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Trying my phone.

Slogans

Somehow our kids picked up the slogan, "Subway....eat fresh!" So, Eli treats us to this at random times. We'll be riding in the van, and he'll pipe up, "Subway...eat fresh!" We'll be eating dinner, and he'll throw out, "Subway...eat fresh!"

Every time he does this, we just crack up, so the kids started coming up with their own slogans. Here are the top two:

"Chuck E. Cheese: Come happy, leave tired."

But my favorite was this one-

"McDonalds: Kids love it, parents hate it"

Fall Update

Well, we're fully into our fall schedule now, full time school, soccer practices, dance classes, and an array of classes with our home school group. Whew, it's exhausting, but for the most part, very satisfying. I just don't seem to find time to post updates on a regular basis. Sometimes, its because I have nothing to say, other times its because I have too much to say :)

So, here's a long awaited (haha) update on everyone in our lovely, little (haha) family:

Lizzie- She had more than one full night's sleep in a row since sometime in July. She goes back to the ENT tomorrow where he will hopefully decide to take her large tonsils out really soon. Brett and I walk around in a daze most of the time, fully understanding the concept of sleep deprivation as torture. She is talking up a storm, but the only kid she consistently calls by their name is Eli. She can say it perfectly and it just cracks us up. She is a tough little girl, nothing slows her down. And she is our "little monkey". She climbs on everything and she is a whiz on the playground.

Eli- This little boy just blows me away sometimes. He has a very sharp mind and has a very strong desire to learn to read. He is blasting through his "school" books and is quickly approaching a Kindergarten level. I've struggled with this because on one hand, I don't want to push him too fast and I don't want him to catch up too quickly with Gavin, but on the other hand, I don't want to hold him back. And he has some weird natural ability- a lot like Alyssa at that age. He is such a sweet brother/son. We call him "Pastor E" because he is always putting other people first- whether its giving Gavin his new Power Ranger to play with first or letting Lizzie take his spot on the couch/at the table/on my lap. He just finished his first session of "bitty soccer".

Gavin- The past couple months have been big for Gavin. He has joined Cub Scouts, lost his first two teeth, and it seems as if he's grown another three inches. We have really been working on his school work this year because I feel like I've let him fall through the cracks in previous years. As Alyssa gets more independent, I'm finding I have more time to focus on him. He is reading easy reader books without too much trouble, and we are working through our first chapter book. He's finally realizing that he can read words around him- coming up and reading my emails over my shoulder or reading signs we pass. He is making more and more connections in his school work and is starting to retain more information. He says, "Oh, I know!" or "Oh, yeah!" a lot these days. By the way, anybody want to buy some popcorn???

Lauri- Our first few weeks of school went really well, but she's been a "challenge" for a couple weeks now. "Challenge" is a nice way of saying we have days when I just want to scream and throw her on the nearest passing school bus. But, we're working through it. She is starting to realize that daily practice really does make things easier- like when I handed her a Latin translating sheet, she looked at it and said, "Mom, I know this stuff!" She is so much smarter than she thinks she is that it is a delicate balance between giving her materials that push her but still making sure she doesn't get overwhelmed. She loves her soccer team and has really benefited from playing on a team of girls her own age.

Alyssa- She is doing very well in her work, and she is becoming more and more independent. She still devours books faster than you can imagine and seems to fall in love with every new series she starts. Her preteen hormones are definitely starting full-force, but most of the time it has to do with other areas- like her siblings or chores, not so much with her school work.

Everything else is going okay- we're kept busy by evening activities and trying to keep the house cleaned up. I'm not finding as much time as I'd like for my favorite activities (running, reading), but I'm trying to recognize that this is just a hard/busy time right now, and things will get easier as the kids get older- they will get easier, right????

My Baby Boy

My baby boy isn't a baby anymore. He turned six last Saturday and has been behaving more and more like a big kid. Here he is the morning of his birthday, eating blueberry French Toast.

Despite the look he's making, he really did love his breakfast.

His actual birthday fell on a Saturday, so we had a party for him at a local pool. The weatherman all week was predicting 70* and storms, but the day turned out beautiful. I never actually checked a thermometer, but I'd go with 85 and sunny. Just warm enough to swim, but not to warm not to. My not-so-baby-boy decided to try the high dive (I blame too much Olympics-watching).

Try not to notice the sad-looking cake. It was a double-layer cookie cake who's top layer didn't fair so well. Added to the fact that Daddy didn't bring home a tube of frosting that would actually work to decorate, and voila! You have a mass of blue frosting smeared over a broken cookie with a candle thrown on top.

We had promised him a dinner out for his birthday, but we ended up staying at the pool for over five hours, so we were all exhausted by the ride home. So, Sunday night we took all the kids to Mi Ranchito (yum!) for a lovely Mexican dinner. On the way there, the girls were singing Mamma Mia!, and Gavin took it upon himself to change the words, so over and over again he kept singing, "Yes, I've been broken-hearted....oooh since the day I farted!"

Yep. He's definitely turned six!

Our waiter was great (even though I only understood about half of what he said-adds to the ambiance). We told him we were celebrating Gav's birthday and this is what happened.

And then this.

The ice cream bowl was too much for Gavin to finish by himself, so Brett and I just had to help him out. Although, I think Eli might have been able to finish it if it were his birthday.

I still can't believe he's six years old and transitioning into "kid" stage. He's even about to lose his first tooth! Last night, all he wanted to do was snuggle with me on the couch, so I guess I can deal with his other "maturations".

What "war" looks like around here

The kids were all playing "war" around here this afternoon which consisted of building forts and trying to capture each other. They all played nicely- no slammed doors, no one cried. They cleaned up and came down for lunch when I saw Alyssa wearing an American Girl doll shirt around her upper arm. I pulled it down and said, "Why are you wearing this?" Then I noticed in bright red marker, Lauri had written, "I am dumb" across her arm. I couldn't help busting out laughing. Alyssa laughed along (thankfully), but I reminded them, we don't write on each other.

A couple hours after lunch, poor little Lizzie, who never seems to get dressed until we're actually leaving the house, came up to me and across her back was written, "I am a dork!". My innocent victim of war. :)

And just for a goofy picture- here is what happens when you let Grandpa babysit by himself:.

Love ya, dad :)

One of us has to stay sober, right?

So, if Brett's still on his pain medication, that means the bottle of pineapple rum that is calling to me in my cabinet, is still off limits.

Wow. What a crazy day and a half its been. I don't think I've even had the chance to comprehend that Brett had surgery yesterday. Seeing as our "adventure" started out at 4:30am, it has all kinda felt like a dream.

Actually, our "adventure" started more at 12:30 the night before, when I was so exhausted, but I still laid there not able to sleep. "Go check on the kids," I told Brett, "I just have this weird feeling." All the kids were fine, so I attributed it to the fact that I was so not ready to leave town the next morning. The kids were packed, food bought, but I just didn't feel ready.

When Brett woke me up at about 4:30, I knew something was wrong. He never gets sick; he never complains. When he told me he thought he needed to go to the hospital, there was no doubt in my mind we needed to go.

The ER took us quickly, the nurse in the room commented, "Holy sh*t" when she found out we had five kids, looked slightly embarrassed by her slip, then looked directly at us and said, "That's a lot of freaking kids." We smiled politely.

Luckily, Brett was never in excruciating amount of pain, so he was able to keep up conversation and his typically sarcastic comments. His parents joined us once we found out he was going to be taken straight back to surgery. The surgeon was very nice and gave a very thorough explanation for what she was going to do. He was done in the amount of time she quoted: forty-five minutes. An hour after that he was in a recovery room (shared-boo).

Brett did great and was able to come home only seven hours after his surgery. That scared me, but it turned out fine. We both slept well last night while the kids got another sleepover with my parents.

Today has been a little bit trying for me. I know I have no right to complain, but I am just wiped. And poor Brett has been just great. I feel bad that I haven't done more for him, but he just doesn't need that much. My great friends have all volunteered to entertain the oldest three the rest of the week because I feel bad they're missing out on going to the lake. Eli is literally the perfect child and just plays with his toys or asks me to read him a story. He has been the angel to my devil-baby that is Lizzie. She is definitely in the "terrible twos". She won't wear a diaper and does anything she can to rip it off, but then goes ahead and pees all over my floor. I don't think she's ready to potty train, but she sure seems to think she is. Except for the whole actually peeing in the potty thing. She fights me on every little thing and just screams bloody murder when she doesn't get her way.

I spent a good portion of the day trying to figure out what my deal is. I'm used to dealing with Lizzie, I'm used to not getting a full night's sleep, I'm used to dealing with sick people (and Brett is SO much easier than the kids). So, why do I want to curl up with my bottle of Parrot's Bay and a tub of ice cream? The only revelation I came to was that my brain was in vacation mode. This week was supposed to be our last week of relaxation before school, scheduled activities, and chaos ensue next week. I still have some planning and preparation to tackle, and now that I'm home, I should get right on that. But instead, I want to pretend its June 1st, and that we can start the whole summer over.

What's worse is that I know Brett feels bad and its so totally not his fault. And he knows this, but still. He can see the frustrations and stress popping out in the form of gray hairs and new wrinkle lines on his under-30 wife. And he hates not being able to jump up and help me. I am so lucky that way, that as soon as he does recover, he will be right there - frustrated and stressed, but at least he'll be by my side.

Now, he's probably going to hate me for posting this, but I love this picture from dinner on Saturday night.

Wiped

We have been going non-stop since Friday. First it was clean up the house and catch up on laundry because we were supposed to be having friends over for dinner. Then out to run errands (birthday present shopping and doctor appointments). Then our dinner plans changed last minute, but we still had to run the girls out. Saturday morning consisted of more cleaning and getting ready to have our nephew's birthday party, picking up the kids, and then the birthday party itself.

9 kids + hose + our shady backyard = muddy mess

But, happy kids who kept busy and cool in 100* weather. And happy adults for those of us that sat inside and just enjoyed the air conditioning.

Straight after the birthday party, the kids went over to my parents for a sleepover, and Brett and I headed out for a night out. We tried a couple restaurants at the Plaza, but decided we didn't want to wait, so we headed over one of our favorite restaurants: The Bulldog. Absolutely delicious. And no wait. If you live and eat in Kansas City and you've never eaten here, you are missing out. Its only blocks from the Sprint Center and a lot less crowded than the Power and Light District. And very reasonably priced for the high quality food.

After dinner, we met up with Brett's youngest brother at his downtown apartment. We started our night at the Flying Saucer- a bar that serves over 200 beers. I tried to be adventurous and try a new kind- it was supposed to have a raspberry flavor, but it didn't. It tasted like a normal pale ale. So, I stuck to my favorite beer ever: Sam Adams Cherry Wheat. We wandered around for a little bit, but it was too hot to just hang outside. We had a nice time, but exhausting.

We picked up the kids this morning and made it to church, and then came home for naps :)

This evening we had friends from our church group over for dinner. Its now almost nine, and I'm sitting down relaxing for the first time at home all weekend. We leave for the Lake (!) Tuesday morning, so tomorrow is going to be super busy. I'm looking forward to another relaxing week down there before things get really crazy around here!