Too much time on their hands

First day of summer holidays, and already the kids are in to mischief. They were supposed to spend 3 hours working today (2 in the house, 1 outside in the yard). After about an hour, I saw Brent & Luke on the stairs. Brent is at the top, holding the end of a long rope of shoelaces from a toy, all tied together, and Luke is at the bottom, with the rope tied around his waist. I asked what they were doing, and Luke said he was just testing out his bungee cord, so he could bungee jump on the stairs!

Politically correct bishop?

This weekend was our ward temple trip / campout in Cardston. We had a great time, and lots of people from our ward came. Despite enjoying going to the temple, and spending time with the family, the highlight of the weekend was provided by Mike...

On Friday night, after people were back from the temple, and before all the kids went to bed, everyone gathered around the fire. Mike wanted to take a few minutes to talk to everyone, but wanted to start with a song. He asked a few people if they had a song we could sing, to start us out, but no one was coming up with an idea - not even the kids. Finally, Mike says "How about that Indian song, with the arm movements?" So, opening song was "Book of Mormon Stories".

Swim Meets

We've entered swimming season at our house. This means that pretty much every Saturday from mid-June to mid-August is spent at a swim meet. This means getting up EARLY, to get to a pool by 7 am, and staying there til 4 or 5 at night. And, packing a ton of stuff, because you need swim stuff, food for everyone for the day, stuff to play with, and a sleeping bag to sit on and chairs. Then, once July comes, the pools are still indoors (mostly), but you sit outside between swimming, so you need to bring some kind of shelter as well.

But, it's worth the hassle, first because the kids love to go, and second because we usually buy dinner or DQ on the way home!

This year is Katie's first year. At her first meet, she got to be in a relay race. One of the swimmers was a "veteran" 8 year old, and the rest were new. Their coach spent some time talking to them about how when the starter goes, the first one swims to the other end, then you can't dive in until she touches, then swim to the other side. However, she must have forgotten to mention that you should wait until the swimmer touches at your end before diving in. So, first Katie went, and swam to the other side. Then, the girl at that end jumped in and started swimming - but so did the girl at the other end. They ran in to each other in the middle, and kept going. Then, the last girl dove in and finished. The girls were all excited with how well they did, until the one who knew what was going on told them they were disqualified!

Basement news!

Well, we might still have a mud pit in the basement:

and an archaelogical dig outside:

But, we now have big basement windows!

Late night adventures

Last night, Troy was sick, so we were sleeping on the couch together. At about 3 or so, I decided to go up to bed with him. Unfortunately, I must not have been very awake. I stumbled up to my bedroom with Troy, then managed to step on a container of little cars. It really hurt, but I got Troy into the bed safely, then went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. That's when I noticed the trail of blood I was leaving....

I called Mike upstairs (he had been on the other couch), and he took one look and said I'd better go to the hospital. He said "You can drive yourself - like your Dad - it's a Babowal thing". So, 6 stitches later, I'm home from the hospital. I was pretty lucky, from cutting my foot to home again was only about 3 hours!

Father & Sons Campout

This weekend was our Ward's Father Sons campout. It's been beautiful all week, in the 20s, and then they predicted SNOW for the weekend! But, Mike, Luke, Jordan and Troy decided to tough it out and go camping anyways. (Well, Troy didn't have much say in the decision.)

It turned out that someone in the ward has a cabin by Lac des Arcs, which the Relief Society was going to use on Saturday, for a Mother Daughter activity. But, since no one wanted to hike in the snow, that activity was cancelled, so the men used the cabin for the campout. Not having to set up tents in the rain and snow made putting 30+ people in one cabin worthwhile!

Anyways, sounds like they had lots of fun, just not a lot of sleep. They went for a midnight walk, went fishing, watched movies, and ate lots of food.

I asked Luke if it snowed the whole time they were there. He said, "No.... sometimes it rained or hailed."

Sister Patterson

This last week, Sister Patterson passed away. Mike drove down to southern Alberta, just outside Fort Macleod, on Thursday for her burial. Then, there was a memorial service on Saturday in Edmonton.

So, we left early in the morning as a family, to Edmonton. On the way, we saw a huge accident. Just one car, but so badly crumpled that they stopped traffic the other way and the STARs helicopter was on the highway.

The service was really good, and it was fun to see lots of people that we went to church with growing up, but haven't seen for years.It's funny how funerals are always good reunions.

Here's one funny thing that happened afterwards:

(Sorry it's hard to read - the woman is saying "You have a wonderful family. How do you keep your children so quiet. In the next frame, it says "Little Besters running through the gym" and we're thinking "Don't turn around".)

One final thought I had on the highway. Why is it that car dealers seem to think that helium balloons attached to vehicles is a good marketing technique? Do you drive past a dealership, and you're not really interested in buying a new car or truck, and then you see a balloon, and you think, I must have that car? Anyways, next time you're driving around, notice how many dealerships have balloons...

Meanest brothers ever!

Here's what happened when I sent Troy out with the other kids, to play in the back yard.

A friend to bunnies everywhere

The boys went out to play street hockey. They were driving me crazy, I was trying to get some stuff done, and Troy kept wanting to play hockey with them, so I couldn't get anything done. They seemed to take forever getting ready to go. They finally went, and I closed the garage, and got Troy a stick and ball to play with, where I didn't have to worry about him running in to traffic. No sooner have I started back to working, when they come in to get me, saying they need my help. What more could they possibly need?

Then Luke says, "Brent needs you, because there's a bunny stuck in the hockey net." This is just not an everyday sentence, it took me a bit to process it. "A what?" "A bunny. A baby one."

So, I went out, and sure enough, there was a baby bunny totally tangled up in the net. So, I took Brent's gloves, and picked up the little bunny, and tried to untangle it. I got the feet untangled, and found out that bunnies aren't quite as quiet as I thought. If you scare them enough, they make a horrible sound. I couldn't get the head untangled as easily, I don't know how it managed to get the net wrapped around quite so many times. I had to hold the bunny, and pull out a bit of the net, and get Brent to cut some strings. But, after a couple of minutes, it was free!

Always nice to know there are no dull days here!

Nicknames

Katie has decided that "Brent" is too hard to spell. So, she told Brent, "From now on your name is Bob, because I can spell it!"

Also, she told me that the boys who like her at school have a nickname for her. Instead of Kaitlin, they call her Cutelin.

Funny link

After reading David's post about funny news stories, I commented about a favourite sports highlight in our family. If you look at it, remember this is a house full of boys!

Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kqj2hkbDnyM

Artsy moment

Check out this link - a rare moment of artsy endeavors

http://www.climbforwilderness.ca/muralcomp.shtml

I don't have to worry about Luke

Doesn't matter if he gets hurt during the day, because I heard him telling Katie that his clothes are 70% cotton and 30% Polysporin!

When you eat your crayons...

Do you eat the red ones last?

(Nice, a little ditty to stay in your head all day!)

So, if you tried a crayon, and it was so awful that you had to spit it out and sounded like you were coughing up a hairball, would you try another one right away? And, after spitting out that one, try another? And repeat this day after day?

Hmmm... maybe they all taste different?

Optimism

Yesterday, Troy showed me the true definition of optimism. We were in the gym at the church, and he had a basketball. He stood underneath the basket, and tried to shoot the ball in. Unfortunately, the basket is way over his head, and he can throw the ball about 6 inches in the air. But, he stood there, took his shot, and then ran and got the ball, and tried again. And again. And again. And again... I think he would keep going for hours (if I was willing), and never once doubt that this time, the ball is going to go in!

Little boys

Last week, we had a ton of snow on the ground, then suddenly got above 0, which meant a bunch of melting. Troy really wanted to go outside, so we walked around a bit, looking at all the puddles. I had to keep steering him away from the puddles, and it reminded me of years ago taking Brent for walks in the spring. And, I thought about how when Brent was just a bit older than Troy is now, we would go out and float toothpicks in the puddles, and have races, and how fun that was for 2 year olds. In fact, for years Brent thought that toothpicks were called boats.

I came back to the house, and there were Brent, Jordan, Luke and their friends, floating toothpicks in the puddles having races. Yes, a bunch of 13 and 14 year old boys, racing toothpick boats in puddles. I guess they haven't grown up as much as I thought!

Why I'm not enrichment leader

Look at the food we eat at our house...

Mmmm Green eggs, sausages, and waffles! I love St Patricks Day.

Today, Troy woke up with a rash. Not sure if he has some kind of virus, or if he's just allergic to overdoses of green food coloring...

Basement

Here's an update on us trying to finish our basement.

Enthusiastic beginnings:

Grandpa & Supervisor:

Final product - big hole in the basement!

Funny Katie sayings

1. Mike got a set of tickets to the Flames vs Canadiens hockey game in February. Then he got another set, and then got invited to go with a parent. So, he ended up going with the parent, and the kids went as well (except for Troy of course). I was worried about if Katie would be totally bored, but I hear she had a great time. Of course, this is mostly due to the large amounts of money spent on treats, I think. Brent sat with her, and repeated back what she said to him, as they were leaving the Saddledome.

As they were leaving, she said to Brent, "where are we going?" He told her they were going home, because the game was over. She said, "What, the game's over????" Then, a while later, they were talking about what a great game, since the Flames won (by a lot), and Katie pipes up with, "What? The Flames won????" Then, a bit later, they were bugging Mike about the Canadiens losing, and Katie says "What? They were playing the Canadiens?????"

Not too sure what she did during the game...

2. Katie tells me many times about all the boys who like her at school. The latest quote: "I don't think they like me because I'm cute, it's because I'm SO FASHIONABLE!" Also, "My kids aren't going to laugh at my pictures when I'm old like you, because I'm so fashionable." (I didn't have the heart to tell her that a. the things that are in those pictures were fashionable at the time, and b. I'm the one who buys her clothes.

3. To me (comparing me to her teacher): "Mom, you're funny, but not nearly as funny as Mrs Johnson!"

Tired and Busy

You know you are too tired and too busy when you get the new Janet Evanovich book, and

- it takes 4 days to read it!
- you have to put it down one night, because it's too complicated!

(If you haven't read them, they are easy fluff books that are fun to read, and usually I finish them on the day I start them.)