Girls Camp was more adventurous than I thought...

I didn't have time to even think about posting this in July but now that the kids are gone and I need an excuse to avoid the laundry here goes!

While I was off in the woods* with these girls and their friends...

 

 





 

 

My dear, sweet husband and sons (and crazy 3 year old daughter) decided to do some home improvement projects...

 

Let me set the stage.  Aaron and Elizabeth were sharing a room...a good solution for a while but not a good long term idea.  They were starting to bicker all the time and let's face it, at some point sharing a room with your little sister is awkward for a young man!  Sooooo, Dan and I have been thinking of how to rearrange the rooms.  We have 3 rooms for the children and 5 children...not good...but, as a middle child in a large family, I have no sympathy for children who have to share rooms so we aren't buying a bigger house.  One night Dan and I were chatting about the situation and I just said "I kind of wish we could just do a boy's room, a girl's room, a guest room, and be done!"  I joked about a 3 story bunk bed (google them, there are some CRAZY beds out there!) but was going to push off the decision for a few months.  Dan had other plans.  The boys needed to build stuff for merit badges so that's their justification...

 

 

 

Exhibit A

 

 

Yes, that is a triple decker bunk bed!  [***Dan said he thought I was making fun of it when I'd shared this story before but I need to clarify.  I really do LOVE all of the things they built.  I was just in shock when I got home.]  Everyone is having a great time with it...especially Aaron.  I love hearing the little thud each morning as he slides off his bed and crashes into the opposite wall...perhaps I should pad that wall...that might be a hard thing to explain to the ER doc.  Anyway.  It was originally built to have Tyler in the middle but when we added the slide and Aaron took over they adjusted the level of the middle bunk up so that Tyler again has the most space.  He can actually sit upright without hitting his head.  I guess that's the advantage of building your own bunk bed.  It is amazingly tall...we have vaulted ceilings and Kyle still has to be careful not to bump his head each day.  I think it measures 9 ft...don't worry Dan anchored it to the wall...in a stud...I wouldn't allow anyone to spend even a few minutes on it until it was sure to stay upright.  Not yet attached/pictured is the fireman's pole for Kyle to use, it will be on the narrow end right next to the ladder, closer to the wall.  No real reason for the pole, he can use the ladder but we're so deep in this insanity we might as well take that final leap into 'totally crazy'.  The big plus to this bed?  Kyle dusted the ceiling fan...because he looks down on it...

Exhibit B

 

 

 

This one isn't crazy and it's not even a good picture...but he built that headboard/shelf area.  There are more shelves below the pillow line.  The middle section wisely held a vase of 12 red roses when I got home...I need to add decorations...I know...

 

 

Exhibit C

 

 

Also not totally crazy is the new 'guest room'.  Dan has always (not so)secretly wanted a murphy bed.  So he built one!  That cabinet holds our queen sized bed...if you come visit you will find it very comfie (I hope).  It is also anchored to the wall, don't worry, he was very safe!  He took our old table, removed the legs and sliced off 6 inches or so and turned it into a shelf (I have to admit it took me a few minutes to realize that...I just thought he was good at matching stains).  Anyway.  He then added hinges to the back of the sliced off table, anchored it to the wall, and put the front legs back on.  When we have guests the front legs will easily unscrew and then the table folds down on the hinges flat against the back wall.  We can then move the study desk out of the way and voila!  We have plenty of space for the bed.  I really love this room and hope that the kids keep it free from distraction.  Elizabeth loves to spend long daytime hours there doing crafts and so far the older kids have used the clean table for homework.  Our kitchen table is never  a good idea for assignments that need to be returned syrup/butter/cheeto free.

Exhibit D





 





 

Okay, so he didn't build anything in here but I just wanted to include shots of the girl's room in the decorating transition phase.  We are still adding shelves/decorations to everyone's set up.  I need someone to come over and make me put things on my walls.  Seriously, if you are good at this come visit.

 

So that's it!  My husband is crazy and I'm even more crazy because I just gave him more woodworking tools for his birthday.  He has also found a way to prevent me from ever rearranging furniture in at least 2, probably 3, of our rooms so he's surely feeling victorious.  All you have to do is bolt the furniture to the wall and the wife can't move it, hahaha!  I fear being asked to go to girl's camp again...what else can they remodel?

 

*I had the opportunity to attend Katherine's first year of girl's camp as the camp nurse.  Loved it!  That's the way to do camp...the nurse gets a building and AC...gotta treat those overheated patients properly ;-)  Seriously, it was a great experience and I love to observe my girl with her friends.  She is so wonderful and I loved seeing her smile and laugh and build memories. 



 

Had to share

I realize I don't ever blog so there is perhaps only one person who will read this but I just had to put it down in print so I can remember it.  So. stinkin'. funny.

The other day I was looking at baby pictures with Elizabeth and pointed out that she broke her collar bone when she was born.  I tried to explain where the collar bone was and ended up just saying 'it's by your arm... you broke your arm right here (point to collar bone) but then you got all better'. 

Long, long pause.

Huge eyes.

Even more huge hug.

"Oh Mom, THANK YOU for putting my arm back on.  Thank you."

I wanted to explain how broken bones really work but I just couldn't.  I was soaking up the sweet, sweet innocence of her gratitude.  And suppressing the giggles.  So. funny.

Dad of the year!

I know I never blog and this one doesn't even contain pictures but I have to share and am anti facebook right now.

Last weekend Kyle's YMCA basketball game coincided with some recruitment event at the Y...it's January, come join the Y!  Anyway, they had a promotion where if you took the 'polar plunge' you win one free entry into a raffle for free swimming lessons.  Awesome.  Aaron can't swim...really...it's bad...he's 6 and refuses to listen to any parental instruction on this...destined to a life in the baby pool kind of bad.  So I tell Dan to do it.  Here's the conversation (more or less).

Me:  Go do the polar plunge so Aaron can get swimming lessons for free.
Dan:  What?!?!
Me:  Just go down the water slide one time and you might win some lessons.
Dan:  Might?
Me:  Well it's a raffle so only one person wins...but I just know it will be you.
Dan:  Okay, I'll go if you go.
Me:  ME?!?
Dan:  Why not you?
Me:  I'm not dressed for that...I didn't know about this.
Dan:  Me either
Me:  I'm wearing jeans, and I'm a girl, I have to keep my shirt on.  You're wearing workout shorts and you're a guy...take off your shirt and use it as a towel when you're done.
Dan:  Seriously?!?
Me:  Just do it...the kids will think you're awesome.
Dan: (Ten minutes later, freezing cold and dripping wet)  It's a good thing I love you, get in the car.

HE WON!!!  I KNEW HE WOULD!  Now instead of looking like a horrible wife who subjects her husband to torture on a whim I look like a genius (who subjects her husband to torture on a whim).

80 Days!!!

Where do Phineas and Ferb go to school?  104 days is a really long summer break!!!

Anyway, here's the 'last day of school' photos...I usually just do 'first day of school' ones but decided to make my kids finish the year with the same embarrassing shots as the first.  Yes, I too noticed that some people didn't change their outfit all year long.  See?

 Aaron with his "spikey hair".  He is soooooo ready to be in Kindergarten!

Katherine walked in the door and declared "No more elementary school, YES!!!" so I guess she's ready to move on up...

What can I say about this cool dude...he's awesome and ready for a very fun summer...bring it on!



So ready to just sleep in!  I'm not going to lie, I'm looking forward to having this one around so I can go to the grocery store alone...of course with this one around I'll most likely be going to the grocery store far more often...

 

This one is just happy to have her friends home...she was super.excited.to.see.them.after.school!

Day one (I guess tomorrow is really day one...does that make today day half?) has been a success.  We enjoyed a delicious 'after a half day' lunch of pizza while watching "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (1971 version).  Dan claims to have watched that on the last day of school every year so we have adopted the tradition...

 

We'll have to let you know how days 1-80 go...

 

 

 



I'm 'fine' with it...

I have to admit, one of the perks of having many, many children is having many, many library cards at your disposal. 

My plan: Attend the library at regularly scheduled intervals.  This schedule would permit me to expose my family to a wide variety of highly sophisticated reading material thus expanding their minds without breaking my budget.  My reality:  Go to the library when it rains and we can't do anything else and/or I need to get the book club book.  Allow my children to check out multiple books that they will scatter throughout the house and way too many movies which do not enhance them in any way and I will forget to return within the one week time limit thus accruing $1.00/day fines.  Per movie.

I have successfully 'maxed out' my card, Dan's card, and 3 of my 5 children's cards.  I have library cards for my entire family at 3 different libraries.  I no longer live within the residency boundaries for two of the libraries but sometimes I go anyway.  Thanks to the option of sending all communication via email they may never know I've moved.  Twice.  I try to keep at least one card available for use at each library but sometimes I fail.  I know the amount at which a card is placed on restriction and will pay down my fines to $0.05 below said amount just to keep a card open.  I continually put the suggestion of having 'fine forgiveness days' in conjunction with a food drive in the suggestion boxes. My hope is that I can clear enormous amounts of fines with a can green beans.  So far, no luck.

Should I bother?

So, just in case you haven't noticed...I don't really blog anymore.  Here's my question...should I even bother?  Is this blog on your radar?  I've been thinking I should blog a few things...I have no intention of actually 'catching up' since a) my life is just a life, nothing really over the top exciting and b) that would just take for.ev.er.

If you are reading this you must be desperate so I'll just give you this snippet of a post, if anyone replies I might actually post photos:

Dan, works too hard as an assistant principal disciplining other people's children (and sometimes teachers).  Still inching towards his doctorate, he has decided to take a 3 month deferment so as to actually enjoy his summer, yay!  Said summer will be short because he is going to be the principal of summer school, yay?  Very much looking forward to July when his real summer begins--after taking the YM on high adventure at the beginning of the month, yay!  Okay, so his summer is 3 weeks long but it's gonna be awesome, yay! 

All the kids are great and staying busy, yay!

Tyler played football, basketball, ran cross country and track through school.  He really excelled at the running, yay!  He's finishing up regular season baseball through the city PONY league this week and will then be on the all star team, yay!  If you need your lawn mowed this summer call him because he will need to release some energy (and he really likes money). 

Katherine loves volleyball--she finishes the spring season tomorrow and we just signed her up for the summer one, yay!  She loves singing in the choir and will start violin lessons in June, yay!  She starts intermediate school in the fall and that really freaks me out...way more than when Tyler started.  Weird.  She can't wait for summer so she can just hang out at the pool all day, yay! 

Kyle played flag football (his parents are too overprotective to let him play tackle yet) and baseball and loved them both, yay!  He's signed up for a summer basketball league--he was going to do an outdoor sport but then realized we live in Houston and went with the indoor sport...he's no dummy, yay!  I'm also sneaking back in some piano lessons for him this summer--he'll be excited once they start, right?  He's so funny and is excited for some fun summer activities with friends, yay! 

Aaron loved his first season of T-ball--he mostly loved the snacks but there was still a lot of love, yay!  He 'graduates' from preschool on Wednesday and will start kindergarten in the fall.  When I told him they would do an assessment in August before he starts he asked what kinds of things they would test.  I gave him the run down; colors, shapes, letters, etc. When I said they might ask him to count as high as he could he cut me off with 'well they are going to be there for HOURS because I can count forever'. He  proceeded to count all the way to 219 then said 'I can count higher but I think I'll stop here for today so you don't get tired'.  Stinker.  Yay! 

Elizabeth.  Whew! 

If you know her you know what I mean.  She's just so crazy but adorable so we'll keep her.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with her alone for the next 3 school years but we'll figure it out, yay!  Right now we enjoy 'cleaning', not napping, feeding turtles, sometimes going in the potty if we feel like it, cooking, playing dolls, and pretending like we don't go into the boy's room while they are gone, playing matching games, and making Katherine's bed (yes, that is the only bed she makes).  Yay! 

We are, again, signed up for free AMF bowling--so bring on the summer baby, yay!

I still work at the hospital 6 shifts/month.  I will refrain from complaining about that since some people work 6 days/week and my 6/month seems pretty lame compared to them.  Believe it or not I'm trying to convince my boss to let me 'cut back' but we'll see how that goes.  I am grateful that I can work so little and help out so much...if I have to have a job outside of home this is a decent one so I'll say I love it and be done, yay! 

That's it.  If we have something exciting happen we'll let you know, that is if you exist and I'm not just writing this to myself.  Not blogging for so long made me wonder about abandoned blogs...what happens to them?  Do they just sit there for years on end?  If you die should you leave your blog to someone in your will?  Should you also will them your shutterfly account so they can add photos?  All kinds of things occupy my mind when I'm trying to avoid cleaning my room and doing laundry, yay!

Back to School!

Yes, I realize that I barely posted anything from summer and the real beginning of school.  I missed some birthdays and lots of cool adventures but I just wasn't in a blogging mood for a few months. 

BUT today Aaron started preschool and I'm home with just my Little Miss E for company.  She's currently enjoying touching everybody's stuff while they're at school and can't see her do it.  While she's occupied I'll take a moment to post photos of the crew.  Please ignore the fact that the older three have been in school long enough to get their first progress reports...

 

3rd Grade.  So fun loving and sweet.

 

5th Grade.  Oldest in the school, OH YEAH!

 

7th Grade.  Too cool for everything, loving football.

 

Preschool is FINALLY HERE!  "I'm only 4 but I get to go to high school, SO COOL!" (His preschool is a class is at a local high school and is taught by the high school students.  He is proud of the fact that he is the first kid in our family to go to high school.  He also loves the fact that he has 58 teachers...) 

 

They are all such wonderful kids.  Elizabeth and I sure miss them when they're gone...kind of.