What A Cheeseball

Last weekend was Spencer's final t-ball game of the season. He seemed to really enjoy the experience!

I barely got in position to take this picture and completely missed other opportunities. When it was his turn he would select his bat pretty quickly, get in position, and his coach would tell him to go for it whenever he was ready. One time I heard him say, I'm ready coach! Then with one quick swing he hit the ball and took off running.

In prior weeks the bat selection process alone gave me more than enough time to get ready to take all the pictures I could ever want.













Running the bases...












Heading towards home plate. What a cheeseball!

I Can't Let It Go

I heard this story last night and it continues to bug me. I want to let it go, but for some reason I just can't. It is driving me nuts... N.U.T.S.

So the story is about these two little towheaded 6yo twin children that live a short distance down the street, their parents, and a very kind neighbor. These would be the same children that spend a great deal of time at our home, in Carie's care.

This neighbor approaches the mom to tell her that she had just recently witnessed their daughter nearly get hit by a vehicle! Their daughter darted across the street without looking to see if it was clear. It was close enough and serious enough that the neighbor felt like the parents ought to know. And really, I'm sure it was hard to witness this after they had personally witnessed Abby's accident, in front of their house, just 2 months ago!

I shall repeat... their daughter was nearly hit by a vehicle... as witnessed and reported by a very trustworthy source.

So the mom shares this bit of news with the dad.
The (fairly uninvolved) dad asks if they should "punish" (whatever that means) her.
The mom says NO!
Because THEY DIDN'T SEE IT HAPPEN!

Do you really have to personally SEE your kid nearly get killed to take it seriously?

This, my friends, sums up the premise behind their parenting for nearly 6 1/2 years.
If she didn't see it, it didn't happen.
Everything is an "accident" and if it is an "accident" you aren't responsible for it.
If one isn't able to perform a skill she makes (unnecessary) excuses for it.
Everything and I mean everything must be fair and equal.
If one gets something she makes it up to the other one.
If one goes to a friend’s b-day party the other one gets to go have a manicure.
If one is gifted more presents she is fully prepared to balance it out on the spot.
If one is able to accomplish something but the other one can't, forget it.
If one is tall enough to go down the big water slide and the other one isn't, forget it.

And this is why it is hard to be a care provider for another family. It isn't about the kids. It is about the parents and the parenting differences between the families.

Summer 2009 Staycation

Getting ready for bed...

Run for your life!!!

Or join them...

Water fun...

Abby... under water 99% of the time...

So much for one person at a time on the body slide...

Oh the looks!

I'm sure this is last time "I" am left with 5 kids and trusted with keeping them out of the water! It was cold (hence the jeans!), no towels, no extra dry clothes, longggggg walk, fireworks and traffic.

We returned the next day with towels, dry clothes, and sun!

Such a boy!

Wild Adventure

Here's a cool photo taken on one of their adventures with Yia Yia. This particular day they went to the Wildlife Safari, per Ellie's request. It looks like Yia Yia was able to contain the wild pretty well!















Other park adventures...

Surprise Visit

This past week we were treated by a visit from Yia Yia. Being so far away after the accident happened was really hard for her. Well, it was hard for all of us. She wasn't able to come for a visit then but suddenly it became a possibility in July. She wanted to come be with us and take care of us, even if she had to endure our July weather**. We of course said yes, come whenever you can! So before we knew it she was here, in person, at our house. The kids were in heaven!

While she was here she had some great quality time with each of the kids individually as well as all together. We also all managed to spend a bit of time at the zoo. We then had Carie's siblings and their families up for dinner, a bon fire, and s’mores one evening. The kids also got some fresh new sand in the sand box! Since Yia Yia always brings Grandpa's truck, I thought why not use it to load up some sand and freshen up the sand box. After nearly 3/4 ton of sand was moved, it is so much nicer. Sure beats paying the delivery fee for such little sand!

Carie and I also got some fantastic quality time together as adults. We got to go out on a date night and we chose to see the new Harry Potter movie. We saw it just days after it had been released and it was still in the big theater. We also managed to get some simple errands (simple without kids in tow, a process with kids in tow) accomplished, enjoyed some retail therapy - for both kids and adults - and got to benefit from some amazing discount coupons in addition to the incredible seasonal sales. We felt relaxed and accomplished!

Then VBS started on Sunday evening. In the past Carie and I've stuck around to help. Last year we even taught during VBS. But this year we just couldn't take on those commitments. We thought about attending the adult class, but couldn't commit to that either. Then with Yia Yia here we decided that the adults would spend some time together while the kids were otherwise occupied. I think that was good for all of us. The kids are having so much fun in VBS. Tonight is the family picnic then they sing in Church on Sunday.

Carie didn't take any vacation time and I only took one day of vacation while her mom was here. With other things going on it didn't seem right to do it any other way. Thankfully it worked out quite well!

Yia Yia packed up and headed out late Tuesday morning. Before she could leave, she and the girls had to finish up one of the many books they were reading. Her next destination is KS for a short visit with her sister. Then she'll head towards home (Oregon) with the plans of returning by Friday evening. It is quite a drive, one that would easily take 3 full days each way for us. Thankfully Yia Yia loves driving so much (and she doesn't have small children to consider) that she can make it in a long 2 days each way.

**The funny thing is... we experienced some incredibly cool weather while she was here. People keep talking about it being unseasonably cool, and it is. But in my opinion, that has been our entire spring and summer. So while we were experiencing wonderfully cool temps here, Grandpa was enduring 100 degree temps back home. I loved it!

Three Week Recap

A busy and fun summer... as usual.

The weekend of June 26th, 27th 28th...
Friday was the last day of the kids’ FUN summer school. I think they (and we) were all bummed when it came to an end. It was a 3 week mini-morning session and they got to do a lot of fun things! They are already talking about going again next year.

Friday night we got our babysitter and her best friend to come over and hang out with our kids and our friend’s kids. Our master plan was to take our friends out for an adult evening in appreciation for all that they have done for us. They truly made a difference while we were in the hospital. After a superb evening we returned to pick up the kids and headed up to our Church lawn to watch some incredible fireworks that were being set off at a nearby park. We arrived just in time, the weather was incredible, and the kids had a blast. We enjoyed the fireworks and continued to enjoy watching the kids run around and have fun. It was another late night!

Saturday we went to Spencer's t-ball game and then we spent the afternoon swimming at the Y. Sunday after Church and lunch the girls had a friend come over to hang out. That evening we had our neighbor friends over for dinner to thank them for all they've done over the past several weeks. More great company and another late night.

Independence Day Weekend...
We took a "mini vacation". We decided that instead of spending money on blowing up fireworks and hosting a BBQ as we have in the past, we would do something that we KNEW that Abby could fully participate in and enjoy. We haven't setup our swimming pool yet... and probably won't because we are concerned about sun exposure and burning.

So we went downtown (which feels like out of town to us) and stayed at a brand new hotel with a really cool indoor mini-water park. The rooms were really inexpensive, spacious (2 king beds with a lot of room!), clean, comfy, and a great location to all that we wanted to do. The water park was just the right size to enjoy swimming, hot tubing, and sliding on the huge body slide. We also got to spend some fun time at the Farmers Market, Heartland of America Park, Lewis and Clark Landing, the Pedestrian Bridge. We attempted to watch a huge firework show on Friday night but rain changed those plans. We did meet up with some friends on Saturday evening and enjoyed an awesome firework show. It was so much fun watching the fireworks and watching our kids enjoy it all.

After hearing how things went in our neighborhood this weekend, I think we'll be considering going this route in future years!

Last weekend... July 10th, 11th & 12th
All the kids finished up with swimming lessons on Friday. Spencer is now officially in Level 2. Long (but good) story there. The girls passed Level 4 and get to move onto Level 5. YAY! I decided to take Friday off due to a funeral that morning but at the last minute we all decided to go to memorial the night before. So I got to watch their last lesson and got to see first hand the huge progress they all had made from the week before. It is amazing seeing the girls stacked up against all these BIG kids. They were easily the youngest in their class... by a solid 2 years.

After a late lunch with some friends we decided on the spur of the moment that we would go to Lincoln to visit Great Grandma. While Spencer has been to her new place, the girls haven't. So we went home, got cleaned up, packed up, and headed to Lincoln. We managed to get in town in time for a quick trip (our first of the season) to the Children's Zoo! Then we visited with Great Grandma for a good couple of hours. Our visit was a total surprise to her and we had a good time visiting with her. We then headed back home. Another late night!

Saturday was another full day with yard work, birthday party, t-ball game, grocery shopping, carpet re-cleaning, a swim party, a play date. Then ultimately Carie and I ended up having the house to ourselves for nearly 3 hours in the evening, quite an unusual occurrence. Once the kids all returned home at about 8:30, we started a bon fire.

Sunday was our planned trip to CoCo Key Water Resort to make up for the trip we couldn't take on their birthday. As expected, we closed the place down.

More adventures this weekend... stay tuned.