I Couldn't Make This Stuff Up!

Red eyed cricket

Nat woke us up at 4am Wednesday morning to tell her Daddy she needed him to go into her bedroom and kill the red eyed cricket with the squiggly tail that was in her bed. She was pretty sure it was under her spirit snuggle horse and it was going to bite her. This was when I told her it was just a nightmare but when a nearly 6 year old looks at you through tears and says, "It's not!" You tend to find another way around it. Tim looked through her bed thouroughly and told her it must've left but she was unconvinced. She slept in our bed the rest of the little bit that was left of our night.

In the morning Maddie laughed at her when she told her the story but Nat was still completely convinced there was a red eyed cricket that had red eyes because it had come out of a birthday cake with red frosting that was wiggly it's tail like it would bite her. She was so worried about it she wouldn't go into Maddie's room. Mads decided she would "catch" it and as Nat hid behind Maddie's desk chair Maddie caught the cricket and flushed it down the toilet. Sometimes it takes a 9 year old to solve a nearly 6 year olds problems. Thank God for my girls.

Benjamin had an orthodontist appointment this morning so he didn't have to get up early like we're now used to. Tim is going to change his schedule a bit so he will now be able to be up with Ben and drop him at the bus stop in the morning. Tim had forgot about the appointment and had Ben up and ready to go, so Ben got to hang out with us and relax this morning for a bit. I'd forgotten what a different dynamic that is having all three kiddos home and trying to get out the door. How do you forget that in such a short amount of time? We made it on time to the appointment and then Ben got to school.

I had picked up a pair of size 10 shoes for Benjamin the other day thinking he'd grow into them. They were a killer deal at $7. He wore them to school today. How'd I get a boy who wears size 10 mens shoes? Thank God for my big healthy boy!

I think that's about it. All is well here just busy, such is life right now. It's a good life though!

Annoying Grape

Nat peeled a grape and brought it to me last night to share her "naked grape" with me. Then she wanted me to make a video of it. If you've ever you tubed before you may have seen annoying orange if not look it up. Here's Nat's version of annoying grape.

 

Tim's home and Balloonfest along with the rest of our weekend

Tim made it home Friday afternoon! The kids were so excited for him to get home Maddie asked if she could go to the airport to pick him up. I pulled her out of school early and Nat, Maddie and I went and picked Daddy up. Then I swung by the school on our way home to go finish up hearing and vision screening. We got just shy of 900 kids through in 2 days. It was a lot of kids!

I had made Tim a lemon cake before school Friday morning so he and the girls went home to frost it and decorate it. Welcome home Timmy!! Friday night Betty and her friend came to stay with us for the night. We all went to bed early because we were all pretty exhausted and we had plans to go to the Balloonfest Saturday morning bright and early. 4:45 came early and we drug ourselves out of bed and into the car to drive up and see the balloons. We missed this last year and this year as we were driving I wondered why do we do this. Then about 6:15 I was surrounded by these and we were all smiles!

I love balloon weekend and that it's now a tradition that we go with the Robinsons and that our families are so close.

All eyes towards the skies.
Wyatt was only a few weeks old  the second year we went to see the balloons. Now he's a big 3 year old!
Now on to the balloon pics.











These two kill me every time. They're so funny. Oh and if you're following their courtship the wedding is an off and on event. Some days they are getting married and others not so much.














Balloonfest 2011=fun times, until next year!

The rest of our weekend consisted of a football game, breakfast out with friends that were visiting, a quick trip to Costco and a trip to Chuck E Cheeses for a little boy we know and love that was turning 6! Happy Birthday Isaac, it's not too many kids I'd be willing to go to Chuck E Cheese for! All in all a good weekend even though it was pretty busy.

Cinderelli

Tim finally made it to New Mexico Tuesday morning at 1am. A full 27 hours after he was supposed to have arrived. Long story short, his flight was cancelled due to mechanical issues and by the time the 90 people in front of him and hour and a half later had gotten through the line they couldn't get him on a plane until 9:30 the following evening. On top of that they told him to be back at the airport at 6am to wait for standby flights all day long and wouldn't confirm him on a flight until he gave up the standby deal. United=unfriendly skies for Tim this trip. He finally got a seat on Frontier Airlines. Yeah Frontier! So final lesson if you're going to fly, fly Delta, Alaska, Frontier, or our favorite Hawaiian Air!

I am holding down the fort here at home. I will say I was not made to live the single parent lifestyle but I'm getting it all done. Practices, meetings and everyone where they need to go, with a little help from friends!

Tuesday afternoon I'd asked Nat to pick up half of Maddie's room because she's back to sleeping in there again and it was a mess. She looked up at me and said, "Mimi, I'm not your Cinderella."

I quickly replied right back, "Well I'm not your Cinderella either so get it done!"

Where did she come from? Oh yeah that's right, she's definately my daughter. Holy moly!

Today is Tim's 38th birthday. Happy Birthday Timmy! We love you so much and can't wait to see you tomorrow!

All for now. Off to help with hearing and vision screening at the girls' school. Have a good day!

Why I volunteer

I hear about it often from others, I don't have time to do that, or I'm too busy, or simply I don't want to. There are a million excuses but let me tell you that there are many different ways you can volunteer whether you have lots of time or just a little. Let's face it we're all busy and our time is precious but it is the most important thing we can give to our children. I just want to say the reason I volunteer is this.

Our kids. Not just mine but the kids that my kids go to school with because they matter to me. Yes it takes a lot of time and energy and sometimes funds but you know what? I'm proud of what I do and the kids are also. Thanks to everyone who does make the effort volunteer.

 

Week in review

Holy mother! I'm taking a minute to take a breath this week, now that it's nearly over. This was a fun week but also a full week. I knew it was going to busy as it came barreling down the track at me and everything piled up on top of each other and sometimes was doubled booked. Decisions needed to be made.

A month ago I learned that the final presentation of our Multi Track Year Round Task force to the school board was going to be on the same night as the Maroon 5/Train concert. For a week I considered giving up my ticket but in the end I decided to forgo the presentation and Miranda and Heidi totally represented and did a fantastic job presenting along with two other task force members. So I got the kids up and off to school Tuesday morning and headed to the airport to hop a plane to Seattle.

Natalie wanted to give me "something to remember me by while you're gone" that morning. I asked her what she was wanting to give me and she found a plastic piece off my fall garland and handed it to me. I told her I was okay and really I'd be back in a little over a day. It was a very quick trip over and back but we packed in every possible thing we could do and only slept 5 hours. By Wednesday night when I landed at home I was exhausted but there was no time to rest.

Thursday I met friends for coffee and for a birthday lunch. Then ran errands for our big school carnival that was happening Friday. Thursday night I ran Benjamin to football practice and then ran home to feed the girls dinner. Then when Tim got home I dashed over to another Multi track year round community meeting to represent there for the evening. I came home and finished doing a few things for the nearly 200 volunteers it takes to run our school carnival and went to bed.

Friday I spent all day at school. I took the kids and then didn't end up leaving until after 9pm that night. The carnival was a huge success with only a few hitches but it came together great. The kids had a great time and it was fantastic. A group of us hadn't ate dinner so we headed to cousins for breakfast. That's the second time I ate breakfast at a late hour. Tuesday night after the concert we went to Denny's at midnight and it was an experience that was not to ever be repeated or really believed. It was crazy, like a whole another world. Cousins was tame and really just perfect after our long day.

This morning we were up early again to get to Benjamin's football game and we'd volunteered to bring snacks. What was I thinking?!? I'm fighting allergies horrible today or something so I was dragging. But we pulled it together and we even had to pull our pants out as it was a bit chilly. The game was a tough one and wasn't pretty but Benjamin still had a good time for the most part. He's still learning each game and having a good experience.

We went out tonight to Famous Dave's to celebrate Tim's birthday that will be Thursday because he will be traveling this week. He leaves in the morning so it's the longest he's been away from us for a while and he's not really looking forward to it. He doesn't like traveling too much without us. Shocking I know, but there it is. So we're going it alone this week and again it's a busy week staring at us so we'll have to work it out and see how it all shakes out.

I wanted to get this all down before I forgot anything. Hopefully pics will follow from last night. All for now.

Sep 15, 2011

We had an awesome time at the concert Tuesday night. Matt Nathanson, Maroon 5, and Train were fantastic! Definately one of the best concerts I've ever been to.

A lost tooth

She's smiling now but an hour ago all hell broke lose in our house. The kids and Tim were out swimming and Tim came in to take a shower. I heard the kids outside and could see them. All of a sudden I heard Natalie screaming and Mads came running inside. She told me Ben had knocked Nat's tooth out. I ran out and grabbed her and it was the tooth right besided the one she'd just lost Monday. She's was beside herself and Ben was crying and really upset that he'd hurt his sister. It was an accident they were both messing around.

I got her calmed down and Tim and I got the girls in the bath and everyone settled. When I came downstairts I found a spider that was as big as a quarter I kid you not. I ran and made Tim kill look at it before we killed it. I like to have him identify whether it's a bad one or not and of course it was. Of course why wouldn't it be a biting spider. He went and got the spray and a flashlight to go take care of the perimeter of the house. I'm going to have nightmares tonight of that thing.

Early today Tim took Ben shopping for unmentionables for football gear. Before dinner I found one of them laying on the table. Maddie asked what it was for and I told her Ben's "nuts" for lack of a better word. I was irritated it was on the table but it was still in the packaging. Tim put it on the stairs. After dinner Natalie was going up to put her suit on and she found the unmentionable and yelled, "Ben! You left your nut bowl on the stairs!" Tim and I just looked at each other and tried not to laugh because she doesn't like to think we're laughing at her but holy geez that was funny! And normally I wouldn't post that here but seriously it was hilarious.

All for tonight.

Less talk more dancing

A little dance party this afternoon. Excuse the mess in the background we're switching over to fall decorations as of today. I'm assuming you'll enjoy the show and the memories of Nat dancing more than the mess will bother you.

We're having a good weekend. The girls were well enough yesterday to go to school. Benjamin's football team played early this morning and had their first win which was fun to watch. All is well here.

Cold bug

We're fighting a cold bug in our house right now. I thought it was just allergies but now Tim has it and I have a sore throat. Ben's escaped it so far, knock on wood. Nat started getting snotty Saturday afternoon. She went to school Tuesday but yesterday she didn't have school and Maddie has a nasty cough so she stayed home and this morning they're both still feeling punky so I'm giving them another day. Tim's run down and congested, I just have the sore throat and the feeling of dragging around but it's not too bad other than that. Hoping this passes quickly because I've got plans that involve Matt Nathanson, Train, and Maroon 5 next week, and a big school event. Life isn't going to slow down just because of a cold.

Here's a couple pics from when Mom was here last week.

Love this one.

All for now. Going to rest with the girls today.