I've got the workmen here to install my new kitchen floor. Here is what I've heard so far:
Well, despite a sinus infection, Kevin flew in and we went to Sea World. (Hilary stayed with April and enjoyed herself there - her choice.) We saw dolphins, stingrays (Lilah touched one.), eels and the scorpion fish (Ada's fav), tree frogs, sharks and the Shamu show. I accidentally witnessed what must be the Sea World after Dark show with the dolphins if you know what I mean... But Owen was just thrilled that she saw a dolphin pee. It was so hot that on the way IN to the park I bought a hat to wear. So after awhile, I agree dto tak the girls to lunch and K took B to ride Atlanatis. Lunch was borning, minus the 10 yo girl stepping on my foot to walk between me and the stroller I was pushing, the bruise is bad and I hope I don't have a hairline fractuce, and the French, fork jousting toddler who speared my arm unexpectedly (to me). What is it about me? Kevin showed up just in time, I was wondering what else I was going to have to live through. LOL
B loved the ride and they were both soaked. We went to see the sharks at this point then to Shamu. K and I were a bit disappointed in the show, which was more about the trainers pretending to be cheerleaders than the whales. *shrug*
We drove home and met up with April for more swimming at the hotel. Then I started texting Juliet. She said it was raining at home and she was jealous. Just to show her no hard feelings, I sent her a pic of the girls swimming to show her no ill will. We also could see the fireworks from our bed in the hotel room - best seats ever! Now, if only Disney did fireworks like our hometown...
Excerpts from my adventures today:
kids misbehavin'
then i waited an hour for the safe guy to come and open the safe that was left locked
but i had to be in the room
so finally they came
then we left
and Owen starts crying that her throat hurts
so I get some cough drops
but they are too spicy
so I get gas too and realize I can't find my cc
call K to get him to cancel card, he whines about having to do (I'm at a gas station in FL DAMINIT!)
then I go somewhere else and get meds for O, who is now fine
oh and while we were waiting for the safe guy somehow I got a fire ant in my underwear and it bit me multiple times in a stretch mark
OUCH!
so pirate golf - hot and semi-fun
hilary and lilah too competitive
lost too many balls
ada swinging a putter
so we get home and the maid locked the bathroom door
we all have to go but no where to go
20 minutes they said they'd send someone up right - took an hour
i'm just laughing at this point
2:15 PM
hilary is taking the little girls to the lobby to potty
but the lobby is far away
and someone is outside our door smoking
and we'll not have water tonight...
Well, after the long, awful, 19 hour drive, we made it. I'll admit to having tears in my eyes as my daughters watched the princesses dance in front of the castle. In general it was a very enjoyable day and everyone had a blast and was well behaved. Highlights:
And despite April's dire predictions of busy times, we had fairly short wait times and no rain. (Weather man called for 60% chance of thunder storms.)
Well today was Isaac's big day - he's off to camp again for nearly a month. We started the morning off with our usual Bob Evans meal.
Then we waited at the parking lot for an hour. Hilary took the girls to the play ground which was a blessing, but Ada was frightened by the sound of lawnmowers and sat on the bench a lot - how sad. After putting Isaac on the bus, Kevin came over to say good bye. I thought you'd get a kick of this one.
And just some pics because I can...
With Kevin and most of the older kids gone this weekend, I was fairly concerned it would be rough. Benjamin has been a huge help and the girls are fairly easy to take care of on most days. So it's been a mostly pleasant weekend. I am tired and it's the anemia. But this morning I decided a tiny field trip was in order. So for breakfast I took them to watch doughnuts being made.
I think that they all enjoyed it. Though Benjamin actually didn't order anything. That really surprised me, even when I said he could take something home. Oh well. Owen, Clara and Ada chose - you guessed it - chocolate with sprinkles! I had a lemon filled.
I stepped outside to take a quick phone call (AMAZING NEWS!). While outside Benjamin kept everyone under control. Heck, even Ada spilled chocolate milk everywhere and he did't freak out or yell. LOL
Ada was a bit short to watch the doughnuts, so we took turns lifting her up. All in all a pleasant morning. Then on the way home we stopped at the Good Will and dropped off some clothes I'd pulled aside, so we had a nice discussion of clothing recycling. I think it's my nap time...
Every year, we have a family Derby party. It's great. But this year it was a bit rough. We do various things and the kids win the names of horses. If the horses win, place or show the kid holding that name win a "prize."
Lilah won 1st place with Big Brown. Owen's horse came in 2nd with Eight Belles, and Clara with 3rd. So it soon became apparent that Eight Belles was injured. Then the very sad news was that she was euthanized. Owen staring up with big tears asking what happened to "her" horse. I said simply, "Honey, she died." Benjamin starts screaming, "They killed her! They killed her!"
Needless to say it was a very long evening explaining euthanization to a 5 yo and a nearly 15 yo. This on the end of the week where B found a dead turtle and a dead bird, which only proves the world is a bad place...
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!
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.)
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.
