In Her Element

Part of our time lately has been spent at gymnastics.  I have been counting the days until I thought we could work in gymnastics for Callie.  I was so excited when we moved back here to learn that Mrs. Linda was still teaching gymnastics at the Springfield YMCA.  Linda has been teaching gymnastics for 31 years!  I don’t know how many of those years has been at the Y but she has been there at least since the first time we lived here in 2003.  Kellen and Garrett both took from her the other times we lived here and I even worked there!  When we lived here in 2005-2006 I helped with the homeschool and gymnastics programs at the Y and loved working with Linda.  Linda has three boys so we hit it off and always had a good time visiting.

So, when fall came around I signed Callie up for the mommy and me class.  It is so fun and she is totally in her element!  Believe it or not she is my only climber and jumper.  She has been a flipper since she was in my tummy.  They told me when I was pregnant that they would have to watch her up to the last minute because every time we went to the hear the heartbeat she had flipped to a different place!  Luckily she flipped to the right place when it came time!

    As you can see by the big smile on her face she is loving it.  And, she is doing a great job!  I can’t tell you how excited this makes me :).  Finally a sport that I can relate to!  You can see Mrs. Linda in the background of the last picture.  She had already started her next class so I didn’t want to bug her to get a picture with Callie.  We love Mrs. Linda!

Sorry

Sorry to leave you hanging with such a fabulous blog about potty training.  Lucky for you Callie was the only person left in our house not potty trained, so you don’t have to worry about any more of those!

Unfortunately when we have so many interesting things going on, I don’t have much time to blog!  I will try in the next few days to put some pics up just to show some snippets of things going on.

Part of my lull was not a good thing.  On September 20, my Aunt Patti passed away.  She had been battling cancer for about 18-months.  Let’s just say that kind of took the wind out of my sails.  As you well know, when something like this happens you realize that most everything you spend your time doing does not really matter.  When someone that is only 59 passes away, you realize that the things you do with your time better matter. There is not time in 59 short years to waste.

Even though she had cancer, I just always thought she would get better.  She was better for a time.  She was at the family Christmas party last year like nothing had happened.  Then the cancer came back and there was nothing more to be done.

I spent a lot of time at her and  Uncle Jerry’s house when I was in junior high and high school since I babysat my cousins.  My cousin Chad was more my brothers age so it was more like going over and playing with a brother!  Luckily I had a lot of experience with this!  Then they adopted my cousin Lori.  I babysat her practically from the time she came home.  Needless to say I was in my element!  Especially since Patti loved to dress her up, and mostly in pink!    I babysat Lori for years.  Even after Todd and I got married, Lori would stay with us during the OU/Texas weekend so they Jerry and Patti could go to Texas for the game.

Patti referred me to her friends to babysit for.  Thanks to Patti, I had lunch money in high school!  I don’t think Patti ever knew how much all this meant to me.  Not only did I enjoy the jobs, but it meant something to me that they trusted me with their kids.  That she trusted me with her kids and trusted me enough to refer me to people.  I was so shy, I would have never gotten out on my own to get these jobs, and for me this was so much better than any other job that Shawnee, Oklahoma had to offer!

I don’t really know why I say all of this.  I guess just to remind myself that you never really know how you are influencing someone.  You never know what is going to impact a person.  It seems like such a simple thing, but it really had an impact on me.  What could be better to a young person than to know that you trust them?  I’m sure she was just glad to have a babysitter!  We were all at the right place at the right time for this to work out.  I wish I was better at telling people what they mean to me when there is still time.  That is not something I am good at, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.  At this point in my life, with as many places as we have lived and as many people as we have come in contact with, it would take years to go back and tell people all the little things that have impacted me. Really, it is more than being at the right place at the right time.  People in and out of my life are all just pieces of the puzzle that God has designed for my life, to make me the person that I am now and the person that I am going to be.   Little did I know it was a gazillion piece puzzle!  Really, God, 500 pieces, 1000 maybe would have been plenty!

So, Patti, thank you.  I will try to be there for your family the way you trusted me to be there for them years ago, even if it is just lifting them up in prayer every day.  Thank you for making me feel important at I time when I didn’t feel all that with it!  I hope I can do that for someone else someday.

Hallelujah

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!  (Imagine a song being sung here!)  I am, after eleven years of having a little person in diapers, done!  There were some breaks here or  there.  Our kids are far enough apart that I never had two at a time in diapers, but you get the idea!  We have been working on potty training Callie for a few weeks now, we’ve started and stopped a couple of times this summer but I feel safe to say that it is official now.  We started co-op a couple of weeks ago and she goes constantly, four times in four hours, for her teacher (including, ahem, no. 2), so I think we are official.  I think she is a little obsessed with the miniature potty in her classroom at co-op, but whatever works!  Her poor teacher!

I have debated on how many potty training stories to share.  I figured moms and ten-year-old boys would not really care.  Everyone else would be a little disgusted!  It has been quite humorous around here.  We normally don’t talk about pp, poop, etc., obviously.  This is something you keep to yourself.  But, when you are potty training, you don’t have a choice.  That, combined with three brothers, you get the idea.

So, consider yourself warned.  The following stories will include the words poop, potty, no. 2, you name it.  Feel free to click off now!

One day we were grocery shopping.  It was just Callie and me and we didn’t need much so I was letting her walk.  She was looking at the cans of spaghetti and meatballs and said “That looks disgusting!”.  I said “you think that looks yucky?”  She said “yes, someone pooped on the spaghetti!”.

Another day she came to me and said “Don’t go in my room, it stinks”.  I said “ok”.  Then, I thought, “maybe I should go check out why her room stinks”.  Oh my.  Bless her little heart.  She looked at me and with a sweet little voice said “I’m helping you mama, I’m scrubbing it!”.  Helping me she was not.  Apparently she was on her way to take care of business and decided she needed her flowered underwear.  Whatever she was wearing was not making the fashion statement she was looking for while sitting on the pot.  Well, she didn’t make it.  So, she did her business while standing in front of her chest of drawers.  Then she kindly decided to help me by “scrubbing it” into the carpet.  Yes, she did.  I think she could see the look of horror on my face because she jumped up and said “I’ll just wait in here” and ran and just stood in the bathroom.  Lucky for me, I had recently purchased something at Sam’s called “Carpet CPR”.  It actually worked.  I can’t stand carpet cleaners, they don’t work!  I can’t stand carpet!  Now you can see why!  I never feel like carpet it is clean after about two days of having it put in.  But, it is clean.  I dare anyone to come and try to find the place this unfortunate even happened!

Hopefully my potty training adventures are over.  I’m sure we will have accidents here and there, but she has not had any lately and since she will go for someone else, I feel pretty certain this will stick!  She also is so independent that she will go by herself and not tell anyone.  It is so cute to here the potty flush and see her running back to whatever she was doing!

Now, to find the poor girl some undies that fit!  She was still wearing size three diapers.  She has no hiney.  Now that she doesn’t have diapers to hold her pants up, she can hardly wear pants!  She needs an 18 months in the waist and a three in the length.  Lucky for her she is built like Todd’s side of the family.  Tall with no hiney is not from my side, I hate to break it to you ladies!  I had bought so many little panties from Gymboree because they were so cute.  Guess what, they don’t fit!  She is narrow, but the panties are even narrower at the bottom, but wide at the top.  They end up looking obscene once she has them on.  The panties from Old Navy loose all elasticity after one washing!  No joke.  So, those were thrown away.  So, we’ve been making do with something from Wal-mart that don’t exactly fit, but at least stay up.  I bought a pattern to make undies.  I never in my life thought that was something I would make!  I am really not looking forward to trying because the thought of little bits of elastic and such does not sound fun to me.  We’ll see.  I have been waiting until I was sure they would not get thrown away!

Most things about Callie growing up make me sad since I know she is my last little baby.  :(  But, this is one area I will not miss!  I am sure daddy will not miss it either!  I think he was glad he was a little out-of-the-loop on this one!  I couldn’t use the boy excuse to get him to share this with me!

So, here’s to one more milestone passed!  Sniff, sniff.

100

Well, from what I’ve seen, it is a blog tradition to type 100 things about yourself when you reach 100 blog posts.  So, since I always like to follow the crowd, ha, here I go!  These are in no particular order, I am just adding to the list as I think of something since I know if I sat down to type them all at once I would never think of anything to say!  It is probably supposed to be things that people don’t know about me, but since I’m pretty sure my readers are all family, you already know all these things!  And, I am sure that it is supposed to be 100 quick things.  Mine will not be.  I am a rambler.  Maybe that should be number one!  So, get some caffeine to keep yourself awake and read away!

1.  I love to blog.  I wish I had more time to blog!

2.  I don’t watch much TV.

3.  When I do watch TV, the volume must be on an even number.  I will even have it too loud or too low just to have an even number.  Don’t even think about watching with the volume 21, just don’t do it!

4.  As of July 6, 2010, Todd and I have been married 19 years.

5.  One show I do watch occasionally is Say Yes To The Dress.  I love wedding dresses.  But, even after nineteen years and many dresses seen since, I still love my wedding dress and would choose it over and over again.  I guess that is why it was “the” dress for me.

6.  In another life I would love to be a wedding planner or wedding dress designer, or even a wedding dress salesperson.  I love everything about weddings.

7.  My parents and Todd’s parents were all in school together at Oklahoma Christian at the same time.

8.  Oklahoma Christian is where Todd and I met.

9.  On our first date, we determined that our mom’s both made spaghetti a lot on Wednesday nights.  This was in between him tying and untying his shoes no less that 620 times.  I decided then and there that he was the one for me since I could feed him spaghetti and he could teach our kids to tie their shoes.  Just kidding.

10.  Todd and I dated about six months, then we were engaged, then we married ten months later.

11.  I have two brothers, Todd has two brothers.  I love having sister-in-laws.  No offense guys!

12.  Todd and I have moved sixteen times.  You read that right.  Moved sixteen.  Married nineteen.  Yes, it is as bad as it sounds.

13.  If you count Edmond and Yukon as part of OKC and Nixa as part of Springfield, we’ve only actually live four different places in all those moves.  I don’t know what this means, except that I wish some of those moves would have been to some fun, exotic places!

14.  I could totally live in downtown Chicago or NYC.

15.  I think I have been to eleven major league baseball games.  Have I mentioned I don’t care for baseball?  Or hot dogs?  I do like apple pie though.  Why don’t they sell apple pie at baseball games?

16.  I love to sew.  I love to embroider.  I’m so excited I have a daughter to sew for.  At least until she tells me to stop, which will probably be pretty soon.

17.  Everyone told me that girls are easier to potty train than boys.  Guess what, they are NOT!

18.  I wish all the time I was ten years younger so I could have more kids.  I really would like more kids.

19.  I am a terrible decorator.  This worked out well when we were renting most places we lived.  I had the excuse that we would be moving on soon.  When we buy a house, that excuse doesn’t really fly.

20.  I wish I had the nerve to have a whimsical, colorful fun home.  Right now my whimsicalness sits at two chairs.

21.  I have four of the sweetest kids I know.  Ok, I’m a little biased.  But, I love them!

22.  Kellen started Kindergarten in Tulsa and was in school until November of that year, then we moved.  We’ve homeschooled ever since.

23.  At this point, I can’t imagine not homeschooling.  I don’t know what the future holds, but I’ve gotten very spoiled having so much time with my kids.

24.  You don’t have to read very many of my posts to guess what my grades in English were.    But, I continue to write them anyway. 

25.  I can’t stand to scrapbook.  My perfectionism gets me too freaked out about the whole process.  So, I blog.  I am printing my blog so I can put it up for my kids to have someday.  They may not care, but it makes me feel better.  At least they’ll have a little notebook to put next to their spouses 65 professionally done scrapbooks of their lives.

26.  I have a tendency to be sarcastic.

27.  My parents will be married 49 years this year.  Todd’s parents have been married 48 years.  For these marriages I am so thankful.

28.  At our rehearsal dinner, Clay said he knew Todd and I would stay married because we are the two most stubborn people he knows.  He was right.  Sometimes it takes pure stubbornness to make it work.  Or maybe the stubbornness makes the work.  I don’t know.  But, we’re still here.

29.  This may be a list of 29 things.  I don’t think I can think of 100 things to write about myself!  I will need at least one more, I can’t end on an odd number.

30.  Todd and I have only had one pet.  Well, we had some fish when we were first married, but then we moved, and well, they didn’t make it.  Abby was our one and only.  The sweetest little daschund .  She was not supposed to be a miniature, but she never got over 9 pounds.  We had her sixteen years.  She moved and moved with us and never seemed to be bothered by it.  She was bothered when we had babies.  She was bothered when we tried to get a second dog for her to play with.  Needless to say that friendship didn’t last long and we found a good home for the new dog.  But, moving didn’t bother her. 

31.  I would have loved to have named Callie Abby but everyone thought it would be too weird.

32.  I am a nervous wreck about having a daughter.  I have no idea what I am doing!

33.  I love pink.

34.  Lucky for Todd we had a girl.  This last moved I changed the color of our bedroom from pink and white blue and white.

35.  Todd always said he wanted three boys and a girl.  That’s what he got. :)

36.  The boys were born in Oklahoma City.  Callie was born in Iowa.

37.  All of our kids names had to have double letters, to go with our last name that has double letters.  Daddy’s idea.

38.  If you look in the right baby name books, all of our kids names are Irish.

39.  Even if we had more kids we could only have about four more since by the time you take out all the baby names that don’t have double letters and are not Irish, you are only left with four.

40.  I love to buy shoes.  It’s not fun to buy shoes for myself anymore since I have to start with comfortable and work my way down.  So, I buy shoes for Callie.  :)

41.  If I won the lottery the first thing I would do would be hire someone to clean my house, regularly.  I am so over cleaning.

42.  I love to fly.  In airplanes that is.

43.  I love to travel.  The second thing I would do if I won the lottery is buy a bunch of airline tickets to all kinds of places.

44.  I spent six weeks in Europe in between my junior and senior years of college.  Loved it!  I was part of a mission group with Let’s Start Talking.  We spent five weeks working with a church in the Netherlands and a week traveling.  One of the best times of my life.  I would love to take my kids there.

45.  Sam’s will not allow employees to take more than a week of vacation at a time.  So, even though Todd has four weeks vacation, it doesn’t do us much good when it comes to traveling great distances.  Unless I go by myself, which I have been known to do!

46.  Tulips are my favorite flower.  I would love to visit the Netherlands when the tulips are in full bloom, except that I am scared it would be too commercialized and then I would be disappointed. 

47.  I am not a fan of Disney.  So, a trip to Disneyworld if about last on my list.  That probably makes me un-American.  Oh well. 

48.  The commercialization of things drives me nuts.  Why does EVERYTHING have to have a sponsor?  I know, because someone has to pay for all the “stuff” that people enjoy, but it is all just too much these days.

49.  I have a terrible memory and that makes me sad.  I wish I could remember every little detail of my kids lives, but I can’t.  Bits and pieces jump out to me every once in a while, but that is about it.

50.  I will not ever win the lottery because I don’t buy lottery tickets.  But, it’s a nice thing to think about sometimes!

51.  I think my second dream job would be to design children’s wear.  I don’t know if anyone would buy it, but it would be fun.

52.  In sixth grade, we had to make a poster titled something like “About Me”.  In the part where we were supposed to draw a picture about what we wanted to be when we grew up I drew me feeding a baby in a high chair.  Being a mama is all I ever wanted to do.  So, I guess my actual dream job is coming true!  Of course now I realize being a mama is way more than one job!

53.  In sixth grade I rode a bus to another school to be in a gifted and talented class.  We were a mixture of kids from all over town that got to be in the most wonderful class with the most wonderful teacher.  I know, how did this happen?  What can I say, I can take tests!

54.  I pretty much didn’t like school except for sixth grade.  I was so very shy that any thing other than sitting at my desk doing schoolwork was torture.  I even volunteered to wash dishes in the school cafeteria so that I wouldn’t have to go to recess.  Should I even admit that?  I guess it doesn’t hurt for people to know I have been weird all my life!

55.  I can’t draw to save my life.  I wish I could.  I wish I was an artist and super-creative.  But, I’m not, I’ve learned to deal.  I’m glad my kids are creative in spite of me!

56.  I was deathly afraid of the dark growing up.  I have outgrown it, a little.

57.  Easter is my favorite holiday.  Three reasons:  Jesus, new clothes and the beginning of spring!

58.  Fall is my next favorite.  The temperatures are just right and even though I would not care if I ever watched another football game on TV, the thought of a high school game with a marching band just makes me happy.

59.  Next would be summer.  I love the freedom.  Don’t love the heat.

60.  I really could live someplace that didn’t have a winter.  I despise being cold and despise snow.  My Iowa friends can attest to this, since I complained the entire time I lived there.  Sorry about that!

61.  I also love to buy socks.  I can’t stand to wear socks, but love to buy them.

62.  I once took a sack with 102 pairs of socks to Goodwill.  In my defense, there were a lot of little baby socks.  My boys never really wore them since they were spring babies, but apparently I couldn’t resist buying them!

63.  I was born in October.  During the OU/Texas football game.  I think that was an omen.

64.  We have four OU football season tickets that we never use.  Don’t worry, we sell them, but it would be more fun to use them!

65.  My parents live in the same house that I grew up in.

66.  Todd’s parents live in the same house he grew up in.

67.  Our kids don’t know where they live.

68.  In the third grade I got chicken pox and glasses all in the same week.  Not a good week.

69.  I have a college degree in Physical Education.  I never wanted to be a teacher, I wanted to work in fitness or physical therapy.

70.  My first job was at Presbyterian Hospital in the Oklahoma City Center For Athletes.  I know what you are thinking, right up my alley.  It was a semi-fun job that only lasted nine months because we moved.

71.  My next job was for an eye doctor.  I decided then that I wanted to work in the optometric field.  That lasted seven months.  Then we moved.  Can you see a pattern here. 

72.  I have a terrible time making decisions.  Big decisions, little decisions, it doesn’t really matter.

73.  We were married six years before we had Kellen.  We wanted to be “ready” before we had kids.  Of course we soon found out you are never ready.

74.  We would have loved to have our kids close together, but God did not have that planned for us.  I think I will trust His judgment.

75.  I really, really try to trust God and His plan for my life.  It is not easy.  I’m a tad controlling.  I would have never laid my life out like this.

76.  I have a pretty good life, so luckily someone else is making the plans!

77.  I don’t remember when Clay was born, I was only 22 months old.

78.  I remember every detail about the day Ryan was born.  I was seven.  While I was initially a little sad he was not a sister, I got over it very quickly.

79.  I am now very glad he was not a sister.  There are some advantages to being the only girl.

80.  Ryan had long curly hair as a toddler, so I curled it and fixed it for him.  The next best thing to having a sister.

81.  People always thought Clay and I were twins.  He was tall, I was short, and we were dressed alike a lot.

82.  I sort of bossed them around a lot.  Sorry about that.

83.  Clay and Ryan both work in public education.  I do not.

84.  Clay and Ryan both live in Oklahoma.  I do not.

85.  Todd still says we will end up in Oklahoma City some day, for good.  I’m beginning to think that is not in the plans.

86.  If we could, we would move back to the first little house we bought in the Village.  We LOVED that house, still do.  Of course, we have added two more kids since then, so it might not really work out.  But, that was the best house.

87.  The second house we owned was in Iowa.  We loved the space.  I loved the laundry chute and laundry room. 

88.  The house in Iowa was supposed to be a work in progress while we lived there.  But, we didn’t live there long enough.  So, it became a major stress to get it done and sell it. 

89.  Todd never saw the finished product.  I wish he could have.  It turned out really cute.

90.  Thank the Lord we sold it in three weeks.  I couldn’t take that house anymore!

91.  The third house we have owned is the house we are in now.  It is new.  Or was new.  We’ve used it now.

92.  It is sooo boring.  Maybe if we built it ourselves, it would not be boring.  But since we just bought it this way, boring.  It is boring because I’m afraid to touch anything.  Something about having an old house makes me think I can fix that, make it look better.  Here, it’s hard to change anything since it is new.  I don’t know if I ever want a new house again.  But, I’ve learned to never say never.

93.  I know I am blessed to have this home, don’t get me wrong.  I am thankful for it every day.  Just bored with it. 

94.  Or maybe I’m bored because I’m not pregnant or packing.  Or pregnant and packing.

95.  I wish I knew the Bible better.  You’d think by going to church my whole life and taking Bible classes in college I would know it better.  But I am finally realizing that you have to actually study it, not just sit and listen about it.

96.  I desperately want my kids to know the Bible.  So, we start our homeschool day with Bible and I am learning right along with them.  It’s the best part of our day.

97.  I love my kids.  I can’t even describe how much I love these four people in my life.

98.  I love my husband.  I am so thankful for him.  He has put up with a lot from me and is still here.

99.  I love God.  I am so thankful to Him for blessing me beyond what I deserve.

100.  I love you for actually reading to the end!  Ha!  Unless your like me and you read the end of the book first to see if you actually want to mess with reading the whole thing.  If that is the case, don’t bother going back to read the list.  It will be ten minutes of your life you’ll never get back!

First Day of School

Well, the first day of the Foxx Family School year 2010-2011 has come and gone.  We are now well into our seventh day.  Ha!  It seems like we never stopped.  Except that we did.  The kids and I were talking about our last few years of school and to say they were crazy is an understatement!

Here they are at the “school table”.  We have already rearranged this set-up.  Hopefully we’ll be rearranging again if I can talk daddy into a trip to IKEA!  We really only sit at the table together for Bible then everyone splits up, but it is getting crowded around here! Callie.  She’s technically in preschool, I guess.  She goes between playing, writing, and teaching.  Whatever she is in the mood for that day!

Gannon.  He’s in first grade this year.

Garrett.  He’s in fifth grade.

Kellen.  He is in 7th grade, which is junior high around here.   Here’s hoping I can keep up with that challenge! 

Here’s looking at a great school year!

A New Man

In the course of a week, Garrett has turned into a new man!  First he got contact lenses, then he got his braces off! 

 

What a handsome guy!  He’s always been a handsome guy, but now he can be handsome without messing with glasses and braces.  Unfortunately he will have braces again some day.  These were phase one for him :(.  But, for now he can enjoy his straight pearly whites!  He’s doing a great job with his contacts and is really, really enjoying being able to play without the glasses being in the way.  And, we can admire his long eyelashes.  ;).  The poor thing, in glasses his lashes were always bent up they were so long.  The contacts have got to be more comfortable!  Your doing great Garrett!

A Sloooow Day

This must have been a slow day for the Springfield news!  We were taking our lunch break from schoolwork when the doorbell rang.  A couple of men asked if they could ask me some questions about having a sprinkler system in my house (which we do not have, btw).  After I answered him he asked if he could interview me, since I am ever so quick I just stood there, thinking, “I think you just did”.  Then I realized he meant for TV.  Ha!  I don’t know what I was thinking.  Why didn’t I just say, “no thanks”.  Instead, I said, “Can I go brush my hair first?”  We were not planning to leave the house except to go swim at a friends house, so I hadn’t done much in the hair and makeup dept. and I had on my uniform of a black tee and jeans.  Lovely.  

Anyway, I ran in, took my hair out of a ponytail an slapped on some mascara and “lips” as Callie calls it.  I came out and they had me sit on my porch.  Yes, I’m just hanging out on my porch, talking about sprinklers.  Very natural.  Then, they asked if they could get some shots of my kids running around in the yard. !Oooookkkkk.  That would also be very natural.  We do a lot of just running amuck in our yard!  After a minute I asked them if they would like me to get a football or something.  So, we have the boys throwing the football around and Callie being shy.  They got a nice shot of me forgetting that I can’t throw a football.  They don’t actually show me, but show the football randomly landing in the middle of the circle and Garrett trying to reach it.  Luckily they also cut out the part of Callie picking her nose! 

For the record, I don’t have strong feelings one way or the other if people get sprinklers in their homes.  I have always been paranoid about my kids not waking up if our house was on fire and the smoke detector didn’t wake them up.  I think I saw a show about that on 20/20 or something.  So, sprinklers would probably wake them or put the fires out before they needed to wake up. That would be a good thing!  I also mentioned to them that if the sprinklers were ugly I would not want them.  I guess they didn’t feel that was newsworthy!  Yes, I really said that.  Luckily, it was  not a piece about “Local SAHM rambles on about random stuff”, I could have helped them out with that too!

Click to see the Foxx Family on the News, ha

Love

Not much going on these past few days.  Thank goodness!  I don’t know when I’ve been able to say that recently!  I’ve had these pictures saved for a while to share because I LOVE them.  

Callie loves her brothers.  She loves to play with them.  She loves to pick on them.  She loves to boss them around.  She just loves them.  I love the expressions on her face in these pictures from Gannon’s birthday! Callie is  watching Gannon open his birthday gifts.  She had no idea what any of the the stuff was, but she knew this was exciting because he was excited!  Of course his expressions are priceless too!  Oh to be young!  Little things can make them so happy!  Callie and Gannon are becoming quite the playmates now that she is playing “with” people more.  She is coming out of that play stage where they just play alongside others.  She pretends all the time and tells long stories that we have no idea what she is talking about!  Of course other than just playing together Gannon and Callie are fighting more too.  I won’t go into that obnoxiousness!  (is that a word?)

                       

Garrett reading to her at bedtime.
  Playing in the fort together.

Kellen sharing his iPod.  Or showing it to her, I’m not sure which one :).

Gannon holding her hand while we go through the carwash.  Todd’s store has a carwash and when we first moved here, she was scared to death to go through it!  So, Gannon started holding her hand.   Now that she is not scared anymore, she still wants to hold his hand. :)

The love is not just Callie to her brothers, I think they love her too!

“We’ll Never See These People Again”

I don’t know about you, but every professional sporting event I have ever been too I have been scared to death I was going to fall on the stairs.  They make them soooo steep and narrow and a jillion people are trying to use them all at once.  But, I have never fallen, until this game.  I have no excuse.  I was not carrying a kid.  I was not even carrying the backpack.  I think in all my freedom I was be-bopping a little too fast down the stairs and just fell. 

We were on our way down the stairs after the game to take some pictures.  Todd was leading the way.  About the second stair from the bottom, I started falling.  I was doing everything in my power to stay up, but it wasn’t going to happen.  In the process I pushed Callie out of the way, so she fell.  Then, for some reason, I decided Gannon could save me, so I put my hand on his shoulder.  He is six.  I am not.  So, all my weight on his shoulder did not work, he went to the ground, squashing Garrett’s foot under him, with me on top of him.  Flat.  Finally, Todd turned around.  I can only imagine what he was thinking.  He just stood there in shock.

Gannon is crying, I am laughing, Todd is trying to unload since he was carrying the backpack and camera and sack of stuff from the gift shop.  I was laughing so hard I couldn’t get up.  Anyone that knows me knows that I laugh when things like this happen, whether it is to me or someone else.  I don’t know why, I just do.  I didn’t even look around.  I didn’t want to see the look on  peoples faces as I lay there laughing as two of my kids are crying and my husband is going into shock.  I managed to get up.  We all examined our scrapes, and went on with our picture.  By the time we got home the next day I found scrapes, bumps, and bruises that I don’t have any idea how I got.  I feel like I’ve been hit by a car! 

The really sad thing is that the Royals stadium is kind of like an oversized minor league field, so the steps  are not that steep and narrow.  Wrigley Field, the old Busch Stadium, I can see falling.  But here, I don’t know what happened.

As I lay there laughing, all  I could think about was my Grandma,  when things like this have happened to her, she always says, “Oh well, we’ll never see these people again!”  Thank goodness!

We managed to recover pretty well and get a family picture.  I’m hoping all those big smiles are not my family laughing on the inside at their clumsy mama!

That Time Of Year

Well, it was time for our summer trip to a baseball game.  It doesn’t seem like it would be summer without heading to a ball field!  Todd had already chosen the Yankees/Royals game in April, when we had no idea what kind of heat we would be having!  Yes, I know it is always hot in the summer, but this is a little much!  We had intended to have a few days to enjoy Kansas City, but that didn’t work out thanks to Sam’s.  I’m really trying to not have a pity party about it, since they are technically the ones paying for the fun.  But, Todd has had to change pretty much every vacation and day off this summer.  It is getting a little old!  Yes, I’m thankful my husband has a job and we can do this, but mama’s organization skills have been extremely challenged this summer with the constant changing!  My little brain can’t take it!!  Ha!  So, it was just an overnight trip to KC, but a fun one!

Yes, it was this hot!  The game had not even started yet, bless her heart!
The guys enduring the sun.  Ok, so mama didn’t do a good job of picking seats.  Oh well!  But, it turned out to be a great game.  A-Rod, who is one of Garrett’s favorites, hit three homeruns.  Yes, three in one game!  There were a lot of homeruns in fact, which makes for a much more exciting game.  By the, oh, sixth or seventh inning, the heat broke a little and the game was quite pleasant!

We were under the seats checking out the concession stands when someone hit a homerun, this is Callie’s reaction!  “Too loud, mama"!”  (Pardon the bad phone picture!)

Our family pic.  Next time I think we will take the picture before the game!  Although I don’t think at this game it would have helped.  This is  what we looked like by the time we walked from the car!

But, this makes it totally worth it.  Garrett’s reaction to A-Rods third homerun.  This was his reaction to pretty much all the home runs, but I know this was the third one because I told Todd to get the camera ready just in case.  I couldn’t believe he actually hit another homerun! Pure excitement from a ten-year-old boy.  I guess mama can sit in the heat for a few hours for this face!

Legos

The kids and I started August off with a road trip to Lego Camp.  More specifically MU Neuro-LEGO Robotics Camp.  I kept calling it Legos camp, then Kellen informed me that people were giving him a hard time about going to Lego Camp.  I think that probably sounded like a they were just going to go and build towers or something.  But, I was trying to keep it light, so they wouldn’t think I signed them up for something where they were going to have to use their brains during summer vacation!  Which is actually what I did! :) 

The camp was at the University of Missouri, about three hours away in Columbia, Missouri.

Finally, something I signed them up for this summer was a huge success!  They all loved it and learned sooo much that we would have had a hard time doing at home, or at least knowing where to start from at home. 

When we were in Iowa Kellen was set to be on a Lego Mindstorms team, where they build robots and take them to competitions, but we had to back out since we were trying to move in the middle of all of this.  I was really disappointed as I knew this was something he would enjoy and would be good for him!  So, I started researching here and found this three-day camp.  

Our hotel was right next to the campus and the football field.  The boys got a kick out of seeing the college guys practicing.  We almost wrecked with one trying to get this picture.  Kellen asked me the other day how I ever got a driver’s license!  I told him you only have to drive good one time!  (No, I was not driving and taking photos, Kellen was taking the pictures!)

  
Garrett on the first day.  Just walking into this computer lab with all the computers and rolly chairs was worth the trip for the boys!


Kellen and Gannon were partners on the first day.  The second and third days they moved the lower grades to another room so they could all learn at their own levels.

Garrett and his partner receiving some instruction.

Kellen and Gannon trying out their robot on the first day.

Gannon and his partner Lexie.  This was their “free-for-all” robot at the end of the third day.  It won all the challenges!  She was the sweetest girl.  God was really looking out for Gannon at this camp.  He is shy and takes a little time to warm up to new things, but he got to be with his brother the first day then with Lexie the second and third days.  It would have been very easy for her to take over the robot and do all the fun computer stuff, but she didn’t.  She made sure he had a part and took turns with him without him having to be demanding (which wouldn’t have happened!).  Such a blessing!

Gannon and Lexie getting their robot ready for a challenge.  The challenge was to try to push the other teams robots over the black like before their robot got pushed out.

Garrett and Kellen trying out their remote control robots.

On the last day the big kids had to give a presentation about their final robots and had a little power-point to go with it.  We haven’t had many opportunities to get up in front of strangers and speak, so this was a bonus!  Here is Garrett giving his presentation.

Kellen giving his presentation.  Love the hands in his pockets.  So much like his daddy!

The end of the camp.  Callie decided to get in on the action.  She was a trooper.  We made lots of trips back and forth and just killing time around town.  We did some back to school shopping, found some huge fabric stores, and just hung out.  I wish it hadn’t been so hot!  I had plans to take her to the park and places that two-year olds enjoy, but it was just way to hot for hanging out outside!  We would pick the boys up at three each day then mess around, eat dinner and swim at the hotel.  By bedtime the boys crashed!  They used a lot of brain power!

The guys with Beetle Bailey.  The creator of the Beetle Bailey  cartoon character was a graduate of the University of Missouri.  They were doing major road construction on the campus so it took us two days to find this little guy!  I was obsessed once I read about it, Beetle Bailey is one of Grandpa’s favorites!

     

Of course one of the fun things about visiting a new town is seeing what you can find to do and places you can eat.  We were so excited to see they had a Noodles!  We miss Noodles from Iowa!  I think we could have eaten every meal there!

All in all this was a huge success!  We are so excited to explore the Lego Robotics and see what else is out there that we can participate in.  Thanks daddy for letting us go and being ok with us traveling by ourselves.  I loved having this little break with just my kiddos.  The kids and I did a lot of traveling when we lived in Iowa and it was always so nice to just concentrate on kids.  I’ve missed that.  Even though I am home with them every day, life happens when we are home.  Things have to be done so I can’t always just concentrate on them like I would like to.  (They are probably glad about this! ha!)  So, having some time to just hang out, listen to our favorite songs, eat at our favorite places, have conversations without being interrupted by things…so much fun!  Life is going by way to fast to not have some of these times to just stop the usual routines and enjoy each other.  I am so blessed and times like this help me realize that.  It’s easy to have pity parties about small stuff when the days are flying by at the speed of light!  Here’s to a successful end of the summer, and successful beginning to the new school year.  Life is good!

And We’re Done!

Well, we are done with July.  Clay and his kids came for a visit to finish off the month.  So, we finished off the month like we started it, with company, and we love it!

It was a busy five days!  Just having seven kids in your house instead of four makes things just seem busy!

The first full day we headed to Silver Dollar City.  We figured a Thursday would be less crowded than a Friday or weekend.  It wasn’t too bad.  The kids had a great time, they seemed oblivious to crowds or heat!

Gannon and Mason on the Teacups.  Gannon was so thrilled to have someone his age to ride with!

Mason and Gannon taking a breather.  I have so many cute pictures of them I could post, it would take their own blog post to get them all in.  They both always just looked so happy!

Mallori, Madison, Garrett, Kellen, Mason, and Gannon taking a break.

A ride all the kids to do together, how fun!

I almost feel a little disrespectful putting this picture out there.  But, it was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time!  It is hard to make out, but the two people in the back are Madison and Kellen.  The woman in the front is no one we know.  By the time they got to the bottom of the log ride, the lady was laying on Madison.  It was the funniest thing.  I was laughing before I saw it was Madison, then when the boat went by and I saw it was her being squashed,  I was in tears!

Callie decided to get in on the action.  She had tried the frog ride the last time we were there and didn’t like it.  So, this time she decided to try the butterflies.

And, she didn’t think much of them either.  She screamed for her daddy the whole ride!  I really did not make her ride, she asked.  I think she is done with rides this year!

Still traumatized from the butterflies!

“Ok, now I’m better!”

Mallori, Garrett, and Kellen decided to brave this flying, spinning thing.  Kellen is already giving it a thumbs down.  They all said the seats were so tight they couldn’t breath!

Teenagers.  :(.

Clay and his kids.

Todd just happened to have a week of vacation this week, so he got to hang out with us too.  That was such a nice treat!

Madison and Mallori were teaching Callie little hand games and songs.  I don’t really know what those are called, but they are those little slap and clap games.  I know, pathetic description, I am sure they have a name!

Mallori and Callie playing in Callie’s room.

We spent Friday hanging out at home for a while then we went to Branson to go back-to-school shopping.  They were having great deals!  Clay picked up lots of stuff for his kids and his work clothes.  I bought my kids some new pjs to hang out in for school.  Just kidding!  Really!  We do get up and get dressed!

Saturday we stayed home and broke out the water slide.  It was a perfect hot day for it!  Here is Mason flying off the end.

Here is Garrett, doing something.  I think they were trying to pose for pics and come down the slide at the same time!

Kellen flying off the end.  The girls were sliding too but I didn’t really get a good picture of them. :(

Gannon and Callie hanging out in her baby pool!

Callie having fun.  Poor thing, I bought here a bigger pool but the big kids confiscated it to land in when they overshoot the waterslide. 

The boys making their monkey faces.  Can’t imagine where they learned that!

All the kiddos dressed up for church.  A nice picture to end on!  They left shortly after lunch to go home.  Callie was so sad.  She said “but they need to stay forever!”.  She loves all the girl attention she gets from her cousins!  Thanks Clay for taking so many pictures!  I never take enough so I downloaded all his before he left!