Webster the Turtle

The other day I was mowing the lawn and I looked down and thought I saw a rock or something that I had just mowed over. It was a turtle. Poor guy (or girl) must have been really scared. So I put him in a box for the boys to see when they came home from VBS. Of course they loved him and wanted to keep him. We named him Webster for his webbed feet. We Googled him and discovered that he was an "ornate box turtle". They live to be over 100 years old. Later that night after the boys went to sleep he "escaped" and went back to the wild, oka, our lawn.

Yellow Day

Sleeping in the closet....

The other night we sent Luke and Grant to bed. They were their usual chatty selves and we didn't think much of the giggling. When we went in we realized they had set up camp in their closet. We didn't have the heart to tell them no, see we said it was okay. Before I went to sleep that night, Grant had wandered back to his bed. In the morning Luke was back in the top bunk. Guess they both realized it wasn't all that comfortable!

Oh The Irony

Sara is watching a tv show called, "John Plus Kate Makes 8". A reality television show about a family with 8 children and how crazy it is with a lot of kids (These people have about 5 people in the house cleaning and helping out). Sara keeps pausing the tv to tell her own children to "be quiet, stop fighting, don't climb on your brother, don't eat that, put your pants back on, go to your rooms", that sort of stuff. Um, who needs tv? Time to bring in the cameras for "Sara Plus Joe and 4, Oh No!"

Luke's 8th Birthday!

Eight candles

Luke's favorite cake, white on white

Remember when birthday's were fun?

When it's time to nap, ya gotta nap.

Lucky for Luke his birthday is the longest day of the year. He really milks it,
a family characteristic from his mother's side!

Top ten for the end of June

1. "HockeyEagle"....this is what Sam says everytime he sees a large bird. We think he is saying "Hawk or Eagle?" but it just comes out like hockey eagle!
2. The turtle....Luke loves reptiles. He begs everyday for some new pet. He seems to think that Mommy will one day let him have a scorpian or snake if he just begs enough. NOT GONNA HAPPEN! He was thrilled when we showed him the turtle we found in the yard.
3. Grant....the teachers pet. They had two VBS's this week, one in the morning and one at night. Of course each teacher pulled me aside to tell me what an angel Grant is and how they have never met such a well behaved child before. What a joy he is to have in class! Who is this Grant and when will he visit our house?? Just teasing. He has been especially helpful these last few weeks. He loves to clean and will do any job I give him. His favorite is cleaning the window and mirrors with windex.
4 SUPER SAMMY!!! Samuel found the superman cape in the dressup box and now he wears it everywhere. People just think it is adorable. He tells me everytime we leave that he is on the way to "rescue someone"! *usually L&G from Bible school*
5. Lukes b-day. We had a nice family party at home. We are hoping to do his actual party with friends in July. Joe has had to work the last few weekends so there hasn't been a good time to have one. I can't believe he is 8! He is almost up to my chin now, and will be passing me soon I'm sure. He got lots of great toys for his birthday. His new scooter keeps him occupied outside, and the new lego sets keep him happy inside. He will spend hours putting them together!
6. Karsten....is a little less of a chicken now and is taking more steps. He is also a little jibber jabber when none of the other boys are around. He loves to grab things off of counters and as of right now the tv remote has been missing 3 days. Karsten please tell us where you put it!
7. KungFu Panda...I took all 4 boys to see this movie on Lukes B-day. I think the last first run movie I took the boys to was the Robots movie (a long time ago!). They thought it was super cool. Now they want everything with the characters on it. They also think they are kungfu masters!
8. Science experiments.... Luke got a science kit so we've been doing experiments. They love to watch things change colors and fizz. One vbs was a science theme, so they've been making lots of slimey creations!
9. Anytime I'm in the car with Sammy he begs to go see Joe. He seems to have a great sense of direction to. He will yell "NO don't go that way, go to Daddy's office!!!"
10.Only 2 more months until school is back in!

Fathers' Day, fun times 4!

Karsten got a hold of some unattended chocolate pudding
about five minutes after coming out of the bath so
back to the bath!

Nothing is easy with 4 small children, nothing. Today we went swimming for Father's Day with 4 non-swimming children. Turn your head at the wrong time and you're a newspaper headline! Actually Luke is not bad. He can dog paddle enough to stay off the bottom of the pool. We had a great time, anything to beat the 95 degree heat. Luke loves the high water slide, Grant is much more cautious, showing great trepidation on the toddler slide. Sammy was continuing a crabby week and couldn't stop whining about everything while Karsten just loves the water, just like showers and baths. For dinner Joe had picked up some salmon for a special once a year treat. This turned in to a once in a lifetime disaster when the the entire house filled with fishy smoke when Sara skillet fried the fish and everyone except Joe had to evacuate. When Luke and Grant returned from Vacation Bible School the house was still smelly and we all hung around in the back yard while we ventilated the house. Next time I guess we'll use the outdoor grill.

Swimming on Fathers Day

We were very brave today and took ALL 4 boys to the pool. Sammy didn't want to go near the water, Karsten couldn't get enough of it, Grant wanted in but in a "safe" zone and Luke loved riding the waterslides! It was an adventure for sure. They have all kinds of floaty things in the pool. Here are the some of the boys on one of the water snakes.

Hanging out at Ralph's...

Sammy playing Sponge Bob game on the TV in Jessie's roomGrant just loves Ralph's labs, Rags and River. He spent much the day on the back deck with them, they had to be kept outside because Sammy was so scared of them.

Notice Sammy on the other side of the window!

Grant with his friend. Maybe time for us to get a dog.

Luke playing on the Wii

Luke battling Ralph at Wii baseball. Notice Ralph is not holding anything back
for Luke the rookie. Always a great time at Ralph & Kim's place in Lago Vista.

Karsten at Ralph and Kims!

Karsten playing ball.
Moving on to my more serious side...
I look like my Daddy here. Doesn't it look like I'm about to give a lecture to some college kids?
Nah!

What the heck is this???

We were driving to Austin to visit Ralph and Kim and traffic was stopped to allow for this "thing" to go 5 mph in front of us. I have never seen anything thing that is this long on a roadway. We were unsure if they were going to take it to a rail line or what. It had a semi pulling it and a big truck pushing it. I thought Dad might know, I think maybe its a part for a nearby factory? We thought big though and guessed it was parts for some new rocket at NASA. What do you think?

Happy 9th Anniversary!

Today Joe and I have been married for 9 years. We are hoping to sneak away and eat out tonight with only two kids while Luke and Grant are at VBS. No big plans. We are already planning a big bash for #10, maybe going back to Carmel? A trip to NYC to see Saturday Night Live? We try really hard to watch SNL. It has been much easier since the invention of tivo. I have fond memories of watching it in our first little apartment in Manhattan Kansas. Then on post at Ft Riley, next at the Beebe house in San Antonio. At the house on post at Ft Sam, in the living room at the Edwards Addition house in Oregon. Now in our house here in College Station--where we met one another. We've moved a lot in 9 years! Joe has been a wonderful husband and I can't wait to spend many more years with him!

One of those days....Snakes and lots of icky things!

Excuse me sir, will that one eat my cat? Luke checking out the "puny" snakes
Why am I always stuck in this seat?
It may be puny but I can't keep my hands off it!

Notice both Grants hands down at his side.

If you ever watch TLC's show Jon and Kate plus Eight, you see what our life is like (divide their kids by half though!). At the very beginning, in the intro you hear Kate say "Today I could very well lose my mind". I hear myself saying that to no one in particular when my days tend to get hectic. Well, today was that day!
It started out innocent enough. I woke up and the first thing I did was call Joe. He was working out of town all day today, but I called to let him know in my dream he had gotten two tickets: one for speeding and one later in the day for an illegal turn. I thought it was rather funny. That is until he informed me that he *thinks* he might have made a turn at a red light at one of the few intersections in town that have red light cameras. So I'll be looking for that ticket in our mail in a few days!
So the next thing was the Reptile Man. Our library here in town was not going to have the snake man, but the next town over was. So yesterday I got the boys all excited about seeing snakes, got them ready to walk out the door, when I realized I had the wrong day. It was today! So after all that yesterday we HAD to go! When we got there I noticed about 20 moms with kids standing outside the library. I just assumed it would be outside. No such luck. I was greeted by a mob of very angry moms. The room was full, due to the fact that a school summer program had brought their kids in a big bus and the firecode prevents anymore people. There were lots of kids crying! So considering my options, and being super upset that I had driven four boys all that way I went in to talk with the librarians as diplomatically as I could. The man couldn't do another presentation but she was willing to let me wait until it was over and they boys could go in then. So we sat around and read books and then the boys went in.
Luke being the snake lover he is was very disappointed that they weren't HUGE, or super venomous (being poisonous wasn't enough, where is the Black Mamba when you need one? Apparently the rattlesnake and copperhead were "puny").
Later that day we had to ALL go to my dr's appt. That was fun. Four kids trapped in that tiny room. I had promised the boys a Sonic slushy if they were good. I won't get in to details-but I'll tell you this much, only Sammy got one. Oh--and me to because I really really needed one!
Then just when my day is almost over and I can sit on the couch and eat bon bons, I remember Joe isn't in town and won't be home until late. So for the third time we load up the van and take the older boys to VBS. When I get home I see my favorite UPS man (and I really mean this--he usually is great!) has left all the boxes of furniture I ordered right on my front step. I squeeze all the way past all 7 (yes I said 7!) boxes and get the boys in the house and then attempt to carry all the boxes in. They are so heavy! And my lovely neighbor watched me grunt and push and slide all of them from his front porch. In case you are wondering, I ordered an Armoire for the boys playroom, two big toybox/benches, and two bookcases for my sewing room. All assemble yourself. I thought I would tackle an easy toybox, but it didn't turn out so easy with Karsten climbing on it, grabbing the screwdriver and trying to eat the screws. Then we loaded the van for the fourth time and went and got the other rascals. Just when we pulled in and everyone was having meltdowns Daddy pulled in to the driveway (my knight in shining armor!)
I'm not sure why I thought I would share our day today. All in all it really wasn't so bad. I think the hardest part was not having Joe to help out, which he does so often. I guess with Fathers Day around the corner it reminds me to think of all the things he does for our family! There is no way I could ever do this alone, so I'm so thankful for Joe. And for the humor he brings to it--because we certainly need it!

Even the squirrels think its hot in Texas...

We caught it drinking out of our baby pool.

Grant's classmates birthday party....

Grant the go getter
Karsten wants to give this thing a try!
Grant so excited for his friend Allison to open her gift!
Grant, Karsten and I went to a little girl's birthday party last weekend. It was at a local place called "The Bounce". It is basically a large building full of inflatable bouncy things.
He had so much fun!

Grant's end of the year school program

Grant with his buddy Jin Lee taking a photo of some other rascals.
Grant with all his buddies!
Grant adored his teacher Mrs Marshall. He didn't want to go home on the last day.
When will the program start?
Look at me at school Mom!
Daddy's Boy
Grant ready to sing his heart out!