" to get some more rain later this afternoon/evening/night.  Anyway, Micah and Lucy were fed, happy, and cleaned up.  They were playing cars and blocks so I thought I'd quick tidy up the yard.  I put 2 trucks away, and started to put the down spout gutter thingy on the house when suddenly I hear a loud SLAM!  My first thought was 'oh crap!'  My next thought was 'I think I just got locked out by my 2 year old!'  I run to the door and try the knob and yep it's locked.  Great.  I don't have a spare key out in the yard because I don't have a clever place to hide it.  All my "clever" ideas are probably the first places a burglar is going to check.  So I start pacing.  Oh my what am I going to do?  I tried yelling for Micah to open the door.  Yeah right!  Like that would ever work.  I've never seen Micah open the front door.  He only slams it shut!  By the way, I usually make the sure the door is unlocked before I take the garbage out or something since Micah has shut slammed the door before.  Back to my story.  I check other windows to see if they are open, knowing full well I hadn't opened any except the too small kitchen window above the sink.* I check the basement windows and none are readily accessible, besides there are way too many spiders for me to be brave enough to climb through one!  Thankfully they were closed tight.  I thought about going to a neighbor's house to call my hubby or father in law, but wouldn't you know - all the neighbors are at work today, except the neighbor that sleeps all day because her husband works nights.  Besides, I'd have to leave 2 mischievious curiously cute toddlers to their own devices and that would not be good.  I walked all the way around the house just to double check that there were no other possible ways into the house.  I even checked my pockets to make sure I didn't have keys.  I thought about trying to talk Micah through sending the phone up the mailbox to the outside of the house so I could call someone (911 perhaps?)  and still keep an eye on the little ones.  Then I finally settle on climbing through that too small kitchen window* I begin to scour the yard for something to pry the screen off the window without ripping it because I'm careful like that.  I finally found something, and pulled the screen off.  As I am I hear Micah laughing and pulling all the eating utensils out of the drawer and throwing them on the floor.  I asked him to go play cars, find his bus for me... didn't work.  Lucy stood in the door way watching all this happen.  Now I begin to climb up and through the teeny tiny window (oh how I wish I would've had the camera so I could take pictures  of all this, but I am also so glad none of the neighbors were home to see me climbing through my kitchen window.)  I appear in the window and get stuck.  Because a.) the window is too dang small for an adult to climb though and b.) the kitchen sink is right below.  Not necessarily a good spot to be climbing through a window.  Micah FREAKS out at the sight of mama climbing through window, getting stuck, and yelping in pain because her legs are every-which-way.  Finally  I made it through the window and we cleaned up the mess that Micah made and promptly set off for home depot for screen.  I figure since I already have to put screen in one window today I might as well replace the other couple ripped screens on our house too.  As I backed out of the driveway I said, "life with a 2 year old!" and Micah's response was "yeah!" Except it sounded more "deh!" • note to self: find clever burglar proof spot to hide key - a.s.a.p.

*The too small kitchen window above the sink minus the screen

A little not me Monday

Mckmama started a blog carnival entitled Not me! Mondays.  It's a mini therapy session for those of us who wish to confess their imperfections and those moments that maybe we aren't so proud of.  What do you wish to confess today?  Link back to Mckmama's blog to get started or click here to get started!  I love it and it's so nice to know I'm not the only one out there who did not do much this past week!

It was not me who dumped a pocket full of sand out of the 2 year olds shorts. Nope I always remember to check pockets and shoes before coming into the house to wash up.  And it was not me who forgot to tell Kenan to wait until he got home before emptying his shoes of the sand on the playground and it's not my van that has a playground's worth of sand on the floor.  My van is spic and span so it surely couldn't be.

In the bathroom, while helping the toddlers was their hands, it was not me who shrieked at the top of her lungs to grab her 2 year old child's attention so that he wouldn't grab the toilet plunger. Nope I never do that, especially when the windows are open and the neighbor is outside sweeping. I'm always calm, collected and cool as a cucumber.

It's not me who has played bingo explosion on facebook enough times that my 2 year old now says bingo! only it's more like gingo!

46 pairs of shoes!

Jeff and I started teaching the 3rd grade Sunday school at our church.  We only actually teach once every 6 weeks.  The other 5 weeks the classes rotate to a different station and learn about different aspect of the 5 week lesson.  This rotation focuses on the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5:1-16.  Our class went to the games station and focused on Matthew 5:6-7.  I like how the message translates it: "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God.  He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.  You're blessed when you care.  At the moment of being 'care-full', you find yourselves cared for."  The games the kids played had to do with shoes and at first I found myself wondering, 'what the heck do these games have to do with the beatitudes?'  I soon found out.

First let me tell you about the games.  The kids were divided into 3 teams of 3 people each.  For the first game they had to take one of their shoes off, and hop to the other side of the room on one foot, leave their shoe on the line and hop back and tag the next person in line and so on until each team mate had a turn.  The next game was retrieving the single shoe from the line by hopping on one foot.  The next game was hopping on one foot to retrieve a random shoe from the pile, find the owner and put it on their foot.  The kids never hopped on one foot and never put the shoe on the other persons foot had a lot of fun!  It was crazy, funny and they worked as a team in a strange sort of way.  So the games ended and we sat back down for a debriefing and talked about what all this meant.  Do you have any idea?  No?  Well, you will soon.

Before we got to the meat of the lesson, we went around the tables and tallied up all our shoes that we own.  There 12 of us in the room and the total number of shoes that we own collectively came to 95.  Then came the lesson... There are over 300 million children without shoes in the world.  Some kids don't wear shoes, some make shoes out whatever they can find.  Our students practiced making makeshift shoes using cardboard and rubber bands.  We discovered that it would be very hard to play and run and do fun kid stuff with shoes like that.  They aren't comfortable and they always fall off.  I was floored by the amount of shoes we all have and the amount of children without shoes.  It's heartbreaking to me.  How we don't think twice about buying that cute pair of sandals or that 2nd pair of tennis shoes and there are some kids that really need a pair of shoes and they have to use cardboard.  And not just in other countries but here in our city too!  This ties into the beatitude about mercy - "blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy" or like the message says "You're blessed when you care.  At the moment of being 'care-full', you find yourselves cared for."  We are going to show we care by collecting shoes that we don't wear anymore and donate them to our clothing store ministry at our church.  I was touched by how excited the kids were for this and I think it will be so cool for the kids to see collectively how many shoes they have brought in to help those in need!

 I think this ties into the other beatitude about hungering and thirsting for righteousness for they will be filled.  The message puts it "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God.  He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat." If my life is so full of other stuff, like shoes or whatever I won't have room for the main course, God.  The other stuff just satisfies temporarily.  Sometimes we need to give up something and give it away and God will fill us up where we need it and we will be fully satisfied.  There are so many areas in my life where I need to let God fill me up, but I'm not hungering for him because it's too hard, scary, or not how I want it to be.  If this lesson touched me, how much more will the shoes I donate touch the hearts of those who need them!

Our family counted up all the pairs of shoes, boots, and slippers that we own and we came to the grand total for 46 pairs of shoes for a family of 6.  That averages about 8 pairs per person!  We surely have some that are outgrown, or that we just don't wear enough that we can donate!  I will update you with the total amount of shoes donating sometime next month.  The shoe drive continues until October 25th.

Lord I don't know

I haven't heard this song in a long time and this really spoke to my heart today.

You are the author of knowledge
You can redeem what's been done
You hold the present and all that's to come
Until your everlasting kingdom

Lord, I don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead me to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt

You are the God of tomorrow
Turning the darkness to dawn
Lifting the hopeless with hope to go on
You are the rock of all salvation

Lord, I don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead me to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt

Oh, Lord, you are the author
Redeeming what's been done
You hold us in the present
And all that is to come

Lord, we don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead us to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt


Music by Peter Furler / Lyrics by Steve Taylor and Peter Furler
©2002 Dawn Treader Music (admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) / Soylent Tunes / SESAC

There once was a bug named Allen

Yesterday after school, Kenan went outside to play. Upon going over to the swing set he saw a "scary bug that he didn't like" and wanted Timmy to come "get it" for him. Well Timmy, being the hero that he is, went out to size up the situation. Somewhere in the scuffle, the little cicada bug got cut open. Probably because boys will be boys and they were checking the thing out. Well, they decided to keep this poor little cut open bug as a pet. Little cicada bug now had name and a home. With a porch! Little Cicada bug's name is Allen.

Kenan holding Allen

Timmy holding Allen

Well, these two boys spent much of the evening building a home for Allen. They used Tennis rackets, baseball bats, super soaker guns and some other stuff. Allen had quite the new digs (sorry no picture). Kenan was so proud of the porch they built for Allen. Because every cicada bug needs a home with a porch. They made sure Allen was safe and secure for the night before coming in to get ready for bed. They even prayed for Allen to get better. One thing they did not anticipate was that a cicada bug that is cut open would attract many many ants over night. So, when Kenan got outside to check on Allen he was very sad to find that ants were inside Allen. He was very disgusted. I am too for that matter. Try explaining to a 5 year old that we can find another cicada bug later. It's just not the same mom. So I have a feeling I know what they will be doing for the next couple nights, looking for another cicada bug.

a fun photo op of mama with her oldest and youngest babies.

chaos

The chaos of the summer with 4 kids plus one are over - or so I thought. Now that school has started, the mornings are calmer. A lot calmer! Even calmer than last year on school days. I'm not sure if it's because I'm making sure the kids are up at 7 am vs. 7:30 last year (which gives us an extra half hour to get ready!) or if it's because Kenan is getting ready for school too. I think it's a combination of both of those. So if the mornings are going so smoothly, what is up with the afternoons when the kids get off the bus? It's crazy! Micah is crying because he missed his siblings yet everyone is busy unpacking, changing, talking, using the bathroom and going here and there and everywhere. Excitement and loud chatter are everywhere as all 3 kids want to tell us about their days at once. Then kids are hungry and want to know what's for dinner, and Micah wants to walk underfoot in the kitchen and gets mad when we usher him out. I am so thankful my husband is home in the evenings now instead of being at school! Now I have someone to tag team with.

Our after school routine is the one that needs help. It's only the little window after school and before dinner that's chaotic. Once we sit down for dinner we really enjoy talking as a family about our day. One thing I'm going to try tonight is pushing dinner back a bit. Then there will be one less thing to do right as the kids are getting home. I used to put on soft calming music as they are arriving home, and yesterday I didn't remember until it was too late. I think the background music helps set the tone for the volume in the house as well as the mood of everyone too. I know it's just the 2nd week and soon everyone will fall into some kind routine that will work for us, but I think I will try these things this week and see how it goes.

Oh and I showed the kids my flute yesterday. The kids all tried to blow into the mouthpiece and the loved seeing it. Hannah was so excited to see "her" flute. She practiced with the mouthpiece and she can make sounds! That's a start. I still need to drop the flute off and get it tuned up, but I'll do that this week sometime. I'm so excited to hear Hannah start practicing!

Just a bit rusty

Hannah came home from school last week so excited that her school will be starting a band this year. She asked me if she could play my flute. I used to play the flute. I played from 6th grade on up through 11th grade. I never really took it seriously, though I liked it. One of my flutes was even stolen because I was so careless with it. I was usually the last or second to last chair and I never rarely practiced. If I practiced, I didn't take that seriously either. I didn't take good care of my new flute either because it has a couple dents in it. How it happened doesn't matter. It just shows that I didn't take care of it. Looking back, I really wish I would have taken it more seriously, since it is such a beautiful instrument. I also wish I would've learned how to play the violin over joining girl scouts but that's another story for another time.

I found my flute today and put it together and guess what?! I can still play. I had to google the fingering chart though because all I could remember was B and C. Pretty good for not touching it in about 13 years. My fingers are bit sore and the sound is a tad rusty. I'm sure it's out of tune. I'm so excited for Hannah to come home so I can show her! Now that I can play the basic scale and maybe I'll be able to teach her that. I hope Hannah will learn from my mistakes and that she will take playing and practicing more seriously - oh yeah, and that she'll take good care of it too.

Next up on my to do list is bring this sweet little flute in for a check up and make sure it's in tip top shape for Hannah to use at school. I might even get those couple tiny dents removed.

This is my time!

So it's day 2 of school for the 3 older ones. (4 if you count that Hannah and Timmy started on Tuesday) It's also day 2 of just Micah and I at home. He misses his cousin Lucy but he's been enjoying alone time with mama. I know I have been enjoying him. I've thought a lot about what I'll do in the afternoons while Micah and Lucy are napping and I've come to the conclusion that nap time is my time!

The first thing I came up with was that I could catch up on chores and house cleaning while the little ones nap. Nah, that's no good. What fun that?! The l.o.s* won't nap forever and me time is very scarce and hard to find when you're a mama. So as long as they nap during the afternoon, that 2 hour block of time is for me. I can scrapbook (yay!) or exercise. I can take that coveted shower that is also hard to come by as a mama. I can read a book or spend my time the Lord. I can watch a movie (uninterrupted) or do...here it comes....absolutely nothing! I succeeded with that last one yesterday afternoon. I just sat there zoning out on the computer. I came across this site ( I saw it on a friend's facebook site) called People of Walmart and it was good for quite a few laughs. Check it out sometime!

I have no idea how my me time will look when naps are outgrown, but I'm sure I can come up with a creative solution for quiet time in the afternoon.

*little ones

Kenan had a great first day of school yesterday. The most precious moment was when we met the bus after school and Kenan rushes to Micah, gives him a great big hug and says "I missed you Micah!" I wish I would've gotten a picture of that moment, but from where I was standing and how fast it happened and siblings hugging me, it was pretty impossible. The moment is burned forever in my heart though. So very sweet! I was a little concerned with how lunch time would go. Would he remember to ask for help with opening his thermos or his pudding? Would he be able to open his juice box? Would the teacher know that he needs help? I asked him how lunch went and he looks at me with the biggest grin and says, "I have leftovers!" He managed to eat his chips and pudding, and drink his juice box. He didn't eat his dinosaur pasta, or his yogurt, string cheese, or grapes. That's okay though. He won't starve. He'll learn to eat his lunch or he will be very hungry later! He colored me 3 pictures and his favorite part was learning. That right people! He loved learning! That's my boy!

Kenan's first day of Kindergarten

Kenan started Kindergarten today! All the anticipation leading up to this lead to a case of the first day jitters this morning. He told me that he was really nervous. He said "I've never been on a school bus before" even though he'd been so excited to ride for the last 2 years. He was concerned that he wouldn't find his teacher and that he didn't know where his classroom was. While getting dressed, he worried about not being able to fasten his pants at school after he goes potty. And he said he would miss me very much. Oh Kenan, mommy is going to miss you very much too!

Yesterday I got teary eyed about the thought of him going off to school all day long. He said, "mama, I'm only going away in the morning and I'll be back after school and run and give you a big hug when I get home! I love you mama!"

Last night he didn't want to stop hugging me because he would "miss me so much." He told me that he was bringing me to school with him so that he could play with me.

After much reassurance and me tucking kisses into his hand* he was dressed and ready for his first day of school! The bus comes at 8:31 a.m. and all the kids were ready to go at 8:00 a.m. So we went out and took pictures.

When he got to school he got off the bus and was so excited because there was a girl that he met yesterday on the same bus! They held hands the whole way into the school and the whole way to their classroom it was adorable!

I cried throughout this morning, but when I start to get sad I just start to pray. Whatever I'm thinking at the moment about Kenan's day or Hannah or Timmy I try to turn into a prayer. I really thought of all the kids, I'd jump for joy the day Kenan was off to school, but really I'm not. He's growing up and I know it has to come. He's a challenge at times, but he's such a joy to have around most other times. I sometimes look back and know that I'd do things differently with him. I would react differently to somethings, but then I think I loved those years with him at home and how special they were. I don't remember a lot of the "bad" times. It's amazing how that is so true! I was always told that the "bad" times will be soon forgotten and the good times will stick with us forever. I never really understood that until my kids started off to school. I was also told to enjoy those early years because they go by so fast. When I'd hear that, I'd say yep, they sure do! But until Hannah started Kindergarten, I never fully understood what it meant either.

So, as I look back on these last 5 or so years with Kenan at home I can truely say I've enjoyed 99.9% of those moments and that other.1% I have forgotten.

*The Kissing Hand

First day of school

Today is the first day of school for Hannah and Timmy. The morning went great with no problems at all! Pictures went good and Micah even cooperated (something he has been know to not cooperate with lately) and got his picture taken too!

Hannah is going into 6th grade! Oh my she's in middle school! Oh, I was going to keep "mum" about this but those flowers were purchased yesterday for the sole purpose of having some color in the background of the pictures.

Timmy is going into 4th grade and he has the best teacher! Mr. Wammer (short a sound) was Hannah's 4th grade teacher and he is phenomenal. He is a perfect match for Timmy. And yes, that is a bow tie he is wearing. Too adorable!!!

After we met their bus at school, Hubby and I brought Kenan, Micah and Lucy to the zoo for the morning. A little tip for parents of kids at home - the first day of school is a perfect day to go to the zoo! Not busy at all!

In other news, we went to the store to buy a prize for Kenan. I told him at the beginning of this summer that if he learned how to write his name before school started, he would get to pick out a prize. So today was the day to pick something out. We gave him some choices, star wars guys or a webkinz. He picked out a scottie dog webkinz named that he named Champ. He loves the little guy! Kenan starts school on Thursday so stay tuned for more back to school pictures.

Brotherly love

Last night Hubby and I were watching the corniest movie but it was so fun! The movie, Mall Cop, was very funny and we had fun sitting back and watching a movie that was just goofy! Well we were halfway through when we hear a scream and we go running upstairs to check it out. Kenan had woke up to go potty and, afraid that Kenan was sleepwalking, Timmy took it upon himself to help Kenan back to bed. Well, Kenan, who was half asleep still, didn't want help and freaked out. Thus the scream we heard. After going back to bed, he got up and climbed into bed with Micah. I moved him and put him back in his bed. A little later, I went into check on them and Kenan was sound asleep on the floor next to his brother.

This morning when I asked him why he was sleeping on the floor by Micah, he said, "because he wanted someone to be by him."

Let's play!

I woke up in the middle of the night last night thinking about how this is the last weekend of summer. I don't know if my previous post triggered these thoughts or what. I'm looking forward to school starting and getting in to a new routine, but I am going to miss my kids. Hannah is going into 6th grade. Middle school! That's crazy enough to think about without remembering I have son who's going into 4th grade and another son starting Kindergarten! We've had a great summer and the fighting has been minimal, compared to other summers. Sure there's been some bickering but mostly in the last couple weeks has it gotten so noticeable that you can just tell that school is just around the corner.

My goal for today is just to enjoy each of them. Not that I already haven't been doing that, I have. I've just sat and talked with them, they've helped me around the house, I've played with them, watched some movies with them and many other things too. I woke up this morning and I really just wanted to play with them and nothing else. So instead of planning things to do, I'm going to let the moments with them lead the way. If it's a hug or a silly dance my kids want, then so be it. I tend to picture a day going a certain way, and then day doesn't (because with kids, the day doesn't always go the way you plan) and we all get crabby. There might be some scraps along the way today but that's okay.

So far today, I've danced with Kenan to Imagination movers.* Timmy and I had a little disagreement this morning about orange juice. He got upset and I went to talk to him. We talked and he cheered up. He fell into my arms for a big hug. This is just a start to a wonderful day with my kids.

Summer Memories

Let's see, I'm looking back over the summer thinking of all the fun we had. I'll start with once the kids were out of school.

On June 3rd Kenan, Micah and Lucy, and I went to the Como Zoo to meet Timmy's class. It also happened to be Timmy's birthday that day. I didn't find Timmy until after lunch right before we were going to leave. Once we found each other, I could tell it made Timmy's day. I followed him and his friend to a couple rides and then we started for home.

This is Kenan after the fire truck ride.

This is Timmy and his friend.

The next thing we did this summer was throw Kenan his first friend party ever! He turned 5 and had a dinosaur themed party.

This is the group of kids (only time I could ever get them lined up for a group photo) waiting to break the pinata.

Kenan finished t-ball. He got his trophy that he'd been waiting for all summer! See, he's had sibling go through sports and at this age all the kids get a trophy no matter what. He knew that. Some of the other kids on the team did not looked at Kenan like "wow! How did you know we were going to get a trophy?"

Here he is with his trophy

We sent Timmy and Hannah off to camp this summer as well and we sure missed them when they were gone. Timmy went one week and he came home, then 2 days later Hannah went up to camp for a week.

This is Timmy before he left for camp with his friend. They were so excited!

This is Hannah on her way to camp.

We celebrated the 4th of July the next day with the parade going right by our house. We attempted to camp out the night before in our new tent. Didn't work out so well with everyone lighting off fireworks. So we slept in our own beds.

Here is a picture of most of the group waiting for the parade to start

The next we went Strawberry Picking. We picked over 17lbs of Strawberries in one hour with 5 kids who all helped out. We came home and made strawberry pie with a recipe I found here. My pie turned out nothing like hers but it sure was tasty!

A shot of the group picking the strawberries.

Here is Kenan eating the strawberries.

Here is a picture of my lovely pie! I had the hardest time with the crust but it was so yummy!

The next exciting event of our summer was when Timmy's baseball team won 1st place in the regular season.

Go Yankees!

We went to the zoo a few times this summer...

In July Hubby came with us. This was taken in the grizzly bear area.

Como Zoo with cousins...

MN Zoo African Safari with my friend Jessica and her boys...

We took our first camping trip as a family to Lake Louise State Park

We also camped out in our backyard, which was lots of fun!

The same weekend we camped in our yard, we visited Historic Fort Snelling. The kids were so excited to taste rock candy and see army guys!

Just this past weekend we went to the State Fair as a family. We ate our way through the fair, went down the giant slide, went through the Haunted House, went to the Ye Old Mill, and went up the Space Tower.

The summer has been lots of fun and very busy, filled family, friends and many happy memories!

Kenanisnms

Here are a few of the latest things that our 5 year old son Kenan has said to us that just blow us away at times.

1. On Saturday as we were driving to the State Fair, he pipes up from the back of the van "all animals have tails"* Now just think about that one for a minute. Don't worry, take your time. I'll be back to that one in a minute.

2. As he was snapping pictures around the house, Kenan stops and takes a picture of me (it got deleted otherwise I'd show it). He looks at it and says "WOW! That's impressive."

3. The other night when Jeff was tucking in Kenan, he looks over at Jeff and says "Papa, you have some giant man-sized boobies."

4. As he was packing up to go to Grandma and grandpa's for a sleepover Kenan says to me, "mama, I'm to help Grandma because she's an old lady!"

5. One afternoon, we were playing Go Fish with his Spongebob cards. He asked me if I had Mr. Krabs. When I said Yes, he responded** in Mr. Krabs fashion (picture a deep piratey old man voice) "arr arr arr, I love money!"

6. On the way home from the fair on Saturday, Kenan was kicking Hannah's seat and just pestering everyone. I told him that he needed to go to his room when we got home. Our conversation went a little like this:

me: "Kenan, you have to go to your room when we get home since you can't stop pestering everyone."

Kenan: "okay. but for just a couple minutes"

me: "no you will stay in there until I say you can come out."

Kenan: "how long will that be? a couple minutes?"

me: "no. but you will not come out of your room until I say you can."

Kenan: "I'll just come out after a couple minutes."

me: "How about you stay in your room for one hour?! (said more out of frustration, than a question)

Kenan: "1 hour? Sounds good to me! 1 hour is my middle name!"

This resulted in tons of laughter and then he ended up staying in his room for about 15 minutes or so.

7. Hoping to see what he's say when asked what his middle name was, Kenan responded "trouble! Trouble is my middle name!"

*we had a hard time thinking of any animals without tails. When it comes to 5 year olds, all creatures are animals and not really classified by reptile, mammal, bird, etc. We did ask Uncle Mike and he thought of primates. Primates don't have tails. If you can think of others please post them in the comments.

**Kenan does his impression of all his favorite Spongbob Characters and I will link a video soon.

***if you can think of other Kenanisms I'd love to read about them. Post them in the comments.