Penny for your thoughts

I often wonder what my kids are thinking at random moments when I stop to watch what they are doing. Are they happy, sad or just content to be where they are and with what they are doing. In the photo below, she was sitting there in the goal, surrounded by soccer balls and she was happily picking flowers.


I love this one of my girls. I don't know what they were looking at but whatever it is, it's got both their attentions. Since they were so far away I couldn't ask them what they were looking at. So now I'm left to just wonder.

Soccer Saturday Happenings

It's soccer season right now. And I realized that I do not have any pictures of Michael playing soccer. I pulled out the telephoto zoom lens and went to the game. Now can I just say that my mom went with me and that it was beyond windy. I love my mom but I hate the wind. There now you know how I really feel. Anyways, I got some great pictures of Michael looking like he knows what he's doing.


He played extra hard on Saturday and did a really good job. And when I told him so he commented to me "Yeah, I wanted you to get some really good pictures of me so I tried really hard." Have to love that and yes I did get some really great pictures also.

Now Dad and Z. were off at a baseball tournament on a different windy hill so it was just me, mom and the girls watching the game. Well okay, the girls didn't watch a bit of it. Instead they played with their friends and found some interesting ways to keep themselves entertained.

And once they got tired of passing the ball between the tunnel of legs well they moved on but I'm not sure exactly what it was they were doing.

Surrounded by Super Heros

I've been surrounded by my share of Super Heros in our house. This is the year that Zach decided to be the Incredible Hulk and Michael decided to be Superman (aka Pooperman). Zach would put on his Hulk mask and Kate would cry, he would take it off and she would stop. So he didn't wear that mask at all around Kate.

But never fear Kate...Pooperman was there to save the day.

Back when they were little

I get a little sad going through some of these older pictures of my kids. They were so little and so cute. And now, they are not so little and and sometimes not so cute anymore. So it's always good to go back and find a little reminder of what they were like when they were little. Zach drove his first tractor down at Wanda and Bobby's house that day. He had a blast and so did Michael. I remember that day so clearly, hard to believe that it's been five years already.



Driving on that tractor led Michael into a very strong love of all tractors after that. It lasted for many years. He even had this tractor noise he used to make. It sounded terrible and had to hurt his throat every time he did it. Used to make me and Scott laugh so much.

Here's Michael when he was about 2 1/2 or so. Such a cute little face that doesn't have that baby look to it anymore.


And of course I can't not show a picture of Kate taken that same day. She was only about 6 months old. Love all that dark hair of hers, it's gotten so light now but I still don't mind that none of my kids have my dark hair. Well at least not much.


Here she is showing off her little piggy tails. Grandmama probably did it and then they stuck around for a few years. Just getting longer and longer.


She recently made me cut her long hair and no refuses to let me pull it into a ponytail of any sorts. I miss them and keep putting her off on getting another hair cut in hopes she'll let her hair grow back.

Playing on the swings

Here are a few more pictures of the girls that I found of them playing on the swings. I'm really missing that right now and think we need to get a new one...fast!







And after all that swinging I guess a serious thumb sucking nap was in order.


When Michael got home from school he proudly showed us all what he had made that day at preschool. Nothing like a Dalmatian dog hat is there?

Time Traveling

I've finally decided to turn this blog into a scrapbook (well of sorts anyways). I never did any baby books for any of my children since I knew I would not finish it or even be good about doing it for the 2nd,3rd and 4th child. So when I heard you could get your blog printed into a scrapbook I thought what a great idea. So I sent off to have my first year done and am now waiting for it to be printed.

Which brings me to my point. I don't have enough pictures of my kiddos on this thing from when they are little. So as I was looking for a picture to have put on the front of the scrapbook I saw all these great pictures of my kids that I would like to have on the blog for the next book that I get made. So I'm going to do a bit time traveling over the next few posts just to get some of them onto my blog before I forget about them again. And in looking through them, I realize that I really have very few pictures of all four of my kids together so I am going to have to break out the camera again and get busy.

But meanwhile here are a few I came across tonight.
Kate posing by our electric pumpkin.

Anna never one to miss out on a photo opportunity.

Michael showing Jack some love.

Now since it was close to Halloween I'd thought to include a picture of them all dressed up. This was the only one I could find that actually had all of them in it. But as usual at that age Anna would get up and walk away before I actually took the picture.

We were sporting a vampire, a police man, super girl and Minnie Mouse that year. I've seen those costumes played in many times since then and they definitely no longer look quite so good as that. Although it's funny Anna still to this day trys to get into that Minnie Mouse costume these days. She insists it fits, no matter how tight it is.

Spring Break Fun

It's been Spring Break this week. So I decided to take a few days off from work to be home with the kids. They spent the first two days with Grandmama and Pappy so they were already a bit spoiled. But it worked out well since the three youngest had all been sick the last week and a half. So once we got them on the way back to being healthy we were able to start in on a little bit of fun.

Z. got invited to go camping with one of his baseball teammates so he was gone for the first part of the week. It was great for me, he got to sleep in a tent and camp and I got to sleep in a bed and not freeze. He had fun but he admitted it was a bit to cold still.

We went bowling later in the week and met up with some friends for that fun. Then Z. went off for another sleepover and a Stars game. K. went for a sleepover at Grandmama's house and Hoss had a friend over for a sleepover. So lots of shuffling around of kids later and everyone had a good time.







We went and celebrated a friends birthday party. The location was at a church which had converted it's old sanctuary into a playzone area for kids. With a bounce house,play scape, and dress up area and small climing wall. A. spent most the time playing dress up it seemed but she liked the play scape as well.


Hoss had a good time until Elmo tried to eat his head...





We finished out the week with a day of shopping and ice skating. Z. hadn't been ice skating since we lived in Finland. He didn't remember any of it so had to relearn it but had fun. Hoss took a while but finally got it and was enjoying himself (although his pants were wet from the ice) and K. took to it like crazy. She was going fast and enjoyed it but for some reason insisted on holding on to mine or Hubs hand most the time. A. did not care much for it. She would go around once and then want to sit down. She was ready to take off her skates much sooner than everyone else. But she was a troooper and waited patiently until we were all done.







We finished out the day by stopping for popcorn and going to the Skatepark and watched all those boys in there doing wild and crazy tricks on their skateboards, skates and scooters. All I can say is thank goodness none of my boys are into skateboarding. No way would I want them doing that.

Tommorow is technically the last day of Spring Break but we don't have anything planned for it. The temps have dropped and it's snowing again so I may just pack the kids up and take them to the movies tommorow. Then after that it's back to school and work until summer vacation.

Change of Plans

It is bitterly cold here in Tx. today along with the rest of the country. But for me, I haven't been this cold since I lived in Finland. I'm thinking of breaking out the wool hose I still have just to stay warm.

I was woken up very early from my warm bed by the phone ringing. It was the school letting us know that it was closed due to icy conditions. Our district always closes before most others. The school buses just can't navigate some of those back country roads. So my three big kids would be home with me today. My youngest A. was having a sleepover at Grandmama's house so she was not going to be here. Originally I had planned on going out and doing some shopping that is done much easier without children in tow.

So now I have a change of plans. Instead of it just being me while I go out shopping it will be me and the kids home from school together one more time. And I have to admit that I'm not upset by it one bit. I can be annoyed by their loudness one more day, I can step over their messes another day. As I type, Hoss and K. are spinning in circles around the den trying to see how long they can go before they fall. I get dizzy just watching them. It's fun and annoying all at the same time. And it's something only my kids can do to me on a regular basis. So I will try and focus on the laughter of today. Knowing that tommorow it's back to school and that I won't be able to enjoy the spontaniety of their actions as often as I have been able to.

No pictures again...just ramblings

Another day, another post without pictures. I wanted to post some today but our desktop is where all my photo software is at, and our picture drivey thing is out. (Or so I'm told) so that means no pictures of what my kids did over Christmas break. I may try again to post these pictures when we get it fixed this weekend. Hopefully I won't forget. But don't hold your breath.

So instead of pictures you get ramblings from my mind. I went to Sams today. We needed to stock up on everything it seems. While I was there, freezing cold. I was thinking of La Madeline's tomato soup. I love that stuff. I happened to check the soup aisle and guess what, they had it! So I bought it, intending to have some for my lunch. Then I went on down to drop a small fortune in the meat department.

I'm getting hungry by now, never a good thing while shopping. So I happened to noitice the 100 calories snacks they have boxed up there. So then I start to wonder, if a person ate the entire box of 12 snack packs in one day and nothing else, does it still count as a 1200 calorie diet. I mean there is absolutely nothing worth anything in those things nutruionally speaking of course. But still I wondered. And no, I didn't buy them.

Instead I happened by the free sample lady who was standing next to the clam chowder. It's there I lost all will power and put that clam chowder in my basket. I love clam chowder but never make it. So instead of my tomato soup for lunch, I went for the bad stuff. But I'm not going to worry about it, since it will probably be another year before I get some again.

So there you have it, no pictures! All you get from me today is pointless ramblings about what goes through my mind. Hope you can handle it...

New Year, New Things

It's a new year now. And hopefully our family will be as blessed by the coming year as they were the past year. The kids are a bit older, things are getting a bit easier at times and harder at times. We are constantly busy and on the go. I don't see that changing in the near future. I'm excited about the new year and what it will bring for us as a family.

For those that know us in real life, you know Hubs job has not been the most stable of things ever since the Telecom bust a few years ago. That continues to be the case now, only much more shaky. So shaky in fact, that I am going to be starting a new job next week. Something that will give us a reliable paycheck and benefits in the event that something does happen to his job. I am so torn about this. It's something that needs to be done for our family and I don't begrudge that one bit. I will miss the life of a SAHM I've had for the last five years. I am luckier than most in that I have been able to do this while my children were little. And while I know this in my head, it's taking my heart a bit to catch up is all.

I'm going back to the financial auditing world from which I left a few years back. I'm fortunate that this time my commute will only be to the town south of the lake so I will not have much more than a half hour commute. If things work out the way we are hoping, then Hubs will keep his job and my salary will go to savings and paying off that pesky thing called a mortgage. We will hopefully be able to evaluate things better once we know more about his job situation.

So things around our house are going to be changing a bit. But with time we should hopefully all adjust and be back in a new routine before long. So here's to a new year and new things and to many more blessings to come.

Making Christmas Cookies

Making Christmas cookies in our house is a messy deal. I just tend to line everything up and step back. They all have fun doing what they want and I just have to clean up afterwards. But regardless of how pretty they turn out, they always get eaten. Toss in a few cheesy smiles for mom and everyone ends up happy.

What happened to Fall

I've been a bad bad blogger. But I've been a very busy mommy so I will use that as my excuse. So here is a very brief update on all that has happened since summer ended.

We had our first day of school. K. joined Hoss at the elementary school. Z. is off to Middle School now and my youngest A. is at preschool 3 days a week. They all seem to like it but don't like the homework. Does that ever change?

We had Hoss's 7th birthday party in October and it was a lot of fun with friends and family.

We visited the Pumpkin Patch and had all kinds of fun there. Although it was so muddy this year we didn't stay and play as long as we normally do. Can't really say that I minded that part of it to much though.


I even remembered to get in one of the pictures that Z. took this year. It doesn't happen that often so I thought I'd post it even though I don't like the way I look in it. But do we ever really? But the fact that both Hubs and I are in it is a rarity and worth posting about.

That naturally led us into Halloween where I was fortunate to have two Snow Whites, a vampire and a Ninja. I kid you not, Z. came home with over 7 pounds of candy all by himself. I didn't weigh the other kids bags since I was in a state of sugar induced coma by then.

In between all that we had 2 soccer teams and 2 baseball teams we were having practices and games for. I spent a lot of time at fields all across North Texas. It's slowed down a bit now and I'm very grateful for the break.

We had Thanksgiving at our home this year but since I was so busy cooking, I forgot to get any pictures. Just imagine all of us stuffing ourselves silly and then taking naps during the Cowboy game and that was us.

So now that brings us to December and all the busy things that come along with it.

Seems like a brief and silly summary of what is technically a third of the year but sadly that is it. Hopefully life will not get so crazy and I won't be so lazy as to stay away from blogging more often.

Well I've squeezed all I could...

Well I squeezed all I could out of summer and then some.

Then we got busy with getting my parents moved in to their new house. They are now only about 15-20 minutes away versus 5 hours. I do love that. But the whole moving thing, well it still stinks. Even if it's not you moving.

The kids are all in school and getting used to new routines. Sports and practices are going strong again and things are just busy. What else is new right. But things are good and I'm very blessed.

I just have to keep reminding myself that on crazy days and weeks like what we have been having going on.

The Last Drop

It is the last week of summer for us here. And I have finally convinced Hubs to take some time off from work. So this week we are trying to do some fun things with the kids close to home since we technically didn't go any where for vacation.

Yesterday we took the kids to Six Flags. It was not that crowded but very hot. Also, it was just me and Hubs and the kids. And for the record, I don't do roller coasters. They make me sick so I stay away from them. Hubs does some but they eventually make him sick as well. The boys rode a lot of the rides together and K. got in on a lot of the action. A. and I well we took it easy and got on all the rides with a mild rating. We stopped for lunch and went out to the car and had our picnic. No way was I going to spend that much money for food. Thirteen dollars for a refillable all day drink was more than enough of their prices. But it was still a lot of fun. And we did get a few pictures in here and there. Mainly of the characters. For whatever reason, A. wanted a picture of every character she saw so we have more than enough of those.


We stayed until almost closing time which for us was a major feat. And crashed into bed with dreams of motion sickness affecting any one who rode a roller coaster.

Today we did it a lot more tame than that. We had heard of a Pizza Place with go carts, bowling, mini golf and bumper cars. So we piled the kids in and got in on the Tuesday special of drinks and buffets along with cards loaded up for the fun to be found. So we ate and played. Then the kids wanted to eat again and play so they did. Then I had enough of the fun and said it was time to go so we went to redeem the dreaded tickets. (We had 52 between all 4 kids) The guy behind the counter realized real quick that my four would not be very happy so gave us an extra 2000 tickets just to keep peace in the family. (Thank you to that boy's mama for raising such an observant son who is generous with those darn tickets). So all the kids got to pick out something and they were happy.

So here it is the last week of summer and I'm trying to squeeze out every last drop of fun I can out of it. Summer is almost over and I'm so glad and sad at the same time.

A play write conversation overheard

I'm always surprised at what my kids come up with. This one still has me laughing days later so I thought I'd share.

Main Characters: Mom, Hoss and Pappy who was visiting us.

Scene: The staircase, lots of noise and activity especially around the staircase with younger sisters running up and down.

Script:
Mom- You kids quit running up and down the stairs and screaming your going to hurt yourselves or someone else. (This is said as Pappy is trying to make his way up the stairs)

Girls- ignoring mom, continue to run up the stairs making as much noise as possible.

Hoss- (squeezing himself as flat as he can against the wall of the stairs as Pappy tries to go up the stairs) Looks at his Pappy and says "Go Ahead, Old Man"

Mom and Pappy start laughing and scene fades.

Disclaimer- I know where he gets it from and it's me. It's what I tell the old people who are driving to slow in front of me or who are just annoying me. I haven't figured out yet if Hoss was annoyed with Pappy yet for being so slow on the stairs or not.

Fun and Busy Days

We have had a couple of fun and busy days this week and I've been way to lazy to post about any of it until now. Which makes perfect sense, because I'm very tired and it's already past my bedtime. So now is the perfect time for me to blog right?

Anyway, we met some friends this week at a small water park on Thursday. I had my kids plus two friends. And we met some other friends and moms there as well. We packed our lunches and ice chests full and set the children free. The big kids were off and going while the little ones stayed close to us in the kiddie area. This water park is small enough for me to be comfortable with the big kids going off and yet still big enough (for now) that they aren't bored by it. And for only five dollars, it can't be beat. I took a few pictures with my phone camera but they didn't really turn out that good. So if you want to see pictures of our fun day then you will have to visit Courtney's blog post about our day.

Today, Z. went to a sixth grade roundup at the middle school. I was not allowed to take my camera to this so have no pictures. Not that I was there for that long. They pretty much told us parents to leave the kids in the good hands of middle school teens to show them around. So all us parents left our children there to fend for themselves with the help of the older students. They all seemed to have survived the lockers and were given lunch as well. Just one more milestone which seems to be passing way to fast before my eyes when it comes to my kids growing up.

And then tonight we went to a swimming birthday party for one of our friends little girl's. It was fun but I'm worn out now. I'm tired of swimming for the time being. But my children aren't so I'm sure we will swim some more before school starts. So that's what's been going on here lately. Hopefully I'll have more pictures next time.

Patio Pictures

I have been very lazy in downloading pictures lately. So the other day when I finally did get around to downloading my camera, I had a lot. In fact I forgot that I even took these pictures until I saw them.

When we bought the house, it had a small patio and I've always wanted to extend it a bit. Well our friend Janne came back from Finland and heard about it. So he lit a fire under Hubs and before I knew what was happening they were digging out the dirt to extend my patio. No way was I going to slow that train down. So I let them.

After they dug the dirt out and framed it, they arranged for a cement truck to deliver the cement. So all we needed was lots of friends and wheel barrows and good weather. We struck out on the good weather for three weekends but on the fourth we got lucky and here is what was going on in my back yard.


The cement truck would fill up each wheel barrow and the guys would take off to pour it out.

But first they had to make it up this monster incline with a very full and heavy wheel barrow. I think I may have actually heard a swear word or two while I was standing here.

Once at the patio they would pour it in and someone would spread it out. This went on for a very short time.

Then finally all the cement was delivered and it was time for more spreading and leveling off.

This is where the guys who were still capable of standing would stand and eat the breakfast burritos we paid them with and catch their breath. Meanwhile Janne and another Finn were busy finishing off the leveling.

As you can see, lots of help from the friends and kids and lots of work. I wish I could say that I've gone decorated my new patio and got it looking all nice now, but I can't. It got way to hot to be out working in the yard shortly after we finished the patio. So now I will wait for fall.

Janne and Hubs are now talking about renting a bobcat or excavator or whatever it is they need to level out our backyard and build a retaining wall. All so that they can put up a batting cage in our back yard. Me, all I want is some new flower beds. Guess we will see which gets done first.