finally, the chickens

cleaning up, after a fun day at the farm and fun with aunt Tonya.

My first few days of working from home...

Crazy, chaotic? The kids are doing very well. Not interrupting too badly and behaving for the most part. A few minutes to themselves upstairs and a bottle of baby powder proved to be a bit too much for the curious boy...



and yes, that is a Furby lying amongst the fluff.

KL is fully crawling which is making some things a bit more of a challenge. i can't just sit her down and know that she won't get into anything. She loves the cords and finds the teeniest items to pick up. How those chubby fingers pick up some of it???

Dad has been a Huge help getting us going and teaching us what we need to do. (And no, I'm not just saying that because he reads this :o) I would be so lost (even more than I feel) if he wasn't willing to sit in my laundry fllled basement teaching us the ins and outs of the business.

On the Road Again

We just got back from a trip to SF and P with Grandma and Tonya. It was a lot of fun visiting Auntie Tami and cousins Chayse and Harlee (We missed Taylor by a few days). We went to the T County Fair (I am still amazed at how large it is with P being so teeny of a town). The kids watched 4-h-ers show sheep, rode rides, ate corn dogs and had the "best ice cream in the whole world" dubbed by K. Even threw a few darts to pop balloons and win those glass picture that are so prevalent at fairs.

K got to ride horses and spent time at the farm chasing chickens and helping pull weeds. She tells us she got stronger from that and then shows us her bi-ceps. She also told Auntie Tami that she wasn't ever going to leave.




T rode the horses too with those talented horse-riding cousins. It was really fun to watch Chayse and T on the little pony "Chocolate" trying to trot. More funny that anything.



The kids (and myself) are plum tuckered out! We had a great time though. Even without a pool at the hotel! We had Chayse and Harlee at the hotel the first night and it was pure chaos with 5 kids. But luckily we knew SF well enough to find the Chuck e Cheeses so they could run off energy.

Tonya took some great pictures of K, Chayse and Harlee with the chickens. I will get them from her to post. Very cute.

I have included (blogger permitting) a few pictures of these events.

To all you checkers out there, I tried to post this yesterday but blogger was not wanting to upload my images.

a few tidbits from KL

She was tagged by Howie (a little bit of interesting news - I inserted a link - this 4 on the nerd scale just bumped up to 10!)

3 things that scare me:
*strangers who get in my space
*K or T jumping at me from behind
*my mom helping me to roll over

3 people who make me laugh:
*T
*K
*myself

3 things I love:
*the sound of water filling the bathtub
*to see daddy come home
*my boyds bear-blankie

3 things I hate:
*getting my face washed after eating
*when daddy doesn't come pick me up right when he walks in the door
*rolling over

3 things I don't understand:
*why I can't move forward, only in backward circles
*why my brother and sister run around without me
*that walking thing

3 things on my floor: (living room)
*T's cars
*baby toys
*dad's work boots

3 things I'm doing right now:
*sleeping with my head in the corner of my bed
*sucking my thumb
*whilst holding aforementioned blankie

3 ways to describe my personality:
*loving
*I'm hilarious
*sweet

3 things you should listen to:
*K singing her "western" songs
*me laughing at myself, remember, I'm the most hilarious 9 month old I know
*me talking in my sleep

3 things you should never listen to:
*mommy sing - only after you understand she can't
*T and K arguing
*K's high-pitched gna-gna-ing

3 things I want to do before I die (in other words, 3 things my mom wishes for me):
*be generous
*be a kind and loving mother
*be in a real crib in my own room

3 things I love to eat:
*pears
*num num = breast milk
*sweet potatoes

3 things I'd like to learn:
*to crawl
*to say daddy
*walking

3 "shows" I watch:
*mommy pumping
*mommy pumping
*mommy pumping :o) (get the picture, I feel it's all I do)

3 babies I tag:
*my mommy doesn't know any other bloggin' moms

Are you talking to me?

K finished up swimming lessons on Friday. Last year she I enrolled her in Level 1. She did so well that they skipped her to Level 3. They changed up he levels a bit so, to be safe, this summer I enrolled her in Level 2.

She did not pass to Level 3. Quote from her instructor: "K has done well this session of Level 2, but she won't be able to move on to Level 3. On some days, she wouldn't participate or try what I asked. To help her to move on, K will need to start listening, following directions and being confident. Good Job!!"

A mother's justification: In my daughters defense, I don't think she lacks any confidence. She doesn't think she needs lessons because she "already knows how to swim"(frantic floundering and splashing is more like it, but she thinks it is swimming). She also would not participate in the end game on a cloudy 70 degree day (she was turning blue at the side of the pool).

But that listening and following instructions. She has such a hard time with this. I did hear the instructors tell her, "K, wait by the side, K, you need to wait at the wall". When the instructors were taking other kids, K is dunking her head, jumping around, playing in the water.

It's like dance all over again when she only got one stamp because she was playing tiger when the teacher was helping other kids. This is when I told her I was disappointed because she didn't listen and she told me "I bet you are!"

I am tempted to try Karate or Ju Jitsu, these are very disciplined and teach self control right? Any ideas?

I have a feeling First Grade is going to be rough.

Drivin' in a Car

The road trip through South Dakota and Minnesota, then Iowa and Missouri and home again, quite the mileage but we had fun.

K would ask to "turn on her radio" (it was her singing and giving weather reports - she was the whole kit and caboodle, DJ and Singer). Fun to hear her and her love of singing.

Plum tuckered out.



T kept wanting his "phone heads" so he could listen to the movie. And had a lot of fun playing with grandma's hats.


And KL - other than exploding out of her diaper in Albert Lea and having to clean her up in a bathroom with blaring and scary hand dryers and no hot water... she traveled very well.

High above ol' St. Louie

Finally, I am posting about our trip to Missouri. A few of us drove to St. Louis after the reunion to see the arch. It was blasted hot! There was an hour wait in the security line out in the sun and then an hour wait inside. There was a really cool museum and other interesting things to do. Strangely enough there was no concessions - we were there over lunch with hungry kids. It seems odd to me since you have to wait? Maybe, just maybe the wait was long because we happened to go on the busiest holiday weekend they have. (July 4th). It was very interesting, it took me until the doors opened up to ride up to understand how it all works. Talk about BRIGHT!

Fun at Storybook Island

Isn't that the cutest?




Howie came to visit us this week (okay, his parents too!) Grandma had a great idea to go visit Storybook Island, a local children's park. The kids had fun running around to the different places, and I had fun snapping pictures (as always).