Pictures from Tubing

Read the story below and think of these pictures. Okay....I am too lazy to go back and insert pictures. I'm sure it would take me over in bytes or something like that. I added all the photos backwards so.....this is after.

Perry and I walking up the tubing lane while S is towed.

Right before we started ubing.

What We Hear

We were hiking down a trail. Little Miss looked up. A woman was about to pass us. Serena, gently, put her hand on the woman's arm and said very sweetly and in awe, "You are a Japanese woman."
The woman replied so nicely, "Yes, I am honey." She was just as shocked as I was, but not at all offended.
S said, 'That is so cool. Mommy did you see her? She's Japanese."
Yes, Little Miss......you are noticing the world around you. To you, it is all wonderful.


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My interpretation of a conversation with M after I told him to climb down from the tree he was in..

M (good news to him) -"I climbed all the way to the top of the tree and touched the tippy top."

Tree is 50+ feet in the air and gets very skinny at the top, not to mention it is cold and this is completely unsafe.

M (bad news to me) - "I had to step onto the branches of another tree because the branches of the tree I was on were too skinny."

M (good news to him) - "The tree was as thick as my wrist the whole way up."

Mom (not real happy at this moment) - "The branch is supposed to be as thick as your wrist, NOT THE TREE! And, anyway, I said as thick as your Dad's wrist, not your own."

M (not at all deterred despite my Very. Serious. Conversation.) - "I felt empowered. It was awesome. I was so happy."


Clearly he didn't get my apprehension of heights.


Don't worry. Due to the seriousness of this I brought Perry in on it when he got home. I do try not to do that to him. I mean, who wants to come home and be bombarded with negativity, but every once in a while, it is necessary.
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M - "This math (fractions) is too easy. I already know how to do this."

What I think - How do you know how to do something you've never done. I watched and he really did know how. It wasn't simple fractions, but changing denominators and such.

What I say - "It should be very easy then and you should fly right through it."

Social Necessity

Perry and I have determined to make a point to be more social this year. Now, Perry and I are super content to just be with one another and our family all the time. He works long hours so when he has free time we long to spend it together. However, our kids are desiring more activities that involve other families spending time with us so we will endeavor to fulfill this desire. It's not an overly strong desire for the kids yet, but before it becomes that...........

See, the issue is that I have my friends and Perry has his friends and somehow, for the most part, the two don't mix. That goes back to.....he works long hours so when he's off we like to spend it together.

All that to say........we have found a couple. Say that again. A COUPLE who we really like. A man and a woman AND two children. They like hiking. They LOVE outside activities. Their children are really nice. They are nice to us and our kids. They live only a couple of miles away. Their children are NOT E & J's age. This is good because M and J-man really need some friends. They actually talk to and seem to enjoy our kids, not just tolerate them. Our kids do not overwhelm them in any way. Or...they fake it all really well. Just kidding. I can see that it is sincere. We'll see how this relationship develops, but I am hopeful.

Our two boys played opposite each other at Saturday's basketball game. I had invited them to come over after the game. They arrived and we promptly tore all the boys away from airsoft and started out for Little Si. M and friend had a great time hiking together. They stayed in front of us most of the time with J and E. Serena and friend (will be 4 in 2 weeks) are both in about the same shape so they encouraged one another and hiked quite quickly. The only time we had to wait for them is if they decided to walk on a log or climb a rock.

We all passed this Really Weird Guy Strung Out On Some Type Of Drug. Great personal experience to show the kids what drugs do to you. Like Becky said, "Just say no to drugs."

We walked up until it was getting dark. S and Friend hiked the whole way up and down, but Perry and Mike carried them along the road to our house. I couldn't figure out why Perry and Mike were going so slow. ;-) Turns out it was J-man.

When we got home J-man said his legs were itching. I knew he had been walking with the men the whole hike. I just assumed he was wanting some daddy time. I started looking at his face. It's hard to tell in the light if his cheeks are just red from the cold or something else. He pulled up his pants and sure enough he had hives all over his upper legs. I pulled up his shirt and, yep all over his tummy and back, neck and face. Poor guy. I gave him Benadryl. It took longer to clear the hives up, but it did eventually.

Every time the poor guy is outside this year, this is happening. It happened one other summer when he was younger but hasn't happened to this extent since then. He did not get hives when we went tubing so that is something. I'll take him to the doctor, but last time it wasn't real helpful.

The boys enjoyed their time when we got home. They played airsoft, legos and video games. S and friend have always played well together. They really enjoy each other's company. We met this family at M's soccer so S and friend have had lots of time to play together.

All in all it was a successful day/evening in our venture into friends.

Mo - We received S's birthday present and the chocolate cookies. MMMMmmmmmm, boy did they taste delicious and come at just the right time. Thank you.

Our weather is just about to change for the worse, so I have moved up the Airsoft party. We are going to have it Tuesday along with a surprise birthday party for Little Miss. All the kids are super excited. I'm going to go get ready and take Little Miss to gymnastics. The boys have their agility class tonight.

Operation Keep Little Miss Warm

AKA Tubing at The Summit.

We had a totally awesome time. As an aside, but definitely on my heart.

Perry - You know I love you. You make me feel so beautiful and sexy all the time. I don't know if you realize how much I appreciate that endearing quality of yours. I had an absolutely wonderful time with you tonight. I love that 22 years later the flirting is still present, the looks and loving are hotter than ever and when you have free time both of us would rather spend it with each other/family rather than anywhere else. I pray we always feel this way about each other.


Perry had today off so we decided to celebrate S's 5th birthday by going bowling. That's what she wanted to do. Well............we ended up needing to take M to the doctor which messed up our time schedule. Due to that fact, I somehow thought of Tubing instead and asked Little Miss if she would like to do that. She agreed and the search was on for winter gear. After several hours we had winter gear for everyone except Perry and I. Perry and I may have gotten distracted a couple of times while looking. We did end up eventually finding one pair of snow pants, but we have 3 for Perry and I and they seem to have disappeared.


We decided on the 6-9 p.m. session. We arrived right around 6. Perry went to purchase tickets while I dressed S and I. The boys had gotten ready at home. We only live about 20 minutes from The Summit. Our whole mission was to keep S warm. We had gone tubing one other time with her and she absolutely froze. She was tiny and young so we didn't realize how cold she had gotten. Knowing that she wouldn't be moving around as much as the rest of us we made it our mission to make sure she was warm so we could A)Keep her comfortable B) not enter melt down city, and C) be able to stay the whole 3 hours.


She had a coat/snow pants on. I put my fleece socks on her. I brought boots that were too big for her. She had a toe warmer attached to the top and bottom of her foot, along with a hand warmer tucked into the toe of her boots. She had two layers of clothing on. She had a body warmer attached to her shirt that kept her tummy warm and attached to her pants that kept her bum warm. She had hand warmers in her mittens that she held onto. She had hand warmers in her pockets also. She also had a face mask on and to top the whole outfit off she had goggles.


We arrived at the tubing area. A woman said, "You know the rules?" I answered, "No, please tell us." She said, "Go ahead and go then." Apparently they only ask that, but don't really mean it. I got her attention again and said, "We really don't know them. Would you please tell us." She said, "No standing. No doubles." Perry inquired about Little Miss. The man next to her said, "She's fine to double up. He can to if he wants." Pointing at Josiah.


We had buddied up E and M, J and J-man and Little Miss came with us. S tubed down the hill with Perry. We had a great time. If the line was short Perry would hook S up to the tow rope and we would walk beside her up the hill. If it was long Perry would just pull her up the hill. It was good exercise and kept us warm. We didn't have all those cozy warmers under our clothes. :-) It's amazing to think that someday in the not so distant future Perry will not have to carry any kids. He makes it look so darn easy, but I know it isn't.


About 1/2 way into the evening, Little Miss decided she wanted to ride by herself. One of us would go first, the other would then sit S in the tube and give her a big push. When she got to the bottom whoever went first would pull her out of the way. If it was M, he would just pull her right over to the tow rope and hook her up so we really had to scramble to catch up. It was quite funny how seriously he took this responsibility.

Throughout the night, we would hook up with one or 5 of the kiddos. J-man and M ended up with Perry and I. J-man found it quite fun to lay on top of Perry or I and go down. With the combined weight, he went a lot faster and farther. We would put S between J-man and M on the tow rope and walk up beside them. It was faster to walk than to use the tow rope, even if you didn't have to stand in line.

One time, it was M's turn. He let his tube slide slightly down the hill, pulled the rope back and packed snow onto the handle. Perry was telling him that it wasn't going to work, that he was going to lose the tube down the hill, but M kept on packing until that magic time. Then, he ran up hill 6-10 feet, turned and ran down, jumping onto his tube. The impossible never seems impossible to M.

We all had a wonderful time, but after 3 hours were ready to leave and get some food in our tummies. No one got cold. S actually felt too hot at times. We would just take her hat off for awhile and she would cool down quickly.



Basketball games are tomorrow. We are going to have company over for dinner and hike Little Si. Little Miss is cuddled up against me sound asleep. J-man is reading this as I type, correcting my spelling. The other boys are crashing in their room. I'm ready to do the same.


Next weekend is S's big 5th birthday. She is going to have a small girly birthday party while the boys have an airsoft party. The boys have finished their midterms so I promised them an airsoft party. There's only so much time in a week so I decided to kill two activities with one day. We're all looking forward to it. Oh....yeah....the above will all happen after basketball games. Yeeehawwwww!!!!!

DP - Part 3

See that bridge in the background. That is where we were in Part 2. Once again our decision to start back to the Suburban instead of continuing our hike was a brilliant idea. It was almost dark when we got back to the Suburban. M had hurt his knee so he rode on Perry's shoulders until Perry saw that I was carrying S on mine. He put M down and took S. I got out our MK (medical kit), gave M Tylenol and wrapped his knee. He was able to walk without much pain.

S and I were just relaxing, enjoying the beautiful sunset while waiting for the others to catch up. I think this is where M hurt his knee and Perry had stopped with him.

E took most of these pictures. See how quickly it was getting dark. It was wonderful going up there. I'm glad everyone rallied around.

J-Man

We ended the trip with a visit to Red Robin. This is the first time that when our day was over it only took us 3 minutes to get in the
Suburban and get going. Only J-Man's pants were wet. I just handed him a pair and told him to get in and change. I would go on, but I am exhausted. It is one in the morning and M's talking to me. One of the boys usually stay up with me if Perry goes to bed early. They know I like the company.

DP - Part 2

When we arrived at the end of the beach, we hiked up a short trail to get to the bridge.

I just want to say here that I was holding S so tight because it's a LONG way down. M told Perry that if he fell he had better swim to shore quick because it would get cold quick. Ummmmm.....I think getting cold would be the last of any one's worries if they fell.

We took stairs down from the bridge and followed a trail for awhile. We are very near some cliffs in this picture. This was quite nerve-racking for Perry and I. Our younger kids aren't exactly afraid of a whole lot. S and J-Man were bouncing, skipping and hopping along the bridge walk. They were feeling completely exhilarated and free. You can see in the pictures how close we are to cars on one side and the rail on the other. Not really even enough room to hold their hand and have them walk beside you although I did anyway. Can you feel my heart beating faster here. That's how it was the whole way. Breathe. Deeply. Calm.

See J-Man touching his neck. Yep. You guessed it. Hives, yet again. They had just started, but were covering his cheeks and going down his neck. We quickly broke out the little medical kit we take everywhere and gave him some Benadryl. When we arrived back at the beach he was still itching so I Purell'd his hands, washed them with wipes and rinsed them with water. Half an hour later, the hives were completely gone.

See that boat in the background. I so want to rent a boat and tour that area. I need to check into this and see how one goes about it.

Sunday - Deception Pass

Okay.......everyone who knows me knows that DP is my favorite place in this area. Because of gas prices last year we hardly went at all. We woke up. It was sunny AGAIN. I quickly called my mom to see if she would take Nephew early back to his other Grammy's. She agreed. It was already 11. I rallied the troops again and again and again. Then I explained that if they didn't rally a little faster we wouldn't be able to go. They decided to rally and everyone quickly, or not, did their part to get us out of here.

It takes us between 2 and 3 hours to get there. The drive is wonderful. Perry and I talk and talk and hold hands and enjoy each other's company. The kids are in the car, but they are older now and completely sucked into their electronic gadgets so do their own thing unless they need something.

We decided to park down at the beach and walk up to the top of the bridge and walk across the bridges. Okay.....I have NEVER done this in all the year's we have gone there because taking 5 kids up there scares me to death. (Apparently the picture with us up There is going to be in the next post :-))

We walked for about 1/2 mile along the beach, throwing rocks, attempting to stay dry.

S collected a gazillion rocks that she surreptitiously put into Perry's pockets. He inconspicuously dropped them on the ground when she wasn't looking. However, she eventually caught him and was quite upset. We won't show that picture.

More Little Si

We were trying to make it to The Bench, which is about 30-45 minutes from the top, but made the decision to turn back because it was getting dark. Turned out to be a REALLY GOOD DECISION because it was quite dusk when we got to our house.

E and J carried Nephew all the way down the mountain and on to our house. He almost fell asleep on their back's. Little Miss rode in the backpack. She is quite used to riding this way when she gets tired. We go on long hikes where she couldn't possibly keep up with the rest of us.

When we returned home J-man came up to me saying his face was itching. I said it was just cold, but agreed to take a look. Good thing I did. He was breaking out in hives. The kiddos are all allergic to pesticides and harsh chemicals, but they are also allergic to Something outside. We have yet to identify what exactly it is, but DO NOT leave the house without Benadryl. I quickly gave J-Man Benadryl and told him to take a shower. Within 20 minutes the hives had reversed and his skin was clear. I've seen this happen with him enough to know that untreated the hives spread, quite literally, right before our eyes and cover his entire body. You can't even imagine how thankful we are that Benadryl stops the reaction. We also always carry an Epi-pen in case anyone is wondering.

We had a wonderful time. The cold, fresh air was just what we needed after all the rain lately. The kiddos were quite exhausted. Perry and I took the younger one's to the store because they were trying to curl up and fall asleep on us. I explained, quite nicely, that they couldn't go to sleep until 9 because I wanted them to sleep All Night Long. They giggled.

We watched our movie that we have had for 2 weeks. Perry has been working crazy hours this last week and we haven't had time to watch it. Can't say it was worth the wait, but it was nice spending along time with him.

Hike Little Si

E apparently picked the right number since he has the backpack on. We live close enough to Little Si (it is actually our backyard) to just walk to the trailhead.

The only part that doesn't thrill me is that the first 5 minutes are along this road. At the end of the straight stretch up there is the trailhead.

This is the beginning of the trail. S and M were extremely helpful, making sure Nephew didn't fall and get hurt.

This is one of our favorite stopping places. It has a perfect view of the city we live in. We usually go at a fast pace up the mountain, but took it nice and easy because I'm thinking Nephew doesn't do too much of this strenuous exercise and he didn't want to get in the backpack. M and S probably went twice the distance of the rest of us because they would run up ahead and then come back.

This is a huge rock that the kiddos like to climb on while waiting for the rest of whoever is lagging behind.

Saturday Basketball

Our day started with getting the kiddos up and getting food in them quickly. Our 3yo nephew was staying with us for a few days so he tagged along on our adventures. After a not so awesome morning trying to get out of the house. (Couldn't find my keys - turned up in Perry's coat pocket. Didn't have a car seat for nephew and neither he nor S are old enough to be in a half booster, turned out our spare booster was molded ~welcome to living in WA~ finally found something that worked. - Couldn't figure out WHERE M's game was, but knew it was at 10, same as J-Man's - Turned out it was at 11:30 and found out where when I arrived at J-Man's game.) I could go on, but I'm sure you get the idea. Breathe Deeply. Pause. Breathe Deeply. Shhhhhhhh................The morning will be over soon enough.
S and Nephew cuddled J or I and played with the above sticker book the whole 1.5 hours. S would put all the stickers on Nephew's hands, up his arms, then she would turn to the right page and they would put them on.


J-Man LOVED playing basketball. It's his first time. He doesn't know a whole lot about bball, except you get the ball and kind of dribble and make a basket or, well, attempt to. Turns out he's pretty aggressive and dominant. Who knew. Well.....I sat down with the kiddos I had with me and the first thing the nice lady sitting next to me said was, "See that kid there? He never shares the ball." Imagine my surprise when she pointed to J-Man. You go boy!!!
I laughed and told her it was my son and that he was just so darned excited to play he was having a hard time holding in his excitement and, well.....if the ball seemed free, surely he should just go get it.
She laughed too. I did watch J-Man just to make sure that there wasn't some issue I should talk to him about, but.........besides the fact that he definitely doesn't stand there and wait for the ball to come to him he was perfectly fine. He has kind of found himself in a family where he is the youngest of four boys this year. It shows in his playing. I was actually impressed because, he stayed in his position, guarded the same color wrist-band as he was, passed when he couldn't shoot, yada, yada, yada. I said nothing to him about this incident because he's very conscientious about obeying authority and would've tempered what I feel (and we are not huge sports people here) is a natural part of playing basketball so as not to hurt other kids (who just stand there waiting) feelings. He is after all only 8. See.........what a great thing this blog is. He'll be able to read all about this later in his life when it won't matter!

Perry took M to his game. We went home and ate lunch. We all met up at J's game. The younger kids talked E into taking them outside to the play ground. Okay.....I totally put them up to it, but it worked. Thanks E! We ended up back at home and decided it was such a beautiful day that we should go wear everyone out so we could watch a R-rated movie later and they would all be sound asleep. Worked too!!!

The Falls After The Flooding

The trail was open so we hiked down. We threw rocks in the river, with an extreme caution to stay far away, far, far away. It was extremely swollen and fast moving. We had a blast!

We always take the short-cut. See S hugging the tree. J was coaxing her to come over to him so he could help her. The short-cut is very steep, but, apparently it makes the hike more interesting.

This is the top of the short-cut. Look to the right of the picture. That is where S and I are headed.

S was goofing off and totally cracking herself up.

We are on the observation deck. That is not fog in the background, but mist. It was so cold and exhilarating.

Gingerbread Houses Take 5,000,649

A friend comes over each year and our 10 collective pumpkins decorate gingerbread houses together. Due to many illnesses and our trip to Disneyworld this event was postponed a gazillion times. We FINALLY met at our house the middle of January. Said friend was fortunate enough to blister her fingers sugar gluing the graham crackers together. Be more careful!

Here is Little Miss decorating hers. It was a very serious business for some reason.

Oh......we're looking at after now. Never know how these pictures are going to show up in here. This is E and J demolishing and enjoying theirs.

We're back to when we finished them.......

J-Man

Until next year.........

Is This A Trick Question?

Perry and I have been married for many years and, as such, have come up with our own euphemisms so as not to offend one another greatly. So, if he thinks I'm PMS'ing or being of delicate sensibilities, before he'll answer a question, he'll look me in the eye and say, "Is this a trick question?" If I answer, "yes" he'll say what he thinks I want to hear. If I answer, "no" he'll answer honestly.


Sometime in the last few years I cooked an experimental dinner. When Perry arrived home I heated his dinner up in the microwave and served it to him. The kids and I sat at the table staring at him as he ate. After a few bites (I couldn't believe he was still eating) I said, "What do you think?"

His reply, "Is this a trick question?"

I said laughingly, "No, what would make you think that?"

He said, "This is disgusting."

The kids and I couldn't hold our laughter in anymore.

I said, "Yeah, it's absolutely horrible. The kids and I took one bite and threw it away. We're waiting for you to take us out to dinner."

In hindsight I was surprised that he didn't know something was up since we were all sitting at the table watching him eat. He often gets home after dinner. I just heat it up for him and he eats. I usually sit with him and talk to him but the kids don't.

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Fast forward to Dec 08 at Christmas. My mom had Christmas brunch at her house. She made a lot of dishes from my childhood. The one vegetable Perry detests is peas. So, if he's annoyed me or I've been bored that day I make sure to serve it at dinner, in front of the kids, so he has to eat it. I have actually caught him trying to put his peas (I usually give him an extra-large helping) onto one of the kids' plates.

Anyway.......we're getting off track here..........Perry and I were in a playful mood, or maybe only I was, but I usually drag him along and he asked me to dish up his plate and serve him. Knowing he would make it up to me later, I agreed, apparently a little too enthusiastically.

I walked over to get his food and he was already there. I assured him I had no problem getting his plate of food for him. He was laughing by now assuring me that he could get his own. I told him that I knew exactly what he likes and would happily serve him.

He looked at the food and knew his plate would have been full of pea/kidney bean salad.

He was right.

The End Of Braces & When I'm Out Of The Room

E's braces were taken off Dec. 2nd. He did an absolutely WONDERFUL job taking care of his teeth with his braces on. He had a HUGE overbite and his eye teeth were coming in over his other teeth and way up in his gums. At first, it would take E a couple of hours to floss/brush/mini-brush his teeth. He did manage to get it down to an hour each night at the end. Perry and I were so proud of his dedication to his teeth. One more step to maturity. His teeth are not strong so he had to take extra care to keep them healthy with braces on. At his last appt, the hygienist said, "I have never seen a kid with braces come in with NO plaque on his teeth." Thanks for doing your part E. Your smile looks so good. The first picture E is I'm thinking 10.

I look at this picture - I didn't take it - and just know they were up to Something, like usual, but will probably never figure out what! I do know that E is reading the Readers Digest and drinking a HUGE cup of orange juice and that we had just gotten back from The Falls. The picture is a little small, but they both have HUGE smiles on their faces and clearly E is turning away from J. Go see J's resolution. Clearly he's having issues with it.

Random Thoughts

I have put a lot of time into J-man and M's education lately. It is so going unappreciated by them. I assure them that some day they will be glad they can read.

Mom - "Your dad would like to play the X-box that was bought for him without any kids in the room."
E - "I'm not a kid." Which makes you?????what exactly??????

S - "My brothers don't believe anything I say because I lie a lot." Okkeeedokkeeee.

E - "Mom, I need the networking key to get this computer going." Apparently if one looks blankly at a child long enough they will go figure it out themselves. I love having computer/electronic literate children.

E - "S, people really don't like Tattletalers. "
S - "E, my friends don't know I tattletale so they still like me. Please don't tell them I do that or they won't like me."

We were driving the suburban back to my mom's house to make tracks in the snow for her. It was deep and I didn't want to turn around so I backed up instead. M, J-man and S were in the suburban, unbuckled, looking out the back window for me.
Mom - "Kids tell me which way to turn, it's really narrow and I can't see well."
Kids getting louder and louder, "Turn left Mom, turn left. Mom, turn left. Mommmmm. Turn. Left."
Mom finally figures out, "Ohhh......the OTHER LEFT."

S now takes chapter books and sounds out each. individual. letter. in. the. book. Makes for a long book.

J-Man was reading a book to me. The word was Pennsyl and then vania on the next line. He said, "Pennsyl pause vanilla." I find these things so very cute it is hard not to start laughing. Okay. I confess. I laugh every time, but I am trying to stop.

When Personalities Clash

M and S have really, really been clashing lately. It is all verbal.

M said something to S, she replied, "TEC". He looked at her blankly.
"BDF, RCD," she said. He was looking at her like she had lost her mind.

She walked over to me and said, "What were those letters?"

I told her. She walked back over to M and with her most haughty look, hand on hip, hip thrust outward said,

"FYI, Maaaatttthhhheeeewwww."

He still didn't get it.

The rest of us were rolling on the floor laughing.

The Waterfall

We are fortunate enough to live within 10 minutes of Snoqualmie Falls. The power kept going on and off today so we, or rather I, decided that we should leave the house and go hiking. The Falls are so absolutely beautiful during any storm.

We quickly got ready to go in the dark, got in the suburban and off we went. Five minutes later, S decided she was really, really hungry.

Right.

Detour.

We drove up to the Ridge and went to Starbucks. Starbucks is my friend. Perry calls me a coffee snob. That may be.

$20 later, each child had something to drink and eat. I want to make sure each child has an addiction to Starbucks. Just kidding. Sort of. Actually, all the kids love coffee and I look forward to the day when they are a little older and we sit around talking and drinking coffee.
We piled back into the suburban and drove the few minutes, well, it would have been a few minutes if I hadn't missed the turn, and arrived at The Falls.





The second we stepped out of the suburban S was terrified. There were HUGE trees swaying in the wind and she felt like she was going to blow over. I assured her that it was just very windy, that a "tornado" was not going to sweep her up and that, in fact, there wasn't even really a tornado! E, being really helpful and not realizing her terror, caming running at her screaming, "The wind, the wind, it's going to get us." She then attached herself to my body. I peeled her off me and gave her to E so he could assure her that he was just playing.





















We arrived at the observation deck. The Falls were so breathtaking. The spray was blowing in our faces. It was FREEZING. The boys and I turned our faces into the spray.
















We went down the stairs to find the trail down to the falls. To our dismay, the trail was closed due to hazardous conditions. We decided to hike on the trails that lead to The Lodge and over the road instead. Usually we just go down the trail so we hadn't seen all the little acloves and observation areas that they have.
















We had a really good, but cold and wet, (did I mention it was raining?) time and raced back to the suburban. We arrived back home safe and sound. The power was back on and school work was waiting for us. Tonight we have a parent meeting for basketball.

The Woes of Many Boys

Man, oh man............The Saturday before we left to go to DW, Perry had taken J, M and J-Man to basketball tryouts. None of the boys have played, except when J was 5. When we returned we received a call from J's coach informing us that he has J on his, grades 5/6 team, along with M. We explained that M is in the 3rd grade so that couldn't be right.

Fast forward to the holidays being over and people working again. I called the Recreation Dept and talked to them about this issue. Turns out they have M on the 5/6 team AND on the 1/2 team. J-Man is on the 3/4 team. Okeeedoookeee. Just switch them. Oh...they also have all the wrong phone numbers for us which is why we haven't received any phone calls from other coaches.

Fast forward another few days. I also signed E, J and M up for an Agility Class. It was supposed to be on M, T, and R for an hour each day. The Rec Dept called to see if we could switch it to MW. In the meantime, I received the practice times for J's basketball. W from 5-6:30. I also received an email for M's team showing him on a 3/4 team. Guess who else is still on that team. Yep. J-Man.

Making a MUCH LONGER story short. They are going to prorate J for the times he will be able to do the Agility class, do the same for M if there is a conflict and, hopefully, get J-Man on the right team. Practices start tomorrow, with games starting Saturday so I sure hope this gets resolved quickly. Agility was supposed to start tonight, but is now postponed until the 12th.

I always find it funny when I sign the kids up for activities and then the activities are on the same nights. J will have Agility on M from 4:30 - 6 and Hip Hop from 7-8. Then on W he will have Agility from 4:30 - 5 and BB from 5-6:30. I have no doubt that M's will conflict somehow, just to make things more interesting.

It is now Tuesday. Tonight is the parent meeting where we are supposed to get the uniforms, schedules, etc. We haven't heard anything about J-Man's team, but I am assuming that he is actually on a team and we will meet the coach. Apparently, the boys will each have a game on Saturday, before any practices. Except J - he will have one practice. I know it seems that things are crazy and unorganized, but I am hoping to be amazed at how it all pulls together and simply works out. Hopefully, not with too many more phone calls having to be made!

Happy New Year!

I figure since we didn't actually follow any traditions for Christmas this year, we would also forgo normal NYE traditions.

Perry surprised us by buying a HUGE package of fireworks. During July 4th we are so paranoid about starting a fire that we attempt to go for fireworks that stay on the ground. This time, with 6 inches of snow still on the ground most of the fireworks are airborne.

We invited Grandma and Jered out. They didn't make it long since it was so very cold. Serena and I spent half the time in the Suburban watching because it was raining and cold. I hopped in and out of the house making and bringing out hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies. The idea was to enjoy them afterwards, but..........it was so cold. Nuff said.

I watched all of you watching the fireworks forever imprinting the picture in my memory.

We asked all of you what your Resolution would be.

E - Being more tolerant of Matthew.

J - Not teasing E so much, which E was ecstatic to hear.

M - First he told us all what we could do to be nicer to him, until we explained that this isn't actually about us, but HIM. So...........he decided to try to be nicer. I think.

J-Man - I will be nicer to my brothers.

S - Giving to others.

Mom - I already enjoy our life so I want to have more adventures/experiences to enjoy. The kids are at a wonderful age for me to actually have fun and participate in the fun activities we do. When they were young, training and keeping everyone safe was my #1 priority so many experiences were fun, but tiring. Since we are space challenged here I want to go out and do more.

Perry - Sitting at a computer year after year has taken it's toll. He wants to get in better shape so he can enjoy doing more things with us. P, E and I have a membership at a local gym. We start today!

I know Perry feels he's in bad shape, however, the kids and I always tell him that no matter what he does he makes it look so easy. We try the same thing and are always amazed at how hard "it" is.

This is the first year in awhile that everyone stayed up until midnight. I think Perry was the first to sleep.