Sequins

On Friday night Johan and I attended the Ops group Christmas party.  A loves to "help me" get ready.  She always wants a bit of lotion, she pronounces it "lotion."  She usually asks to blow dry her hair, and spends quite a bit of time playing with barrettes, etc.  While I was getting ready I laid out my new sequin top.  A was totally struck, like a moth to a flame.  She wanted to touch the sequins, and talk about the top, and then she exclaimed, "Mama, it's so boootiful!!!"

The next morning, A slipped into my closet and dressed herself.

She was, of course, thrilled with her outfit.  She put the sequin top on over her jammies.  She paired her sequins with soccer turf shoes.  In her defense, she really doesn't have that much to work with in the shoe department in my closet...

Hollywood!!!

Ms. A loves sunglasses.  She almost always puts them on upside down, and every time, without fail she proudly turns to me and theatrically exclaims, "Hollywood!"  I think I must have said that when she put them on before, and now anytime she dawns sunglasses, or in this case Nerf dart protective goggles, she says it with a giant smile that belongs on a red carpet.

K Baptism

K was baptized on November 17.  She was nine months old when we baptized her.

In Catholic churches the baptism usually takes place during a regular mass.  Which means the family stands in front of the entire church, hoping that their baby cooperates and that all the siblings remain quiet and stand still.  We had every confidence in the boys, but couldn't be sure about little K or Ms. A.  True to form Ms. A., who at one point attempted to climb into the baptismal font, did not disappoint.  Johan had to move quickly to prevent her from getting wet.  She had already thrown one leg up and over the edge of the font before Johan moved to quickly shut her down.  Then we had to get little K into the gown during the ceremony.  For the other three kids we were allowed to put the gown on them before we went up.  For K however, Johan had to fumble around awkwardly trying to fit K's fingers through her sleeves in front of the whole church.  Those little fingers just would not go through the sleeves, she had them all splayed open and the sleeve openings are tight and not elastic.  Finally Johan was successful after what felt like eternity standing in front of the whole church. 

Jill is her God-mother.  Thank you Jill!

I should point out that all four of our kids wore that gown for their baptism.  C was just a month old when he was baptized in Alaska.  The gown was huge on him...  K was six months old when he was baptized.  We got him baptized at the same church where C was baptized when we were back in Alaska on vacation.  The gown was very tight on him, but we cut the sleeves a bit and it worked.  A was three months old she was baptized in the gown.  It was very tight across the chest, and thankfully the sleeves had already been cut.  At nine months the gown was just a tad tight on little K.  She is a petite little thing.

Bishop Liam Carrey baptised little K.  It was his first baptism as a bishop, so we feel special.  That is the bishop on the left.  Father Rick is between Johan and C.

Special thanks to the Cooke family at church who took the above pictures with their camera.  We were in such a rush getting ready and getting to church on time that none of us brought our cameras or phones in.  

November

The leaves are almost totally gone, the clocks have been turned back, and the turkey has been carved.  I miss summer so much already, I don't know what happened to that extra hour, and can't believe that it is time to think about Christmas!  Time is racing, and although I feel like I am constantly busy, I also feel like I will never be caught up....

So we did a whole lot this month, but I failed to blog about it.  Just a few recent pictures so that I don't lose the month entirely.

Little K is nine months now!  She is crawling around so well.  It is amazing how much more proficient a crawler she has become just since this time last week.  She is even pushing up on hands and feet, bottom in the air.  She is still tiny.  She is in the 25th percentile for height and weight, 75th for head circumference.

K...what can I say...this guy is so sweet and helpful and really pretty funny!  I love you K!

Kind of a sad day C was not that interested in playing ball tag with us at the park...  He wanted to play catch with Johan.  But (really big sigh) I think we are on the edge of adolescence.  He did join in at the end, and we all had a great time, but there are more and more signs that my baby is growing up...

Ah lovely Ms. A.  How I adore you, so sassy...  Lately Ms. A has perfected the damsel in distress routine.  She will begin carrying something and almost immediately announce, "No, too heavy for me."  And then she will practically curtsy before skipping off leaving her brothers or myself to do the heavy lifting.  She loves to need help as well, she will begin a task and then quickly beckon K or C, "I need help!"  But her favorite of all is feigned fear.  She loves to scream and she loves to be chased and tickled.  Sometimes even if the boys are just walking in her general direction she will drop what she is doing and squeal before crying out, "Ahhh he going get me..."  Then run off as though the boys were chasing her, thus ultimately prompting the desired game of chase.

Happy Halloween

C had the show stopper this year, a garden gnome or The Traveling Gnome, or just a gnome.  Whatever, it was a great costume and he got tons of compliments...so bonus!  Ms. A is a strawberry and  kudos to Old Navy, that little beauty cost $10 and it was well-made, warm, and (ahem) super cute!  K was a super tough ninja.  His second choice.  He had ordered a Robin Hood costume but Amazon cancelled the order a couple days after it was placed so he settled for this one and it suits him.  He was an excellent ninja.  In the back you see King Tut.  He will be shaving that stash tomorrow and I will be celebrating one of my favorite annual holidays.  November 1, a.k.a., the end of Stash-tober.  I was the Queen Bee.  Love that costume.  I wore it for work and it was great.

Not pictured in costume is Little K.  She went to bed early with a fever.  She woke up as the trick-or-treaters returned.  She had fun playing with A for a little while and then she got a bit fussy.  Fussy was followed by cuddly which I love.  I probably shouldn't enjoy it but there is something wonderful about the sick snuggles.  Not that I want her to be sick, but it is like the silver lining of having a sick baby.

And because I never get pumpkin carving pictures...

Ms. A spent most of her time moving the pumpkin guts and the pumpkin seeds from one container to another.  The hoarder in her tried to stash some slimy pumpkin seeds in a pencil box and hide it in her toy basket.  I had to draw the line...

Off to bed...

Ms. A has a penchant for mess making.  She can completely alter the landscape of a room in mere seconds.  I (usually with help from the boys) generally attempt to repair the damage after she has been tucked in.  This evening however, with the boys still away at a soccer game with Johan, I decided to enlist Ms. A in "clean-up."  She initially dug in when I asked her to help put the train tracks away, but ultimately she did a fair job of helping.

When we got to the living room, she became distracted with wanting to eat and color.  So I managed a good clean-up.  Ms. A turned around and looking at our now tidy living room, calmly announced, "I need make a mess."  And she was serious!  She then set about re-scattering the odd assortment of items that she manages to find each day.  Lego men, crayons, golf balls, blocks, papers, she isn't picky...

I had to insist that the mess making was done, we were off to bed.  So I advised her, as I do almost every night, to get her bedtime things.  Every night she takes something different to bed.  Books, stuffed animals...you never know what she will bring

Tonight she gathered a classic assortment.  When she arrived bedside for story time she had the following:

It was all contained nicely in a Rubbermaid shoebox; K's favorite stuffed puppy that he slept with every night for many years, a random Beanie Baby iguana, an old Blackberry, a Lego tiger, and K's mason jar full of quarters.

She cracks us up.  She scatters so much stuff around the house, but she is always packing random collections of things into random containers; paper bags, boxes, Tupperware, baskets, etc.  I believe that last night she slept with K's puppy again along with a dead bug of unknown origin sealed in a  Tupperware container.

Top Shelf

I really wish I had written down all the funny things the kids have said to me over the years.  There have been some really good ones, sadly, they all buried in the recesses of my mind now...

Here is the latest from Ms. A:

I was giving her one Skittle as a reward for going potty on the toilet.  She of course negotiated, "I think I need couple."  She wanted more than one.  So I gave her two.  And she was happy enough to jump up and down, cheering, "One, two! One, two!"  When I moved to put the Skittles back onto the top shelf of the pantry Ms. A noted, "Ohhhhhh you put that up there?!?"  "Ohhhhhh, so KiKi can't get them." [she calls little K KiKi pronounced K-eye K-eye]

I couldn't hide my laughter.  Little K can't even stand up.

Yep, little Ms. movies in the middle of the night I am putting the Skittles up high so your infant sister can't get them.

Movies after Midnight???

Ms. A is in an awful phase, she is not sleeping through the night.  Around midnight, nightly she awakes and storms into our bedroom.  Without intending to stomp, her little foot steps can shake the house.  Ms. A brings with her whatever books we read at bedtime, as many stuffed animals as she can carry, her sippy cup of water, and her almost empty sippy cup of yogi (she gets kefir every night before bed).  Along the way from her bedroom she typically drops all of said items in the hallway.  With a loud "gasp" and a flourish she scoops everything up and continues on her way, until she again drops everything and scoops it up.  At this time either Johan or myself, now wide awake, run to her aid.  When we get her and her possessions resettled into our bed she thrashes around for a bit before falling into a less than restful sleep.  Ms. A talks in her sleep.  Actually she waves her arms and legs around calling out "No!"

Last night the routine was unvaried, until sometime after 1:00 AM.  A had already presented herself in our bedroom.  Her books, animals, and sippy cups were in place.  Johan and I were both squished over to the very edge of our king size bed while Ms. A moved about on the other two-thirds of the mattress.  At some point Johan was awakened by...stillness.  Ms. A was no longer in our bed.  He sat up and was able to peer out into the darkness of the living room.  Johan spotted a blonde little girl perched on the sofa in the middle of the night.  As Johan approached he realized Ms. A was staring at one of the boys' Kindle Fires.  A looked up at him, "I watching movie!" she announced before turning back to the tablet.

Ms. A had gotten out of bed all by herself in the middle of the night.  She went out into the living room, located a Kindle Fire, turned it on, found the Netflix application, selected it, and choose a movie.  Aside from the obvious entertainment factor of the story, we are fairly concerned.  I don't know if this behavior would fall into the "sneaky" category, but it certainly falls into the "gutsy" and "defiance" categories.  C and big K would never, never, not ever have done something like this...  Oh, Ms. A, what do you have in store for us???

Love...Hate...

Miss. A and Big K love to hate each other.  They are constantly messing with each other, teasing to the point of anger.  Well the anger is only from Miss. A.  K just shrugs her off, he understands that she is 2 years old.  But he loves to chase her, steal toys from her, poke at her, etc.  He knows exactly how to get her riled up, and when she is riled up, she is ON FIRE!

At the end of this video clip A screams out, "No K!"  All because he dared to walk up behind me as I was filming/chatting with her.  With her eyes you can almost see her daring him to try...  She thought he was going to "sleep" in the bed that she made for her and little K.

At the same time that she can't stand him and won't allow him to touch her toys or be around her, or, gasp talk to her baby (little K), she always wants to know where he is.  If Big K is out of sight, Miss. A will ask, "Where K go?"  I answer, and she asserts, "Oh, I go with K."

Last night on our way home from C's cross-country meet in Ashland we saw this:

That was taken only moments after Miss. A had been yelling, "No, K, NO TOUCH ME!" We were winding our way home on highway 66 (super curvy road) and K was being pushed toward her on some of the turns, causing him to brush against her.  When she fell asleep, his shoulder was jut perfect for her...

And then this evening after we dropped the boys off at J and J's house Miss. A was absolutely devastated.  She wanted her boys to come home with her and found it utterly inconceivable that we would leave them anywhere else.

After I stopped filming her outburst she exclaimed, "I look at pictures!"  She wanted to use my phone to flip through pictures.  I explained that she would have to speak with me nicely before she could have anything.  She pulled herself together and asked for my phone with nice words.  The first thing she flipped to was, of course the video I had just made (see above).  She instantly burst into tears again, this time it was an unrelenting chorus of, "My boys!  I want C, I want K.  My boys!  I want C, I want K...."  And on she went, all the way home...

Theatrical Miss. A loves her boys!

Dry Ice...and guns!

We get dry ice to keep our groceries cool on our Medford Costco runs.  The leftover dry ice goes to the mad scientists in house...

Those are socks on K's hands.  Very professional grade safety equipment.

They typically experiment with various things from our pantry to try to make a bigger "BOOM!" when they trap the dry ice in plastic water bottles.

Today there was not as much dry ice, so they had a few skimpy bottles that just would not explode.  The bottles did expand significantly and they were laying out in the yard.  We didn't want the boys to approach the unexploded bottles, not sure if maybe they were just expanding slowly.  So the boys tried to throw shoes at the bottles (that is what is littered around in our yard in the picture below).

It turns out it is not easy to hit a plastic bottle with a shoe from fifty feet away.  So C decided he should use a BB gun.  Johan who had been mildly interested in the whole project and only peripherally supervising heard the gun idea and was instantly on the deck ready to play.  C retrieved the gun.  And all three boys dawned giant grins and with giddy anticipation they took aim.  The BOOM was quite fulfilling.  It was the kind you can feel almost as much as you hear.  And they called out to me nearly simultaneously, "Did you hear that?"  Mmmmhmmmmm....I held my breath hoping that my two sleeping girls did not.

Bling!

If you know me for more than a few minutes you know that I am NOT a girly girl.  Never have been...

I don't paint my nails, I don't know how to apply eye make-up, I don't own pink clothes, and just generally don't do glitter.

And then, God gave me Miss. A.  I am a little bit scared.  She loves pink, she loves glitter, she loves pretty things.  We don't own any princess movies (I am opposed for many reasons, perhaps a topic for another post).  When I played a Jay Jay the Jet Plane movie for her the other day there was a princess movie preview.  A stopped in her tracks, "Mama, what that?  Mama, I need that!"

Today at Fred Meyer I let A walk through the store rather than ride in the shopping cart.  It was actually a really fun shopping trip.  Before we went in she scoured the shopping cart area looking for a car cart. I was relieved when there were none, those huge carts do not steer well.  But without the car cart A looked at me and announced, "I walk!"  So we made a deal, she would stay with us (me, little K, and big K) and I would let her walk.  She was so proud.  She helped me push the cart through the produce section, where I had to pull her away from the broccoli.  She grabbed a floret before I could stop her and quickly shoved it in her mouth.  She wanted to know the names of all the produce that I don't usually buy, and nearly pulled a tower of eggplant down onto herself.  But she was really doing a good job of listening and staying with me.

We left the produce and entered the dairy and A was still walking.  We were having a lot of fun, kind of chatting, and moving through the store.  K needed new running shoes so we crossed the entire store en route to the shoe department.  On the way, A ran up to just about anything that shined, or was fluffy, or pink.  "What dat?"  "Look! Mom!"  "Ooooo!"  A moved along with me, touching but not grabbing. When we got to the shoes, she asked, "Where A shoes mom?"  K was getting shoes, she wanted some too.  She actually really needed shoes.  She has been wearing one pair all summer and they are getting kind of stinky.

A and I moved further down the aisle to the toddler shoes.  She quickly spotted these:

Those are her legs by the way.  Actually she spotted the pink version of these, but I steered her to silver thinking it would go with more???

Then A nearly lost control when she spotted some extremely well packaged rainbow colored shoes with pictures of pretty little dolls on them.  It was a sensory overload of pink girlyness and she really wanted them.  "Oh, oh, dis one!  I like dis!"  I did my best at explaining that the shoes were of very poor quality and that the maker had merely done a good job (fantastic actually) packaging the product.

I tried to interest her in some aqua color converse all-stars.  But alas it was not to be.  She was already proudly parading around in her new sparkly shoes.  Big K didn't help.  When he finished choosing and trying on his new running shoes he came over and spotted A's new shoes.  He gushed about how pretty her sparkle shoes were.  Not to be outdone a nearby employee came over to tell A how pretty her new shoes were.

I was dreading informing A that the shoes would need to be taken off and put back into the box before we could take them home.  As I broke the news to her she started to jump up and resist.  But she stopped herself, listened to me explain that we have to pay for the shoes, blah blah blah.  Then she took off her new shoes and carefully returned them to the box before asking me to help her put her old Merrels on.

We had to race out of there, big K needed to get to soccer practice.  On our way out we passed scarves, and fun hats, sunglasses, and earrings.  All of which A dashed up to excitedly, admired, and then hustled to catch me.  It was so much fun!

Ponderosa Mud Run

Ponderosa hosted a mud run on Tuesday afternoon.  C was thrilled to participate.

Before I share all the pics, I have to take a moment for a big, big, big, giant hat's off to Mr. Dykstra who coaches the team and organized the event.  Tons of extra work went into this event.  His genuine enthusiasm and sincere desire to see the kids have fun are tremendous.  This community is so incredibly blessed to have a man like Mr. Dykstra willing to give his time and talent to these kids.  Mr. Dykstra is also the work horse behind most of our area chess tournaments.  THANK YOU Mr. Dykstra.

Mr. Dykstra dug one giant mud pit.  Many of the kids were up to their chest in muddy irrigation water.

That is C wading out of the mud (above).  And a shot of the boys' personal cheerleader (below).

Here is C struggling out of the mud.

And he is off...

C at the finish line looking quite muscly. 

Go C Go!!!!!

Almost 8 Months

I put the "big girl" chair on the counter the other day for little K.  She is almost 8 months, but still looks so tiny.

I could totally eat her up though!  So sweet and so cute!

My Moth

Yesterday afternoon A caught a moth in the yard.  She was absolutely thrilled.  When A is excited, her whole body shows it.  After catching the moth she successfully held onto it long enough that it lost its ability to fly.  Eventually she remembered our butterfly habitat, retrieved it, and placed the moth in his new home.  She pronounced him, "Safe and sound!"  But then had a slight change of heart, with a pouty face she whined, "Him want him mommy."

Below are two videos of A with her moth shortly after capture.  The moth later ended up in a pencil box and was "safe and sound," tucked into bed next to her.  When she came to our bed in the middle of the night she did not forget her moth.  She handed the box to Johan as he pulled her up into our bed.  The first thing I heard this morning as I slowly woke up, "Where my moth go?  Where my moth go?  Mama, where my moth go?"  She answered her own question.  Although given the desperation in her voice I don't believe it was intentionally rhetorical.  With relief she crawled deep under the blankets and announced, "Here him is!"

Yes, little K tipped herself over at the end of that one.  She was totally fine.

Side note:  I used to really hate bugs, spiders, insects, anything that could creep or crawl.  When C was just learning to walk and explore I made a conscious effort to play nice with bugs.  I didn't want to stifle his curiosity or impose my phobia on him.  It has turned out to be fairly successful therapy.  I am so much more comfortable around bugs today than 10 years ago.

One last September post...

I am holding my breath, I know that awful, miserable, cold, dark, long, long winter is fast approaching. But I am going to staunchly resist it.  We are going to be outside in our shorts soaking up the sun until the very end.

On Friday we headed out to enjoy the beautiful evening weather at Ponderosa during C's first cross-country practice.  It was a glorious evening.  C ran to practice (1.5 miles), K rode his bike down with a friend, and I put the girls in the B.O.B. and ran down.

K and I had fun with A playing soccer/volleyball, and just generally enjoying the weather and the company.  C loved his first practice, which involved a running scavenger hunt through downtown.

Here is a shot of little K looking fabulous:

I asked A to show me her pretty dress:

Take 2 was more successful:

Big K just "hanging out."

I love watching the girls interact with each other.  They are really starting to be aware of each other, and enjoy making sounds at each other.

K called, "Mama look...I am going all Spider Man on you!"

Not to be outdone...C gave it a shot.  I wish I had those abs and that flexibility...

Dance Moves!

Are you scared for K???  Being circled by her older sister whose weight class is easily several above hers.  A weighs more than twice K.

A loves to dance.  She likes her music loud and fast!  In the car she will command, "Turn it up Mama!"  Or she will ask for my phone and say, "I like mooosic!"  She knows her way around an iPhone!

P.S. I did not ask A to stop and smile at the camera for the first part of this video.  When she noticed the camera she stopped dancing in order to insure that she did not miss a photo-op.

Cross Country

We learned this week that as a sixth grader C can participate in cross country at the local junior high school.  This was exciting news for all of us, especially C.  We quickly got the necessary paperwork, physical, and fees taken care of so that he could participate in his first meet on Thursday at Moore Park.

I almost cried when I saw him in his uniform looking so handsome, and (sigh) grown-up...

He performed incredibly.  He was the first finisher for Ponderosa (the school he represents), and as the youngest member of a team made up predominantly of seventh and eighth graders this is impressive. 

The course was challenging, if you know Moore Park, you know the hills.  Here is the course map:

Here he is at about the mid-point of the race. Here he was in the top third of the racers and I was a little concerned when I saw him, I thought he was fading.

But the next time I saw him was near the finish line.  I saw the first gold uniform headed toward the finish line in the distance.  I thought it might be C, but I wasn't sure.  I couldn't believe that he would have passed so many other racers.  I turned to the mom who was next to me and said, "Who is that first Ponderosa boy?"  She replied excitedly, "That is C!!!!"

He finished in in fifth place overall.  He was the first sixth grade finisher overall, and the first finisher for Ponderosa!  Not bad for his first cross-country meet.  I was one proud mama at the finish line.  Kept my composure, but wanted to burst out into tears.  So happy for him, and proud of his heart.  He is a fierce competitor and is completely willing to put all of his effort and then some into his activities.  Oh I LOVE these boys!!!

The Shirt Purse

Ms. A is possibly a hoarder.  She loves to put lots of random small toys into any available container; laundry baskets, boxes, purses, plastic totes, whatever is handy.  Unfortunately, the smaller and more dangerous the toy the better....  The other day I caught Ms. A with her latest toy hauler:

Meet the "Shirt Purse." Need to carry bath toys, plastic donkeys, tiny teacups, and the odd Lego man?  The Shirt Purse can haul it all!  With an elastic band and easy to access collar the Shirt Purse will allow you to carry all your necessary items and not-so-necessary items.

Seriously?!?  Did you see how much stuff came out of that shirt???

Never too late...

We are finally in a really great place in our homeschool.  The boys tested this summer and many of my constant doubts as to whether or not we should continue to homeschool fell away when the results arrived in the mail.  Let's pause for a moment, can you hear that?  It is the sound of my own horn, yep it is tooting LOUD!  I expected them to do well and they did, they far exceeded my already ambitious expectations.

Anyway, in addition to our normal routine, math, spelling, reading, music, and a touch of history, this year we have discovered online classes.  We are LOVING IT!  Right now I absolutely love http://www.excellenceinwriting.com.  The boys are taking writing/grammar classes that are wonderful. The classes are rigorous, engaging, and fun.  Bonus--I am learning quite a bit myself.  When writing, I typically just throw commas in when I feel like it.  It has worked okay for years, but now I am learning the mechanics and it isn't loathsomely boring.  Apparently it really is never too late to learn new tricks.  The other big bonus is that The Institute for Excellence in Writing is teaching things in the way that I would if I had time to prepare and didn't have two little girls to entertain simultaneously.

The other big discovery for this school year is http://www.veritaspress.com.  The boys are doing live online literature classes.  This is fabulous, they get the read-aloud in class experience, they get valuable peer-to-peer discussion, and they get academic analysis of challenging original, unabridged texts.  I am totally thrilled!!!  Once again, incredible learning experience for the boys that I didn't have to assemble in the time that I unfortunately do not have.  Yay for online classes!!!

C's impressive 6th grade literature reading for this year:

K's equally impressive 4th grade literature reading for this year:

Back At It

With back to school behind us, we are settling in to our fall activities.  Home school, soccer, and of course Chess Club.  The boys went back to Matteo's last night to practice with the high school/junior high school chess players.  Johan was working late, so the girls and I went with them.

I am pretty sure A is going to be ready for her first chess tournament next year.  She loves to watch the boys play, and now she likes to set up her own games.

She was busily talking about the pieces and moving them around until she spotted the camera.

"Walking"

With a weary eye on the calendar we are doing our best to soak up the last warm days of the year.  The boys have soccer practice three nights a week at the sports complex.  The girls and I like to go with them to play at the park, visit with friends, and enjoy the evening outside.

The sports complex is just under four miles from our house.  A couple weeks ago I gave A the choice of riding to practice with Johan and the boys in the car or "walking."  I should note that for A "walking" to practice is a ride in the B.O.B. with K while I run.

As the boys run around the house gathering soccer gear for practice A now announces, "I want walk!" So the second time I obliged and the practice has evolved into an expectation.  I guess it is good for me, I have run more this week than since long before I was pregnant with K.  It won't last though, by this time next month we will be pulling out our winter jackets, and gloves...(sigh)

Here are some shots of K.  So, I am genetically wired to think she is absolutely, incredibly, wonderfully, perfectly cute, but come on!  I want to eat this little girl up!!!!

Haiku

This afternoon I introduced the boys to Haiku as part of our home school day.  They LOVED it.  My introduction of the concept was rather sloppy, I did very little prep work and merely read them an article from Wikipedia and another great article with samples and pictures.  I think I found that one on eHow.  Initially I just challenged them to each write one haiku about the hill behind our house.  They were really into it, and I was enjoying writing my own haiku so it evolved into all of us suggesting topics and writing--until A woke up from her nap.

I am pretty sure she had a nightmare because she was shaking and screaming and really upset.  I abandoned my poetry to aid A, but K and C were not distracted.  They continued, K asked, "Can I keep writing?"  Um... "Of Course!"  So they pressed on.  Their haiku eventually slid toward bathroom humor (9 and 11 years old), but they were having a great time.  And they turned out some really impressive stuff.

From K:

Kyra so small cute
She likes to talk a lot too
Soon to walk not crawl

Boring old stump sits
Crazy old man says stay there
I think why bother

FIREWORKS
Lights flash so many
Loud big boom before the light
Good silence sound a sleep

From C:

Fat guys sing songs
Horrible they are for sure
Frogs begin to scream

Sumos fight what treat
Do the dance oh Sumos
Let the fat one win

My hill is pretty
There are followers on the hill
Their buds open and close

To My Boys:

Too fast you mature
Yesterday in my own arms
Little men I love

Loving to laugh now
Making all work fun with you
I love you always

Triathlon

I wanted to attempt another triathlon this weekend.  K instantly wanted to do it with me.  C explained, "I don't want to do it, but if K does...I have to."  I tried to argue that his logic was not exactly correct, but he insisted, "You don't understand..."  Hmmmm...have I raised some competitive boys???  By the time we left for the race on Saturday morning both boys were getting really excited.

Johan stayed home with the girls for the day while the boys and I went to Lake of the Woods for the triathlon then headed to Medford for K's first soccer game of the season.

The race consisted of a 550 yard swim across Rainbow Bay at Lake of the Woods, a 3.1 mile run, and finally a 9.5 mile bike ride around the lake.

I had the benefit of a borrowed wet suit, so for me the water was lovely.  For my two skinny boys, with not an ounce of extra fat to protect them from the water temperature or to provide any extra bouncy there was no wet suit.  But they were brave and as always very good sports.  I believe the water temperature was 57 degrees.

They charged in, but it was quickly apparent that we are not swimmers.  I definitely have a phobia, when I swim it feels as though I am breathing through a straw and that is before I even put my face in the water.  K was much more comfortable in the water than C.  The three of us were the last ones out of the water.  But once we hit land C was off.  He is running so fast right now.  He can sustain 7.5 minute miles for 4 or 5 miles.  It is incredible...and to think that not long ago he could barely keep up with me on a bike while I ran.  At the triathlon I had to shout ahead to him that he didn't have to wait for me...and he didn't.

K was a little slower, I think the water temperature really affected him.  He was shivering for about the first mile of the run.  But once he hit his stride he was fast.  As he started to pass a few people K's confidence grew.  When we got to the bike transition area he was all in.  I had to change shoes so I told him to go ahead and that I would catch up.  He was off!  I hopped on my bike and....FLAT TIRE!  I didn't have a patch kit, and even if I had I wouldn't have known what to do with it, so my race was over (insert super sad face).  I felt a little like crying but there were spectators and I still had to be a mom.  K was racing and he wasn't really confident about where to go.  C was long gone, so I was pretty sure that he would have some other racers to follow.

I jumped into the van to follow K and help navigate.

Now merely a support crew person I was freed up to take some pictures.  Here is K as he makes his way around the lake.  I didn't get any shots of C, he was pretty far ahead of us.

Here are my two triathletes after the race.  They are so so much fun to be around.  We had a great day!   Both boys finished, and both would like to do it again...YAY!  How did I get so blessed!

Here is a shot of K warming up for his first soccer game of the season.  They didn't win, but it was a fun game.

Sunday C had his first game.  I don't know what I was doing, but I don't have a shot of him at the game.  A kept running off "making friends," and I tried to encourage her to stay close to me by asking her to show me different tricks so that I could film them.  She really likes me to film her because she really, really enjoys watching videos of herself.  So here she is tumbling:

A has never met a stranger.  As entertaining as her uber-confidence is, it can be a tad unsettling.  Today there were three or four boys about C and K's age huddled around an iPhone playing a game.  A quickly joined their circle, but I didn't know what they were playing so I had to distract her...  When I called her away, she asked her favorite question, "Why mom?"  Oh Mrs. A you are so spicy!!!

Stealing the show...

Headline news:  K can sit all by herself!  As of 9/7/12!  Not quite 7 months yet, and doing big things.

Friday evening the boys and A were wrestling and giggling and "playing puppies."  I don't know if A or big K invented "puppies," but it basically involves K crawling around at top speed through the house panting like a puppy and chasing A who is giddy and screaming and laughing and shouting barely intelligible commands at him.

Little K and I were watch from the floor in my bedroom.  Little K was sitting up all on her own, hands and fingers waving as she tried to take in all of the action.  I decided to catch her first moments of sitting on video.

I find this video to be absolutely hysterical.  But when I showed Johan he just kind of shrugged...

Here is little K sitting for the very first time...A spots the camera and tah dah!  I am afraid this may be the story of little K's life...

Around the House

Like father, like daughter...  Little K is a noisy sleeper.

One of A's favorite things to do at home is put things to sleep.  She will cover up every single stuffed animal or doll that she can find.  It sort of looks a little morbid, like a little cemetery through her bedroom and strewn about in the living room.  There will literally be twenty five individual stuffed animals each covered up under their own small swaddling blankets.  The living room and A's bedroom are often covered in lumps...

If she can corral the boys, that is her absolute favorite.  So in the midst of tucking her animals in, if she catches sight of C or K she will command them to "Yay down!"  (Translation:  Lay Down)  On this day, A was in her glory.  She had both boys raptly doing exactly as she bid.  "C, Yay down!"  "K, Yay down!"  And they did...

In July we went to a going away for two of my very favorite families from the Ops squadron on base.  During the presentations, my friend Lana gave A some lipstick...  A loves chapstick and lipstick, I don't know why but she pronounces it, "sippy."  When it comes to sippy for A possession = ownership.  The instant it is in her hands, no matter where she found it or who it had previously belonged to, she instantly announces, "My sippy!"  Hoping to maintain possession or at least prolong the moment when it will be taken from her, she will often quickly attempt to tuck said sippy down her shirt.  Alas, it generally just falls out the bottom.  Not sure where she picked up that habit...I never tuck things into my bra.  Anyway, Lana was more than happy to oblige A, pretty sure Lana encouraged some of what followed...

You can't really tell in these pictures, but the sippy is all over her face.  She gets some on her lips, but then keeps going, getting pretty good coverage on her cheeks and chin...

Oh Gilcreast and Sullivan Families we will miss you!