Wednesday, April 30, 2014

 This guy is really into "outfits" lately.  His bedtime ensemble included this blanket wrapped around his torso and an open shirt
 A sleepy foot sticking out of the bed
 A sleepy head on a book
 This tired cowboy is sweating from walking many miles to find raspberries
 A picture of me teaching during Classical Conversations, doesn't look like I have a real captive audience though
 Last week he wanted to wear what cowboys wear.  He went to preschool like this everyday
 Emily is starting to do some self-directed writing.
of course this happened 10 minutes before I wanted to leave to pick up a kid, not the first two hours of quiet time

Tales from the toliet

Just stop reading right now if you don't like potty talk...

So much of raising little minions revolves around the bathroom, diapers, talking about those things with girlfriends like its normal.

So with that,

1.  a couple of weeks ago I bought toilet paper for the facilities, same stuff I normally buy, it is an off brand, but I would consider it middle ground, it is not the cheapest of the cheap.  This time it was crazy scratchy, as in typing paper might have been softer.  Great - 12 double rolls of this crap, to wipe crap!  This purchase also coincided with the week everyone had a crazy runny nose, even though I provide ample Kleenex around the house, all the minions and the Mr. were blowing their noses with this sandpaper. 

2.  I have since bought a premium brand, Robert told me not to be so cheap...

3.  Why can't my kids poop into the water?  We have those low water/save the environment toilets, that combined with the fact of the kids sitting on the edge to poop, and you have skid marks ALL. THE. TIME. in the toilet.  What gives?  I clean everyday....

4.  Noelle is still having issues with #2.  We have gotten her pretty regular, but she sure doesn't initiate, getting her to go takes prodding/bribing every time.  It wears on me.  I am super grateful that i get to stay home with her, if she was a daycare kid this year I am pretty sure she would have exploded several times over and or been hospitalized.  I cannot fathom anyone having the time or patience to work with her like I have had to this year.  And I am not patient, there is a lot of yelling!

5.  In other good news Dallas seems to be hitting the target at 99% rate lately whooHoo!


Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Noelle first dance recital was this past Sunday. I have a video from the dress rehersal. She sure enjoyed taking the class. She was pretty pooped for the dress rehersal and the performance, mostly due to time of day and the busy week-weekend. You can see she takes a couple big yawns in this video. She is the cutie in the front row on the left. She did learn a lot, she spews ballet terms at home, and I think standing in first and third position witll help her pigden-toedness.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Roller Skating

fyi: These are the kinds of photos you get when you take 5 kids roller skating
 
 Emily is a super trooper, she keeps trying and trying, never gives up on new things, especially when friends are along to help her.  First time roller skating and attempting the limbo too!
 He only skated because I bribed him with popcorn.  The owners have a little trick where they tighten one of the wheel lugs for beginners so the wheels are not able to spin as fast.
 Blair had skated before and was pretty good

 They didn't have skates anywhere near this girls size, so she took 300 selfies and then ate popcorn


 London had skated before too, but was taking a rest



Coffee thoughts:

I really love having a Keurig.  It makes a great cup of coffee (to me, I know coffee is relative to everyone).  I like trying different flavours, although my inner cheapo has limited this process some what, I still like a deal and try to get my k-cups around $0.40/cup.  Robert's favorite is Hazelnut, my fav's are Chocolate Glazed Donut, Vanilla cookie or (something by Folgers?), and Hazelnut.  I think we both prefer a "light roast".  I also have tried the Snapple Peach Iced Tea - you brew it over a glass filled with ice.  It is great, and I bet I will drink that more as the weather warms up.  We did get some hot chocolate for the kids which was a big hit as well.  I like a splash of half and half in my cup.  I still budget my $0.74 for Casey's coffee with the workout girls twice a week, because my mental health is worth that!

VIESHEA thoughts:

Most of you in central Iowa heard about the poor decisions some kids made this past Tuesday night, warranting the cancellation of the rest of the celebration.  I get it, I think I would have had to make the same decision if I was in administration.  It's pretty crappy for all the Alumni and families that truly enjoy a wonderful Saturday filled with family and learning activities.  Especially a blow this year since the weather was going to be gorgeous.  Emily was super sad, explaining to her about the cancellation because of the actions of a few was not fun.  She is mostly sad not to get together with our good friends this weekend.  On the flip side, rare sudden open weekend, with nice weather to boot!


Garden thoughts:

Backyard still has many leaves floating around.  Time to get serious and bag them up.  Time to hire a dude to till my little garden (I should really write down his #, I have to track him down each year).  I can't wait until the flowers start coming in, I have heard the third year after splitting and transplanting things really start happening.  I really want to start investing in a cutting garden this year.  I transplanted a hydrangea from Gpa Kibbe's house in CR along with several bunches of daffodils.  I might go back for another hydrangea.  I wasn't sure if the variety Rebecca had was meant for full sun or shade, so I put it in between.  I have also added some gladiolas and dahlias that I picked up at Aldi's, so who knows if those will take?  We got a starter of a butterfly bush at the Ames Eco fair a couple weeks ago, but it is tiny.  I can't imagine it being a bush for years!  My goal besides a few veggies in the garden, is to get a couple bouquets and attract more butterflies.  Next is how to address the super shady, no grass area between our trees and the fence line. - Any suggestions? 
Also, our lawn is mostly green, but the spots I worked so hard on growing new grass last year are still pretty bare and brown, guess I need to start over?
The veggie garden will have the usual things we like to eat.  Greg and Chelsey's garden will take care of the rest.  I'll need to go down and help some this summer, but they were super good about sharing last year.  Dallas really wants to grow melon's and I told him we don't exactly have the best space for it, but I might let him try anyway.

School thoughts:

Emily has 28 math lessons left.  We are both getting a little antsy.  We haven't had more than a couple of breaks since Christmas, and most were just a day long, so we are ready for Summer.  Classical Conversations meets for the last time on Monday.  It will be nice to have a break from that until Fall.  I have been teaching a CC class since Jan, my 1 month sub gig expanded to 12 weeks.  Dance ends this weekend for Noelle, but softball season starts up.  Dallas will have preschool on Tuesday and then have a break for Easter.

Robert thoughts:

Robert has been busting his butt lately.  He is helping clean out the house in CR and helping get Dallas settled here.  Working a couple 3-4 jobs.  I think he still enjoys the self employment life more than he would working for someone else, but he sure walks around with a certain level of stress.  On Wednesday he walked out on a 160 year old church buildings roof (read peaks!) to evaluate the job, then he went to the Ames Seed Cap luncheon listened to the Governor talk, and then he spent the evening fixing TMCP website feed to iTunes.  Do you know that people get paid to hack others websites (to break them) so they go down in google rank and other websites go up in rank!  Seems unethical...

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

 Sleepy rare nap cuddles
 Emily draws 2 or 3 of these little scenes a day.  They always include a little thought bubble or commentary.
 Nice enough for no coats
 Super girl and Dad, and a floor full of legos.
 
 
 
 
 Emily talked daddy into taking her to a cooking class, The Cooks Emporium
his workout gear


Praying at Awana Cubbies, it was parents night so we went to see Dallas class.  Noelle loved tagging along as well.  Glad my kids both had their heads bowed, but why was Robert taking a picture during the prayer?


A little more Valentine's fun




 I signed the kids up to go to the HyVee Kids club cooking class.  They host 1/x month on Saturday mornings.  Robert took the kids, they made heart shaped food and had tons of treats to take home. And I got some time with some lady friends.
 Dallas and his V-day box at school. He had to decorate his quickly the day of the party during class as he had missed the previous two days while he was sick.
 Robert and his little girls at the Father Daughter Hoe-Down Dance

The whole gang