PLOP

Hayden gave us a HUGE scare when he fell off the front of the boat this weekend.

No, the boat wasn't moving.

Yes, he had a life jacket on.

And yes, I just about cried when he was plucked out of the water.

It's terrifying how little noise he made when he fell in. If Lauren and Brooke, my niece, hadn't been watching him we wouldn't have pulled him out as quickly as we did. He dropped his fishing pole, and rather than lose the beloved SpongeBob pole or ask for help, Hayden decided to reach for it on his own.

PLOP!

I have often thought that a little fear would be a good thing for Hayden to have (since both he and Ben seem to be lacking in common sense...actually I think that might be true for all boys but that is another issue all together); HOWEVER, this didn't seem to do the trick like I thought it would. Oh well, live & learn I guess. He came up sputtering and slightly alarmed, but he did manage to save his fishing pole! He didn't let go of it for at least a half an hour...it was his death-defying trophy! I think I was more terrified than he was! I am SO thankful for life jackets!

KICKBALL

We went out last night for a group date night.

Group dating after you're married...What?

It was a lot of laughs...until today, when my poor tired knees could barely bend (I am terrified how bad they will be when I get another 30 years of use on them!). But I digress, back to group date night...

It started with a lovely picnic in the shade by a creek and ended in a lengthy game of KICKBALL! We went to a park to play night games and YES my children were LIVID that we left them home (really a bunch of adults want to play night games?). We came prepared to play several games...capture the flag, squirt-gun tag, kickball, kick-the-bucket (since we are all older we figured kick-the-bucket was more accurate than kick-the-can). We put it to a vote & kickball won.

I discovered that Rob is an all-star kickballer. That man of mine kicked the ball so far on his first kick that it was a homerun! Woohoo!

It was a good time and I think we will do it again next month...maybe by then my knees will bend again and it won't be quite as hot!

Oh, by the way, and not that it really matters BUT...our team TOTALLY WON (don't believe anyone from the other team, we defeated them soundly)!

23' of Fun

I was not a boat person. I never thought I'd be a boat person. I always thought I would rather have a cabin, four-wheelers, or snow mobiles. But two years ago we became the owners of what we love to call the Party Barge (we still have to think of a better name). Rob has ALWAYS wanted a ski boat, and he'd never given pontoon boats any thought. My in-laws changed both of our misguided ways of thinking.

The party barge is perfect for what we do now (eventually we will move onto a ski boat, but not til the kids get bigger). It has plenty of space for the kids to spread out & play. We can haul another large family with us. We are the floating dock when we go up boating with other friends that own ski boats. It makes a great platform for jumping in the lake & it will pull a tube. It's perfect for fishing. We LOVE our party barge, it's 23' of fun! I've even got to the point that I don't swear (as much) when I'm launching or loading it onto the trailer (I'm so proud of myself-I can even do it in the dark although that usually does involve some swearing...the children are usually asleep at that point)!

Now if the lakes would just warm up a little more...who am I kidding? The kids still jump in & once the numbness kicks in they're good!

Way to Sell it, Old Man

Today I was reminiscing about the day Rob went to ask my dad for my hand in marriage...yes it was old-fashioned & I loved him for that. My dad had maybe said a total of four sentences to Rob up to that point in our relationship, so this was monumental in more ways than just one.

I was eavesdropping in the kitchen and much to my horror this was my dad's answer:

"Well you know she can't cook...actually she really isn't domestic at all. And she is expensive. She clumsy enough to cost a fortune in medical bills and she loves to shop for expensive stuff. I love Michelle, but I just thought you should know what you're getting into now."

Way to sell it old man and thanks for the vote of confidence dad! Now in my dad's defense, he had NO idea that was what Rob was coming to ask him about and was completely unprepared. He thought Rob was going to ask for a job...not his daughter! I didn't live at home, Mom & Dad had only met him a handful of times and so my parents figured Rob was simply another boyfriend in the long list.

Luckily for me, Rob did already know all of those things about me and he still married me anyway! Haha Sucker! :)

As it has turned out, I'm not too bad at cooking & baking. My general domesticity has come a long way. I seem to have gotten my clumsiness under some control so I'm not a walking medical mishap. As for the love to shop for expensive stuff...well that may take a lifetime to try to overcome (or maybe I'm not going to try)!

Bouncing Off the Walls

I've used the phrase "my kids are bouncing off the walls" before. I've never meant it literally until yesterday.

I blame myself. I was unprepared for an hour at the doctors office. Hayden & Rachel were zooming around the office. They decided it was hysterical to charge the door at full speed & bounce off it.

I'm sure the people in the hall were wondering what was going on in our office. The doctor was startled when she tried to open the door & it thumped loudly back at her. I was horrified, mortified, & utterly defeated. Most days I can keep better control on my brood but by the time we were at that point in our day, I was feeling deflated.

So if bouncing off the walls kept the younger kids relatively quiet while I tried to hold onto my sanity, so be it! You may read this & think I'm an awful parent, but "frankly my dear I don't give a..."


- Why am I up so late blogging from my iPhone?

Walking Drug Store

Allergies this season have been brutal. Rob & I have both had the ithcy red eyes & sneezing. But poor Ben has had it the worst.

He goes outside & returns with eyes so swollen he can barely open them. The scary thing was yesterday after playing outside was the wheezing that started.

By last night I had him in the doctors office with a allergy induced asthma attack occurring. My poor boy!

We are starting breathing treatments every 3-4 hours, giving him an oral steroid 2xs daily, starting a new allergy med morning & night, and medicated eyedrops. The kid's like a walking drug store! Whatever it takes to get him back breathing normally I'm good with.

I am grateful that it's only allergy induced asthma and not exercise induced (or whatever else causes it). Too bad Ben is allergic to grass-he's gonna have to outgrow this because I'm NOT keeping him inside all summer!




- Why am I up so late blogging from my iPhone?

Summertime BLUEs

Ever since spring break ended I've been excited for school to be out for the summer.

Day 2 of summer break & now I'm wondering...what was I thinking?

My house is more disastrous than normal. The fighting is intensified. Errands that would've taken 30 minutes now take 2 hours. All of that is manageable.

Then there's this:

I woke up to blue Avatar-style children. Don't be fooled when the markers say washable. The color may fade but everything still has a blue hue to it.

Hayden is STILL blue. I don't dare scrub any harder for fear I'll take off his top layer of skin. The only reason his chest isn't blue also is because he had a shirt on...yes it was blue too. Now, I would have laughed if it was only the children that were blue (all of them had blue splotches on them, Hayden was simply the worst) BUT...

My carpet was blue. My hardwood was blue. My leather sofa was blue. My mini tan recliner was blue...Do you sense the theme?

I was NOT blue. I was a little GREEN because it made me sick when I struggled to clean the carpet. I was probably RED in the face as I yelled at my BLUE children (yes I just admitted publicly that I yelled at my kids...no point in pretending I didn't, my neighbors can most likely attest to this anyway).

I find myself wondering...

How many more days until school starts?


- Why am I up so late blogging from my iPhone?