Early September-ish

These kids love their baby sister so much.

Cute Abby.

I've continued enjoying Bountiful Baskets.  This was my haul one day.

Up until last week we had a 7am basket time, so I was always getting home when my family was waking up.  The kids couldn't wait to see what produce they could have for breakfast.  Now I get home at dinnertime, so they meet me at the door wanting to know what I've brought for dinner.  :)

This girl is so funny and so full of personality.

We pulled out the ink and stamps during school one day.

Meanwhile, this little lady slept.

Thankfully, it occurred to me to strip Abby before she did much with the ink!

A friend made Laurel these adorable booties. She's been wearing them almost every day.

 I've been having fun with my smoothie making.  I call these 'dump' smoothies.  Beginning with odd leftovers (i.e. fruit that someone has taken two bites out of, the last spoonfuls of broccoli from dinner, etc), following with produce that needs to be used (i.e. the almost too ripe pears, the bowl of watermelon that is taking up my fridge space, the BB item that I just don't know what to do with, etc.), and ending with whatever else I want, I dump it all together in the blender and see what I get.  If it needs sweetening I just add some apple juice concentrate.  Lately I've been making these up to 2/3 veggie because veggies are so much cheaper than fruits! 

It's so rough coming home tired from church...

I bought this little citrus juicer and the kids have loved helping me make fresh 'ade'.  I think Alex was helping made lemonade for a cub scout activity this time.

Logan's 9th Birthday

In August (so long ago..) we celebrated Logan's 9th birthday with a big party.  He'd been planning this party for almost a year.  It was going to be a late over (in lieu of a sleepover) complete with a campfire, night games, and water kickball.  We had a lot of fun planned...outside.  Then it rained.  A lot.  And it continued with no end in sight.  After checking the storm radar several times we determined that this party was going to happen indoors.  We'd talked a little bit about a backup plan the day before, but hadn't really planned for it.  So just a couple of hours before the party we pulled it together.

First of all we had dinner: brats, watermelon, chips, and lemonade.  Those boys can eat!!  Then we moved onto a 'treacherous treasure hunt'.  In order to complete this hunt they had to complete several tasks in order to earn each clue.  They loved it way more than I anticipated.  Their enthusiasm totally made up for how sorry I was to skip our outdoor plans.

The first task was to cross over the hot lava to retrieve the balloons that were on Annie's bed.  Each balloon contained part of the next clue.

Their second task was to cross an acid river using only a certain number of objects to stand on.  They had to work as a team to get all the way downstairs.

The third task was to blindly cross a mine field without stepping on a bomb.

 The fourth task was to sneak through the spider's web without waking the spider.

The last task was to clean up from the other tasks...daunting...but they managed it!

The 'treasure' was another game.  This one involved gumdrops and whipped cream.  It was a contest to be the first to eat your gumdrops without using your hands. 

Group 1 BEFORE

And GO!

Winner!

Group 2 BEFORE

And GO!

Winner!

These boys were so positive and fun all night, but my favorite comment came from this guy during this activity, "My mom would NEVER let us do something like this!"  (Nevermind that his mom is WAY funner than this mom...ha ha!)

Logan pretty much directed the whole evening.  He'd planned the activities with me, so he just let me know when he wanted to do what.  He wanted to do presents and dessert next.  He wanted root beer floats instead of a cake this year.

Abby was always in the background watching the crazy fun.

The next game was 'sock war'.  It's a one on one competition to steal a sock from the other player, and the blanket is the boundary.

We played balloon stomp.  This game is always a hit.

I love that Logan is flying through the air in this picture.

To stay safe, Abby made herself a barricade with the couch cushions.

Eventually, the boys just wanted to make up their own games.  This was balloon volleyball I think.  They thought it was great that they sent the balloon flying at me right as I was taking a picture.

By the time these kids went home, my house smelled like sweaty boy!  They were extremely active for the entire party!

On the day of Logan's birthday we gave him our family gifts and had a treat (I don't remember what it was now...).

On Labor Day, Jim's family came to spend some time with us, so we celebrated our 9 year old one more time.

We're so glad this kid is part of our family!

Kids Say

Annie, "Right now the Asian beetle is having special privileges." See the special privileges? Ha ha!

They built a special habitat for their bugs...one of which is named Rose.

Logan, "We're getting ready to release them into the wild so they can raise their young. We're going to give them a special outdoor habitat."

Jim mentioned to me that he had a salad bar for lunch at work one day. The next day we visited Jim at work and everyone was given an ice cream bar. Alex, "Dad? Is this a salad bar?"

While going through the cow barns at the fair Alex was walking hunched over to check gender. As we passed each cow he was loudly announcing his conclusion, "Girl!... Girl!... Boy!..."

One morning I asked Alex if he had eaten yet. His response, "I just had that eating thing," followed by a chomping noise. I asked what he meant and he responded, "You know, that eating thing!" Turns out he had an omelet.

Alex, "Dad? If you wore your paint pants to work would they (meaning his employer) burn you?" He meant 'fire you'.

Annie, "If you want to stay awake for most of the night you should eat a LOT of food!" Jim refuted that so Logan jumped in, "It is a known fact that if you hardly ever sleep you need to eat all the time because you use so much energy staying awake!" Ten points for the person who can guess what book we've been reading that gave them that idea...

Alex when I was throwing away a crushed waterbottle, "Take the ladybugs out first!" Me, "The ladybugs are dead." Alex, "The ladybugs are just PLAYING dead!" Me, "Ladybugs don't play dead." Alex, "Yes they do!!"

In a quiet group setting with other women (who I'd mostly just met) Abby touched my armpit and loudly asked, "Wet? Wet?"

Logan while holding the baby, "Mom, you need to clean her fat rolls."

Alex, "We're actually food." Me, "What does that mean?" Alex, "It means that we have chicken in our bodies."

Alex, "Mom, why did you fart during the prayer?!"

A while back Logan had been sneaking cough drops. In an effort to help him understand why it's a bad idea to take medicine when you don't need it we told him that it could harm his body and possibly result in drug addiction. Months later he received a bag of gummy bears for his birthday. Alex was alarmed, "Those could make you addicted to DRUGS!" The package looked similar.

Alex, "I think Laurel and Abby don't fit in the family." Me, "Why do you think that?" Alex, "Because when they're bigger it'll seem like they're still babies."

Alex was torturing his siblings and I was talking to him about it. Me, "You like to make people happy right? And you love Annie and Logan." Alex, "I love ANNIE." Me, "You love Logan too." Alex pauses to think, then, "I love Logan, but I love Annie more."