Do you not know what causes that?

So much to say...

Life keeps happening and I keep think - I have to blog about that!  :-)

So today at lunch with Clara, I saw an ad for Strawberry Shortcake (a fav of mine), only it's Passover.  I ONLY SEE STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE DURING PASSOVER.

The water heater saga has hopefully ended.  After buying one and waiting a week for installation, the guy comes and says - won't work, no power vent.  So we ordered a 75 gallon water heater (Those 25 extra gallons are all MINE!) and waited.  Today, after it was installed, he said, some guy is going to come inspect it within three weeks. Oh great.

Just before Passover, I went on a huge hunt for Matza, never thinking it would be a problem. So, in the spirit of the Great Fruit Cake Search of Christmas 2006, it was the Great Matza Search of Pesach 2008. I went to five stores to find matza - none was to be found. I did manage to get a ton of Passover candies and stuff I never find, but not simple Matza.  Thankfully Andy saved us and offered us a couple of boxes.

Kevin, Hilary, Isaac and Lilah did the Tae Kwon Do tourney. Lilah got a participation medal in her age group. Isaac actually won 2nd place in sparring, which Hilary was really impressed with.  Hilary won 3rd place in forms. (It should be noted that she moved into the women's division this year because of her age, she missed 5 months of Tae Kwon Do and had only been back for 2 weeks when the tourney happened.) Last year she placed 4th, so this was better.  Kevin kicked butt, really.  He got 3rd place in forms, which Hilary said he really deserved at least 2nd.  But he got first place in sparring - don't mess with him!

Isaac finally got new glasses. Benjamin is really into his new garden and he's letting Lilah help. Owen and Clara have been passing fifth disease around. Ada is enjoying preparing her sun songs for the school music show.

Kevin and I started childbirth class last week. It was a lot of fun. Now if we would only practice more.  Baby is moving a lot more and has been hiccuping a lot. Sometimes the kids can even feel it!

Now, on to the new kitchen floor, roof and new dry wall!

They got in!

Owen and Clara got in to the elementary school of our choice.  It means that they have a better shot at a decent middle school and it means that I'll have four kids in ONE school!  (Yay me!)  So, only three schools next year!

We really love this elementary school and think it's a great choice for them.

Caught Red Handed

Okay, so knowing I've lost 8 pounds in the last month and my appetite, I thought I'd be nice and provide my body with anything I felt like eating the other day, as long as I ate (because I wasn't hungry).  So I decided I wanted a sweet tea and Wendy's fries. (I'd already had my veggies.) So I drive through McD's for tea and then the Wendy's guy almost doesn't give me my fries - "Hey lady, what's the nerve bringing that here?"  He was smiling and I said, "You serve sweet tea?" He shook his head. I said, "When you do I'll come here for it..."  Then he informed me it's on its way.

Spring Break 2008 - The End

Saturday with Lilah sick and everyone a bit tired, we just stayed home all day. Mostly we snuggled in bed and read books. Isaac did go to spend the night with Z again.  Towards the late afternoon we thought we'd bake cookies and watch the fireworks on TV later.  Then K's brother called to say he was unexpectedly in town.

We packed most everyone else up, Benjamin offered to watch Lilah at home, and drove to see K's family.  The girls really enjoyed playing with Rachel, their cousin.  K enjoyed chatting with his brother and I enjoyed sitting around and having small talk with the rest of the family.

Sunday I got to go see South Pacific with Ashley.  We were really going to see our friend Kim in the play. The play was fun, the seats were terrible!   As an added treat we got a quick dinner with Kim at Panera between shows.

Kevin had gotten the kids to clean up a bit and do some chores. I came home and started getting back packs, clothes and nap mats ready for school to start again.

The first day back was mostly good - for the kids.  My life just got wild and hectic. AGAIN! (Thanks Mom.)

Spring Break Day Six

Hilary spent the night out so we picked her up and took everyone but B (who wanted to stay home to play with his new game) to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis. It is about a 2 hour drive. Hilary and I had fun playing on the iPod and letting her listen to music I liked as a kid and scaring her by how many songs she knew.

Once there we scored tickets to the Planetarium show for Star Wars at 3 p.m. and then saw the really cool robot exhibit. Here is a picture of the little girls and the robots they made:

Then the kids went down the huge slide that they made cover the steps in the hall.  Owen actually went, but Clara stayed with me not wanting to try.  Ada was too small.  Then we had a healthy lunch at the cafeteria. Hilary got mad because I switched on sandwich for another because the one she picked up was $7 and the other was $3.  She never recovered.

After lunch we were heading down the walkway to the dino exhibit and the kids were getting ahead of me. I asked them to slow down. Hilary yelled that she was trying. I said I wasn't blaming her.  She said something snotty. I said something snotty back. Then I told her if it didn't stop we'd all go home. She kept it up. I tried to regroup everyone at the top of the ramp, but the little girls were now crying loudly and Hilary was not budging.  So I walked everyone to the car and went home.  It was horribly painful for me.  We'd driven all that way and really only saw the one exhibit. (Well they did play at the fireworks of glass while I got tickets to a show we didn't see.) I was second guessing myself the whole time, knowing everyone was suffering because H was talking back and being disrespectful and because I was angry.

Once we got on the road, everyone was okay.  And by the time we got home Lilah was sick. A few hours later she was running a fever, so I suppose not staying all day was a good thing in that respect. We had a nice Shabbat and K and B took a walk together. We played games and went to bed early.

Spring Break Day Five

Not a banner day for some.  :-)  (That would be me...)

Started out to get up early and go to the Y.  Didn't make it. The fence guys came a day early (which I knew) but they came an hour early (which I didn't).  They were very nice, quiet and left me alone.  The kids were fighting, except for Isaac who was still at friend's house.

So the little girls and I took Juliet and Ann some lunch from Panera. That was fun.  Then came home and I am so exhausted I couldn't go get Isaac.  Luckily my friend understood and kept him until Kevin could get there. I felt like I had put up the fence myself.

So we had drive thru spaghetti and bread sticks and I had a steak. (I'm anemic - back off!)  Kevin came home as I was finishing stories for Clara and Ada.  (Owen went to watch Tae Kwon Do.) I took my over tired and over touched self to the shower before coming here to whine.

I'm just going to crawl up with a good book!  (Thanks E!)

Spring Break Day Four

Well today I took Isaac, Lilah, Owen, Clara and Ada to the Puzzles Fun Dome. It was expensive and loud.  The lunch was okay but the teen boys couldn't remember to actually make my pizza despite several reminders. LOL

The cable guy came to mark the ground for the fence people coming on Friday. Though the fence people called and asked if they could come tomorrow - sure!

Then to Skyline and Benjamin was well behaved and cleaned him rooms. Isaac is having a blast spending the night with his best friend.

Baby is moving a lot tonight and I noticed hiccups for the first time!

Spring Break 2008 Day Three

Day three was really not that exciting. Clara went with me to the grocery.  Then we had biscuits with breakfast. The kids helped put groceries away (love them!). Then I made pizza for lunch and they had a picnic on the back porch with pretzels and pizza. Then they had ice cream. (Love these new tiny little servings of ice cream!)

Zac's family picked up Isaac to play. The mattresses for the bunk bed were delivered. Benjamin helped me put the on. Girls are happy.

The rest of the afternoon was really spent sitting in the doctor's office with Ada.  Her legs are still crooked and the other mommies were hounding me.  My doctor said, "Tell the other mommies that Ada is fine."

Spring Break 2008 Day Two

Benjamin watched Ada and Isaac while the girls and I had a nice breakfast.  We came home and I took the younger five out to a new store that has kid games, bounceys, food and stuff like that.  Some friends rave about it, I wasn't super impressed, but the kids were. They had fun, that's what counts. The picture is of Isaac on the bungee jump thing.

Home again, we took naps and then Benjamin and I went out. He needed new shoes. So then we went to get the new mattress and box springs for the now old bunk beds with no bunk. Benjamin and I also went to the grocery store. I made Mexican Pizza for dinner - kids loved it. Then I took Hilary, Isaac and Lilah to Tae Kwon Do to meet their dad.  (Isaac, Lilah and Kevin tested last week and have new belts!  Today was Hilary's first day back since injuring her knee last fall.)

Owen, Clara, Ada and I cleaned up a room and then read books and played Memory.  They had a lot of fun dancing to music while they cleaned.  I wonder if Raffi and the Wiggles will always make me feel like cleanings...

Spring Break 2008 Day One

Today was our first real day of spring break.  With Shabbat being nearly identical to every other Shabbat, except a family party. So today (Sunday) we split up by gender and went out. I took the girls to the Bed and Breakfast for some afternoon fun. Then off to dinner.  We still had some time to kill so we went to a local park and played at the playground, then we took a walk through a really cool path with a creek and ducks.

Eventually Kevin showed up and picked up Ada, who was simply too much to handle at the B & B.  The boys had gone to dinner and went home to watch some show where they build a house out of scrap.  They were thrilled.