What's Happening at the Seurkamps

We're Back!

2008-04-11T13:20:00.002-04:00

Ok, so life does not usually provide time for blogging. I have to make it and as you can see, I have not done so since August.

This month we have lots of fun things happening. Noah was in his first big chess tournament. He played with his school at the Queen City Classic Chess Tournament at Paul Brown Stadium. It was a great event. I went as a driver and chape
ron. Noah did a very good job. He placed in the top 20 of about 70 kids in the 5th grade unrated division.

The kids and Josh are working on a tree house in the backyard and I will show pictures as they move along on the blog. It is really great seeing them all work on a project together.

The Farm

2007-08-22T08:34:00.000-04:00

Two weekends ago we went to the our friend Andrew's family farm with he and his wife Rachel. We also went to the Ohio State Fair. I must say I didn't know what to expect and was really surprised at how much fun it was. The kids milked a cow at the fair, saw hogs that weigh as much as a car, pet rabbits, saw a lumber jack show, and even talked with smokey the bear. The fair was a blast we didn't even have to ride a single ride. Andrew and Rachel new just where to take us for fun.

We then set up camp at the farm. I was thinking a big farm how cute, but no this was a gigantic farm that was absolutely amazing. It was the best play ground for the kids and I am pretty sure Josiah has farmer blood in him. We played with animals, the horses loved Josiah especially how his head smelled. The kids got to climb in tractors that are almost as big as my house and swim in a huge trailer full of wheat. They played in the hayloft and in the woods. It was amazing. We were only there for about 24 hours, but it was a packed 24 hours. I can't wait to do it again. The funniest part was that while we were all sleeping on Saturday morning, me in the van with Eve (long story) Josh in the tent with the kids, Providence decided to get up at 6am and go have breakfast with Andrew's uncle Keith. He and his lovely wife Delynn left their doors unlocked so we could use the restroom and such. Well, Providence climbed out of the tent and walked right in their house. She plopped down in the kitchen and started talking to Keith. They at cereal together and had a great talk. The talk included Providence telling him he was "to old to run." She then got back in the tent and woke Josh up. We had no idea about this breakfast until later that afternoon when Keith called us laughing about being to old. I guess next time we will have to put some big bells on the tent zipper.

Weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's

2007-08-20T16:48:00.000-04:00

The kids and I headed to Cleveland this past weekend and spent some quality time with Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Linda. I unfortunately forgot my camera, so I will have to describe the events. We went on the boat and went tubing. It was a blast watching the kids jump off the boat and do flips off the tubes. We also were able to fish, that was fun, but the kids really do not get the whole delayed gratification. They want a fish now and there is no leaving the worm still. Those poor worms not only got ripped in half and hooked, they also got sea sick from all the movement of the casting and reeling in and out. We also checked out the science museum by the lake in downtown. It was really cool, the kids did not stop moving for about 3 hours straight. I think we started a new tradition for every time we go up there too. The A&W restaurant. It's a for real drive up and eat in your car place. The food was really good and the experience was cool too. The kids loved it.

Our trip was a blast. The kids can't wait to go back and I am sure grandma and grandpa are currently catching up on sleep and just being still and quiet for a few days...

The pictures attached are from today. I found some tattoo markers and let the kids go to town. It wasn't until after they were completely covered that I thought about making sure it actually washes off. We'll see!

More Vacation Photos

2007-08-07T23:45:00.000-04:00

We went on a Kiddie Cruise where the entire cruise was all about showing the kids how to fish with nets, crabbing, and then fishing for sharks. The girls both caught sharks at the same time. Eve's shark puked and Providence's shark was bleeding. It was fun and graphic all at the same time. The boys were having a blast until they realized the girls were going to catch fish and they weren't. Once Josiah saw the sharks bleeding he wanted to know why and that led to a conversation about how fish get hurt when you catch them, then on to how all the meat he eats comes from animals that have to die so we can eat them. He thinks he is going to be a vegetarian now. It's pretty funny.

Family Vacation

2007-08-03T23:28:00.000-04:00

We weren't planning on going on vacation this year until we got a phone call on July 9th from one of our friends saying we could have a free condo in Hilton Head for the next week. Heck yeah, I told her we will definitely go. It was a total blessing. Providence was having her tonsils out on the 11th and we left on the 13th. The kids had a blast on the beach and just hanging out as a family. Here are some pictures from the trip.

More vacation pictures to come...

Noah's First Overnight Camp

2007-07-25T13:18:00.000-04:00

It's Wednesday afternoon. Josiah, Providence and Eve are having "quiet time" in the basement. I am a little worried about what they are actually doing because they are getting along and I keep hearing money jingling... I am looking on line at Noah's pictures from his first overnight camp experience. We dropped him off on Sunday evening and pick him up on Friday evening. I can't wait to hear about it from him. The camp offers a really cool option for parents to check on the kids by looking at pictures on line. They are updating them daily and I found a few pictures of Noah. I guess my worries about him being homesick are unfounded. I am the one with the problem I guess. They grow up far to fast...

One thing that I find really funny is that in the top picture he is eating skittles and drinking mountain dew. I am so glad he did that on their watch and not mine because he was probably bouncing off the ground for a few hours. I can't wait to email him and ask him how they tasted and have him wonder how I knew he was eating it.

What happened to the lazy days of summer?

2007-07-02T09:36:00.001-04:00

I seem to recall that summer for me as a kid was relaxing and fun. Somehow in the past 12 years that has seriously changed. I have to look at summer through completely different lenses. It's amazing how busy and not relaxing summer can really be for parents.

I have spent the past week or so watching some friends kids along with my four and sometimes it was a blessing because they entertained each other, but by the last day it was pretty much a three ring circus. Eve spent the entire last day making it her call in life to irritate one of the little girls to the point of exhaustion for me and I was only listening and refereeing it. Here is the gist of how it looked. It started in the car because their car seats were next to one another. Eve decided she didn't want to listen to Dixie Chicks, but Lydia was enjoying it. So, Eve sang her ABC's as loud as she could. Then Lydia kept saying, "Eve be quiet, I can't here." Eve sang louder and grinned. Lydia yelled again, then Eve kept looking at her and grinning and swinging her hand in the air at her. Lydia of course yelled "Eve stop looking at me, don't swing your hand at me." Eve just grinned and continued on with her torture. This sort of interaction continued on throughout the day and ended with a big bang. Literally it was a slap, Lydia had had enough of Eve's torture she was tired of Eve taking her toys and laughing and tired of Eve teasing her. So, she did what any four-year-old would do and slapped her. It was quite genius because Eve finally left her alone. If only she had slapped her at 10am instead of 3pm the house would have been much more peaceful all day.

Swimming is our staple activity and we have all become fish. Every time I go somewhere besides the pool people ask if we've been on vacation because we are all so tan. Nope, we are pool rats and proud of it. No vacation here, just the daily visit to the pool to tire us out.

The other day we went to Parky's Ark, it was a lot of fun. The kids got to play in the great vegetable garden and this great park worker let us know we could pick some veggies and water the garden using a big trough and old time pump and some watering cans. The kids had a blast and we got a great fresh salad out of it. Check out the pictures to see some of there picks.

My Son is funny!!!

2007-06-19T14:19:00.000-04:00

I was taking some art work off the walls and decided to save it all by taking digital picks of it. The art work was the kids. I especially like some of Noah's characters that he created and thought it would bring a little chuckle to every one's day if they got to see the art work too! Make sure to pay attention to detail and the spelling.

Summer is Crazy...

2007-06-19T13:56:00.000-04:00

I know, I know it's been a long time. I find that every time I sit down to blog I am distracted by a child who wants or needs something and then I totally forget my intention to blog. I usually remember at inopportune times.

We have started the summer for real now. The pool is open and we go swimming a ton. Above are some pictures of the kids on the first day that the local pool was open. It's a lot different at the pool this year compared to last year. They are all fish. The boys can swim laps around me and the girls are each coming into their own as swimmers. Providence loves to throw pennies or little torpedoes and then swim down to the bottom and get them. It is pretty funny to watch because she has trouble getting her butt to go under that far and it requires a lot of effort.

Eve is really into "camden balls" or correctly called "cannon balls" either way it's not really a cannon ball she does. She runs to the side of the pool and then jumps in and usually her butt hits first then feet and legs. It is hilarious. The other thing she is doing in trying to swim under water. The funny part is she wears a little life jacket so she doesn't get far under. Her butt is up in the air. So, she swims by throwing her head under and bobbing her butt up and down. It is a sight to see. I should video it. The boys are really into girls this year, but won't admit it. They seem to love playing take away with them and then making it more fun by trying to dunk each other which just means it's an excuse to touch a girl. I can tell that Josh and I are going to have our hands full when they get older.

Eve at the Zoo

2007-05-23T14:18:00.000-04:00

Eve and I went to the zoo yesterday and met some of our very good friends. It was one of our last chances to get together with just the little ones because school is out soon. It's amazing how the dynamic of a trip to the zoo changes when you add the other three children. Here is Eve enjoying riding the train with her friend Naomi.

The Morning Rush

2007-05-23T08:06:00.000-04:00

It's 8:05am and the boys just ran out the door. I am amazed at how life changes so quickly. I woke up this morning and Noah had already gotten dressed, made his bed, and was in the process of eating a bowl of lucky charms. His bowl was so full that every time he put his spoon is cereal spilled out. I can't complain though, he did everything else and what's a little milk and cereal on the table in the grand scheme of things. My boy is independent! He actually ate quick and brushed his teeth all without asking. I was amazed, then I figured out why. He wanted to play on the computer. Oh well, I am OK with that if it makes him do all that within thirty minutes and I don't have to tell him everything four times.

Now the other ones, that's an entirely different story. Here is how their morning begins or at least the part of it I was awake enough to hear. As I lay sleeping in bed in that state of knowing I have to open my eyes and just wanting to get five more minutes of sleep I begin to hear the rumblings down stairs. Thump, thump, thump across the floor and then "NOOOOO," followed by "I'm telling on you," and then the thump, thump, thump towards my room and then up the steps. Next thing I know Providence is looking at me and telling me that "Josiah took my apple book and won't give it back, I want it." I half heartedly tell her that it's not her book and that she needs to share. Her response is the classic "no, no" followed by a really pleasant whining noise and then she tries another tactic. "Josiah told me he doesn't care if you tell him to give it back, he's not going to." Then she thinks she has succeeded. I almost laugh, then I tell her to go down stairs and get dressed, while your at it tell Josiah to get dressed too! That gets another "no, no," followed by the lovely whining noise. My day has begun.

Providence has run down stairs, not to get dressed, but to figure out another way to get her book back. I admit the inevitable and get out of bed. I make it down the steps to see Providence cuddled with Josiah reading the apple book. It's crazy how quickly they forget the war that they were just having. I try to go to the restroom, because that is normally what you have to do when you wake up. I forget to lock the door and low and behold Eve barges in bed head, full pull up and all and says, "Hi Mommy!" So much for privacy. She stays in the bathroom and closes the door telling me ,"I gib you pribacy." She then proceeds to flush the toilet for me telling me to close my ears because it's "woud."

We then begin the morning wrestling match. I say get dressed and they twirl around in circles or ask really crazy questions about something that is so strange I am distracted from the task at hand. I then shake out if it and tell them to get dressed again. It usually ends up with me dressing two of the three youngest while shouting to the other to put your socks on, put your shirt on etc...

All the while my boy Noah is sitting at the table all dressed and ready eating lucky charms with it spilling over the side with scoop of the spoon. I look forward to the morning when four children are sitting at the table all dressed by themselves and eating lucky charms and spilling some out with each bite.

Mother's Day

2007-05-15T19:06:00.000-04:00

These pictures are from Mother's day. We went to French Park and hung out in the creek and then swung on the swings. It was lots of fun. Noah turned into our pack mule because everyone wanted a piggy back ride from him. He is gettingbig enough to do it now.
I got a little pink Ipod shuffle for Mother's day. It is awesome. Josh loaded up some cool music, even music I know he doesn't like. I have already used it for exercising 3 times...
This pictures shows the kids throwing rocks into the tunnels and trying to hit the deeper water. It was really funny watching which rocks they would choose. Josiah kept picking these huge rocks and wondering why he couldn't get it to the water.

School is out in three weeks and we are so excited. Everyone is ready for the pool and for a change of pace.

Summer is near...

2007-05-10T18:49:00.000-04:00

It is a little quiet right now, the kids just finished dinner and are watching Harry Potter, The Goblet of Fire in the basement. What that really means is the boys are watching the moving and the girls are pulling out every toy imaginable and making a huge mess that I am going to pretend isn't there.

We had a great day today. We went Creeking with our friends Kate, Irene and Ezra. Or if you are Eve and live in Norwood you call it "cricking". We went to French park and walked along and in the creek. The kids loved getting dirty and chucking rocks in the water. We found bugs and even some natural clay. We brought some home too clay, not bugs. I bet that was not aloud or against the law or something, but Oh well. The kids played some more fun in the backyard with it.

Now that the weather has been nice we have been having tons of fun playing outside. We get to visit our friends at the coffee shop more often. The kids all dug and "island" in the back yard and we play shadow games with the sheet, clothes line, and sun. Life is lots of fun right now. School is out in 3 weeks and we can wait for the pools to open.

Here are some pictures of our fun...

Life just flys by...

2007-04-27T17:11:00.000-04:00

It's then end of the month and I haven't posted in about two weeks. Life has been a little busy.
Here is the craziness that we have been up to.

The kids have started swim lessons again and are all really enjoying it. I take Eve on Wednesdays and she swims with me and four or five other moms and their babies. Eve is by far the oldest and biggest. One cool thing is our good friend Christy and baby Lewis are taking the lessons with us. Eve has gotten really brave. The newest thing she does is a "Bob" she holds onto the side and pops up then under the water all by herself. Usually the top of her head is still showing, but her nose and mouth go under. Every time she pops back up she yells "I did it!" She then tries to get everyone who is there to "wook at me."

Providence is a daredevil. She has no fear except maybe swimming on her back. Every time they try to get her to do that she sinks because she tries to bring her feet out of the water and lift her head up, like she is folding herself in half. It's pretty funny. The sweet little old ladies have to keep an eye on her because she will just start swimming away without anyone knowing and eventually she sinks. Her diving is my favorite. She gets herself all set up on the side of the pool with her hands out in in front and instead of falling or diving in hands and head first, she just jumps and her feet go in first she ends up looking like a little frog.

Noah and Josiah are like fish. They are having to learn the more difficult stuff and it's pretty funny because they thought they had arrived and knew it all already. So, having these little old ladies critique their kicking and belly placement is entertaining. They are both getting tons better at diving too. Josiah still enjoys a good belly smacker.

2007-04-13T17:35:00.000-04:00

I look at these pictures and realize how old I am. I met Julie (dark hair) and Nichole (blond) when they were both 13 and 14. They are now 21 and 22. Noah was like 2 or something like that. Time flies... These are from the Wiseman family Easter hunt. As I said in the blog before Nichole took Providence and Eve all day on the Saturday before Easter. They had a blast.

Today has been a pretty good day. I couldn't tell by the looks of the sky this morning if it was going to be nice. It was though and the girls and I went to the zoo. We got to ride on the Merry-go-round and we ate hot pretzels by the big lake with the fountain and watched the ducks.

Everyone played outside this afternoon. We had the big toys out and were riding tractors and cars down the driveway. There is no mistaking the sound of great big plastic wheels on bumpy pavement. I am sure it was music to my neighbors ears along with all the screaming that went along with it.

Wow, life is crazy...

2007-04-12T16:18:00.000-04:00

The beginning of April was pretty crazy, I am still trying to figure out why. The kids were on spring break and we did a few pretty cool things together. We went to the Reds/Findley Market parade for the first time. It was really pretty fun for me. The kids liked it for about 15 minutes but became increasingly bored as they realized that no one was going to throw candy. They said they liked the Norwood Day parade much better because it has candy and all the "big men who drive the little cars." We got to go over to grandma grace and grandpa tim's for dinner and to watch the reds game. It was lots of fun, the weather was great and we played in the yard and ate some really good steaks.

We also went to lunch with our friend Christy and her little one Lewis. Christy took all the pictures for us. We walked from her house to Wendy's and then to a park. The boys are really into jumping off of the swings right now.

The weather was beautiful for the first few days of spring break and then it sucked. That is the best way to describe it.

Another cool thing we did that made one day a little better in spite of the weather was go to Barnes and Noble. The kids got gift certificates from grandpa dennis and grandma linda. They each picked out a book and a little toy. It was a great way to spend some time and find a book to read later. The kids really enjoyed the entire experience.

Easter weekend was pretty cool too. The kids got these awesome easter baskets from our friends gil and Joanne. They have sort of adopted all of us as family. They get the kids Christmas presents and easter baskets. The get good stuff too! The kids were so excited about their baskets. They went through them immediately. It is such a blessing to be loved by so many.
On Easter we got to hang out with Josh's family and ours. The annual Easter egg hunt at the Seurkamps, the kids really love it. Josh's grandpa goes all out. He fills the eggs with money, prize tickets, candy, etc... Then all the adult men hide about 75 eggs and then the chaos begins. All the kids just start running and you know which ones know how it works because they don't stop to look in their eggs they just get as many as they can. The little ones like Eve and Providence just can't put their eggs in their bag, they have to look inside of it. It's really cute.

Providence and Eve got the special treat of hanging out with "our Nichole" on Saturday. They spent the whole day hanging out with her and her family. They loved it. We just wish Nichole would stay here in Cincinnati all the time, she's like family and it sucks to have her far away. We miss her.

Easter night we had a huge meal with my mom and that side of the family. When we got to her house Josh and I realized they had hidden about 40 eggs inside the house. We had to keep the kids quarantined in the kitchen until dinner was over so they didn't cheat and find them. That was next to impossible each kid found some excuse to come through and look for eggs while thinking no one knew what they were doing. It was comical the way they tried to trick us or talk to us while looking around the room for eggs. All in all it was a great holiday.

The transition back to school hours has been lots of fun...

That's Gross...

2007-03-31T20:42:00.000-04:00

My kids border on either insane or hilariously funny. Sometimes I can't tell the two apart. Prepare yourself to be disgusted. This past Thursday evening it was nice out, I'd say about 65 or 70 degrees. The kids had all finished dinner and I was trying to finish mine and talk with my friend Susie and my mom. So, I sent them to play out back. Within like 5 minutes I hear the water outside running and I yell to turn it off. They do, then about 5 minutes later I hear it again. I yell to turn it off while I am walking to the door to see what they are doing. Here is the scene I see when I look out the back door. Eve is in her diaper only, clothes thrown on the patio standing on the edge of a big puddle under the swing. Providence is in her stretch pants and no shirt, she threw it off on the patio as well. The boys are covered in mud and "mud skiing" under the swing set in the large mud puddle they created. They were pouring buckets of mud and water on each other. The girls got in on it too. They dipped butts in the puddle and made butt prints on the patio, they showered with mud, but the worst was yet to come. I decided it was pointless to stop the fun now since they were already covered in mud. They continued to get dirty. My mom wanted to go from my house to her house through the backyard. Big mistake. On her way out she says to me, "don't let them touch me." Before she finished the sentence or left the back steps Josiah got this gleam in his eye and attacked. He started rubbing his muddy hands all over her. She started squealing and we all started laughing. I knew I should make him stop, but I couldn't get the words out because I was laughing so hard I almost wet myself. It was hilarious. Finally they stopped because we must have sounded serious enough to get their attention when we hollered stop. They kept playing and picking flowers off the tree and floating them in the puddle. Josiah and Noah were standing in the puddle and Josiah yells, "I'm peeing." Then he yells with a grin, "it feels like warm water." Noah, who I am well aware should be too old for this yells, "I'm peeing too." They then proceeded to pee in the puddle and then play some more. It was funny and foul all at the same time. What I will say is that they had a blast. The only thing it cost me was washing clothes twice, scrubbing mud out of my shower, and a little extra energy at bath time. They slept like babies that night.

We are on spring break this next week and I hope to have some fun stories and pictures. We are going to the Findley Market opening day parade on Monday with Grandpa Tim. I can't wait. It will be a first for me and the kids.

Ashes, Ashes, we all fall down...

2007-03-26T21:59:00.000-04:00

Wow, it was beautiful today. The day started out pretty funny, well, funny for anyone who might have been looking in our house, not funny for me. I heard a lot of "Nooooo, Noah" and "your a meaner" and "Moommm" then I would here the thump, thump, thump of feet and then Providence would be in front of me saying something like, "Noah stuck his tongue out at me" or "Noah put the wrong kind of toothpaste on my toothbrush." Josiah was totally freaking out because his glasses broke and he didn't want to go to school without them. I was going to get them fixed and bring them to him asap. Well, that wasn't good enough. Josh told him you have to go to school. Well, when I was dropping them off, sitting at the corner stop sign with the crosswalk lady holding traffic for us Josiah freaked out. Big crocodile tears, he would not go. The lady kept looking at us, I know she heard him. I imagined me dragging him in kicking and screaming and just decided to drive off. He told me he was "embarrassed to go without his glasses, kids will make fun of me." I reminded him that just five months ago he was embarrassed to go with his glasses when they were new. He pretended he didn't hear that. Oh well, we went to walmart to exchange his frames.

So we get to walmart and they have the frames we need, but the only person working is not licensed to touch glasses. What!!!! Why would you have the glasses shop opened without someone to actually help you with glasses? She did help me heat the glasses and I did get one of the lenses in myself after twenty five minutes of trying. During this time Josiah and Eve are trying on every pair of glasses in the store and opening every storage drawer. I didn't care, I figure that's what they get for making me have to fix my own glasses while a lady who knows how to but isn't allowed watches me. Eventually we went to Crossroads and a friend fixed them with some needle nose pliers.

This afternoon was great, the weather was beautiful. The boys walked home from school again today. Again they arrived home safe and sweaty because they ran almost the entire way. We grilled out and the kids had a blast playing in the back yard together. Mud, really wet or almost dry is their entertainment of choice. Well at least it was. Ashes are the new cool thing to play with. Check out the picture, they cleaned out all the ashes and burned wood before Eve got in. They wrote on the patio, each other, pretty much got filthy but had a blast. Their bath water was pretty foul. But, it was fun.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings for fun, the ashes are gone. Maybe they will find something more entertaining and dirty.

Busy Weekend

2007-03-25T20:37:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I have been on here. Life has been a little fast paced because we have been trying to get our house ready to be viewed by potential renters/buyers. It's really funny what you will live with in your own house and not notice until you start looking at it through potential buyers eyes. I was astounded by what is OK with us in our house, what we are willing to live with. We got lots of things accomplished though we painted the back door, fixed the broken drawer in the kitchen, cleaned the material in our bedroom, and pretty much cleaned our house like never before. It feel pretty good to be sitting in it right now. I would show you pictures of our clean house, but the stupid battery of our digital camera died again...

We had a great day today. The kids rode bikes up to the elementary school. Well, the three older kids rode, I pushed Eve on hers. She hasn't figured out the pedaling thing and kept hitting the brakes. We both kept getting whiplash on our way there and back because I would start moving really fast with her and Wham! she would hit the brakes. It was great fun watching them fly around the playground. Josiah would go so fast that his legs couldn't keep up with the petals and every once in a while I would see him swerving and flying real fast with his legs out to the side trying to keep balanced. Providence hasn't mastered the art of braking, so she likes to use her feet, when that doesn't work the fence will just fine. I thought she was going to kill herself slamming into the fence front wheel first, but nope, she loved it. Noah kept showing off how great he is at riding the bike, one handed, fast, swerving, etc... He was quite proud of himself.

This afternoon we went to Grandma and Grandpa Seurkamps to hang out and have dinner with them and Grandpa Tim, Grandma Grace, Monica, and her fiance Dustin. It was a lot of fun. The kids had a blast running outside around the house. One of the coolest things was the gift from Grandpa Ed, he brought home a ton of sample counter top blocks. The kids had a blast building with them and finding ones they liked best. We all had fun. It is always fun to go somewhere where it feels like home and you know you can just "be" and not "do". Tim is the griller, so we had tons of great food to eat and ice cream. The girls had ice cream sandwich all over them. A picture would have been great, but of course battery is dead. The funniest thing was when the kids finally warmed up to Dustin and starting wrestling him on the floor and yelling and jumping all over him. You would have thought we sprayed him with sugar the way they were attacking him. Eve especially loved him. I am pretty sure she gave him about 5 goodbye hugs. It was a great day hanging with family and enjoying the weather and one an others company.

I am reminded again how blessed we are to have such a loving family when we come home from a day with them like today.

I will keep everyone posted on the house stuff. We are hoping something will happen soon!

The first day of spring

2007-03-21T14:03:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures of our great day yesterday...

The day started pretty well. Josh was a great husband and let me sleep in until 8am because I had been sick most of the night. Let me just say that I can't remember the last time I slept that late, he actually kept the kids away from me until he had to leave to take the boys to school. He definitely won major points with that. After I finally got up, Eve and I walked down to the coffee shop and had a cup of coffee and got some more rocks. We saw our friends Kate and Ez. The kids had lots of fun seeing the fish in the TV. Eve and I then just took a walk around Norwood to the kids school, the library, a paint store, and then on Montgomery to our house. It was really nice and reminded me again why it's fun to live here. We then took the car to get vacuumed and let me say, I was repulsed at the things I found in my car to be vacuumed up. I found old rock hard donuts, suckers stuck to the floor, sprite that had been sitting in a cup holder in the back for weeks, polly pocket heads, and so on. It was really gross. We then decided to wash it too. Eve wanted to run around the car while I washed it, I thought sure and let her. I closed the door and started washing. During my rinse I realized that I should find my keys before Eve locks herself in the car, too late! She already had and didn't realize it. I had to talk her through how to unlock the door, she thought it was really funny. I was trying really hard not to panic. Eventually she unlocked it, I was totally relieved and she didn't even car. She just kept on playing.

When we picked up Josiah from school he and Eve ran to each other to hug, that's the picture up there. It was really sweet.

The afternoon was great, the kids played in the backyard. The girls played in the mud and thought it was really funny to splash each other. Josiah and his sweet servants heart decided to clean all the yard toys and our little house out there. It was really cute.

We had a great family dinner where Noah enlightened us on land forms, specifically volcanoes. He knows all about them. It was really cool to hear him, he really does retain information from school and he gets excited about it.

Today has been great too! Eve had swim lessons and she was swimming all by herself with a noodle and thought she was big stuff. At first she was yelling at me to hold her but then all of the older ladies who come in for water aerobics came in. She stopped yelling immediately and started performing. She had them clapping and cheering for her. It was really cute. The boys walked themselves today for school. I was really worried, not sure why. They were so excited about it, I just couldn't say no.

Now I have to go because Providence is wondering why I am taking so long typing and why am I typing. She wants to clean and has threatened to get the spray bottle and start spraying. I better run.

Oh, how we love Monday...

2007-03-19T23:38:00.000-04:00

So, the camera is fixed and this is the only picture I was able to get today. I took it about 5 minutes ago. Today was pretty icky outside, but we seemed to have a pretty good day anyway.

This morning went pretty smooth. The kids all cooperated, when that happens, I feel like I am the best mom in the world. The funny thing is it usually has nothing to do with me, but more how they wake up, whether the right cereal is available, the heat is just right, and one of their siblings doesn't bother them. Everything aligned this morning.

Eve, Josh and I got to go to breakfast with my dad and Linda. We went to one of my favorite Norwood gems, the Bluebird Cafe. Eve and I sat in the front of the restaurant so she could watch for her grandma and grandpa through the front window. When they walked by the window the entire restaurant became aware that Eve's grandpa and grandma were about to enter the building. Josh joined us too after a meeting. It was fun, dad got some goetta which they don't have in Cleveland and Eve ate 3 eggs and sausage, yes, 3 eggs. That kid can put some food away, her favorite is over hard eggs. After breakfast we had to say good-bye to grandma and grandpa who were heading back to Cleveland.

Eve and I went to church to play with our friends at adventure club. It was lots of fun. We sang the wheels on the bus, hokey pokey, etc... You know the songs that are all the rage, with 2 year olds of course.

When I went to pick Providence up from school her class was just going to the playground, but she was getting a serious talk from her teacher and then she had to stand by her teacher for a time out it seemed. When I got her back to the car I asked her about it. She told me, "I said butt words." I of course said "what butt word?" She replied, "penis" matter of factly. I had to turn my head because the way she told me it all made me laugh. I love having conversations where I get to tell my kids not to say "butt words" at school.

We picked up the boys and came straight home. They both had pretty good days at school, but Noah got his huge stack of Pokeman cards taken away from his teacher. He won't get them back until the end of the school year. He tried to tell me he didn't mean to take them to school, he didn't know they were in his pocket. The funny thing is he probably had 40 or 50 in the stack that he took, they were in his pants pocket and sticking out a good 3 inches. But of course he had no idea that they were there. I had to explain to him that sometimes when he lies he insults me because he thinks I will believe the nonsense.

At home we made some cookies and watched the Letter Factory video. It's this great video by leapster that teaches kids the letters and their sounds. I now sing the special song involuntarily all the time. So, I guess it works for those who already know their letters and sounds too.

Bedtime was really entertaining. The girls were whaling really loud and wanted us to come and get them. Eve got so frustrated that we were ignoring her that she started yelling for "pappa dennis" Well, I let her know he was in Cleveland and wouldn't be coming to save her from us. Needless to say that didn't go over very well.

All in all it was a good day. They are all sleeping soundly now and I must say looking adorable while doing it.

The Weekend

2007-03-18T21:02:00.000-04:00

It's Sunday night, all the kids are asleep finally, and Josh is upstairs watching T.V. I finally have some time to write. The weekend was pretty good. On Friday night my mom surprised us with an impromptu offer to watch the kids. Of course we jumped at that offer.

So, Josh and I went to Asiana for dinner. It 's this quaint Thai restaurant. I ate sushi. I used to swear I wouldn't, but Josh has wanted me to try it for so long that I finally did the last time we were there and it was pretty good. I got Spicy Tuna roles and Salmon Tempera. I picked the tuna roles because the way they are made you can't see the fish inside and if I put a big piece of ginger on top I can't even tell it's there. It is really good. I just have trouble with the idea of having a raw piece of fish in my mouth. Something about that just doesn't seem right to me. None the less, I ate it and really enjoyed it. The night out was really good for us and we had some great discussions about life.

Saturday was a really great day. The kids had swimming lessons in the morning and it is so much fun to see them do this. They are all like guppies, they love the water. Providence is doing so well, she is really into "bobbing" right now and loves to tell me how many she did all by herself without grabbing anyone. She gets out of the pool with bloodshot eyes because of the chlorine and you'd think it would bother her, but no way. She wants more... The boys are really getting into it now, especially since they have wrapped the old lady teachers around their fingers with their cute smiles. The big thing is learning to dive right now. Noah seems to have really gotten it and does a great job, other than tossing his hair around every time he comes out of the water. Now Josiah, he hasn't quite figured out the importance of keeping your head down when you dive, he really wants to see it all as he goes in the water. Unfortunately he always looks up right before he enters the water, then his body flattens and WHACK! He does a belly smacker. I am sure he did about twenty on Saturday, but he swears "I don't feel them, what?" Then he comes out of lessons with these giant red marks on his stomach. He does do a good job of providing entertainment for the ladies though.

On Saturday night I got to hang out with my friends Kate, Calley, and Christy. We went to my new favorite place, the coffee shop down the street. It was really fun, we laughed, had good food and got a chance to actually listen to what each other was saying. It's funny how as moms you forget how distracting your kids are until you hang out with adults without them. It was a great night.

This morning the kids and I just hung out here. We decided to clean up our street and walk down the street to the coffee shop with a garbage bag and fill it as we went. It was lots of fun and I of course got a coffee out of it. I was amazed and a little disappointed at the amount of trash we picked up just from one side of the street. The coolest thing was how much fun the kids had and how many people we got to encounter on our street that we normally wouldn't have. It was nice to feel a bit of community and for my kids to do something for others.

We grilled out and had my dad and Linda over. It was fun the kids all played outside and got really dirty. They wrestled, played on the swing set, blew bubbles, tossed football. Oh and blew bubbles in each other eyes, used Josiah's head for a football target, tried to decapitate each other going down the slide. You know, the usual stuff kids do in a back yard.

At dinner we played this game that Linda got us for Christmas. It's this can with cards in it and you choose a card and it gives you an activity to do at the table. It's really fun, our activity was to start with a word that had to do with a farm, the next person says a word that they would associate with the previous word. Example: bard, chicken, egg, omelet, etc... Well at my table it goes a little something like this: farm (me), horse (linda), farm (providence), horse (josiah), farm (noah, with a grin), etc... Then we moved into the bodily functions somehow and terd was the preferred word any way you could describe it. Of course we stopped that you can't talk about terds at the dinner table. So, we talked about smells and then it all came full circle to the smells of Eve's diapers and what is in Eve's diapers? Terds of course. We just can't seem to win our kids are really focused on gross bodily functions. I guess there are worse things you could be focused on.

The Cold Returns...

2007-03-16T15:15:00.000-04:00

It's amazing what the weather has the power to do to a family. When it's sunny you can play outside, feel refreshed, exert lots of energy without even thinking. When it's cold, it just plain sucks! Finding inside entertainment is often a challenge, seeing the outside but knowing you will freeze your butt off is depressing, and smelling the lovely smells of a small house with six people, one in diapers and children who love bodily functions is the worst.

The past two days have been relatively uneventful. Eve, Providence and I spent some time at the coffee shop and got more rocks. They now want a "see-through jar" to collect them in, oh and can they give the rocks a bath? It's pretty funny that something as simple a pretty rocks make them happy and encourage them to think of other things to do with rocks.

Eve and I spent the morning with our friends yesterday making cookies, playing with other peoples toys, which is always better than their own, and singing silly songs like the hokey-pokey and the wheels on the bus. It was really fun.

The afternoon was spent napping for the girls and I was doing my daily laundry and "work" on the computer. A cool thing we found out is that we may be buying the house across the street from us because it has more room and we have some cool people interested in renting ours. God will have to do some major moving for it to all work out financially and time wise for us, but if it does it would be great.

The boys have been doing really great in school. It is pretty fun to hear stories about school and how they describe things that I am sure would be described very differently by the teachers. Both boys seemed to be gifted with the gift of gab, other kids, "just won't stop talking to me, and I can't ignore them." Josiah was caught with about 4 love letters in his bag from this little girl in his class. He was really embarrassed, but not enough to throw them away, no way, he wants to keep them in his bag for safe keeping. He follows in his fathers footsteps on being a ladies man....
Thankfully, Noah is far more interested in Pokemon cards than girls. The most he will comment about girls is if they are really good at kickball or something like that.

Today we went to lunch with my dad and Linda, it was fun. We ate at skyline. The girls insisted on wearing their "wedding" shoes. Providence's are these hideous white patton leather shoes that make lots of noise and match nothing right now, but she loves them. Luckily Eve's wedding shoes are cute, but gold, so they don't usually match much either. They don't care though, wedding shoes are special. We showed grandpa and grandma the coffee shop. Providence showed them the fish tank that is in an old TV. She then proceeded to give the fish a strobe light show by flicking their lights on and off over and over again. I am sure if they could have they would have puked.

Now we are all home and grandma and grandpa are going to get the boys from school. Josiah gets to go birthday shopping with them. He is going to be so excited. Providence fell asleep while in time out and I finally get a moment of peace because Josh and Eve are sleeping.

I am going to enjoy it while I can.

Sunshine, Finally!!!

2007-03-14T22:10:00.000-04:00

The past two days have been so great for us because of the sunshine. Yesterday, Eve and I went to our favorite new coffee shop with some friends. It has this little candy machine full of shiny rocks. You pay a quarter and get some rocks. Genius idea she loves them, so much so that she cries for her rocks when she goes to bed. I have to remember to check her pockets now for laundry or my dryer will become very loud. Once all the kids got out of school we just played outside. It's amazing the things they find to do football, swinging, climbing the tree, using one another for targets with the football, dragging each other out of the tree, and of course using someone who is climbing the tree for a target. The girls and I went to the zoo with two of their little friends yesterday for lunch. It was a blast, I was a little worried about going alone with all of them. You know I can make my kids listen or just yank them by their ear to get them too, but you can't do that to someone else's kids. I worried for nothing, they were hilarious together. One moment that was my favorite is all the girls were lined up along a fence squawking at this big ugly turkey. The turkey kept shaking it's "wrinkly old people skin neck" at them and squawking back. So much so that people were looking at us like we were nuts. It was a beautiful moment.

Today, Eve had swim lessons and decided that it is cool to go under water. I think she let me dunk her about 20 times. She wanted to touch the bottom, but she didn't understand that she had to hold her feet down. So, every time her little legs would float up as I dunked her. I practically had to sit her on the bottom of the pool to get her to touch the bottom.

Providence spent her afternoon watercolor painting. Her artwork is beautiful. It's pretty cool how interested kids are in colors and beauty.

The boys walked home from school alone today. It was a first. I was a little nervous. We sat on the porch watching for them. I was wondering if they were going to be fighting or pushing each other in the street, or if Noah was too cool to walk his little brother home. Nope, I had tears in my eyes as I watched them come to the top of our street. Noah had his hand on Josiah's back and seemed to be herding him like cattle home. It was really cute and they thought they were so big because they were able to do it.

Tonight I had volleyball. We had to play two matches to make up missed games from the snow a while ago. Let me tell you, I am getting old. I am so sore and tired. I don't look forward to doing this again next week.

So, blogging hasn't gone so bad. I have made 5 out of 7 nights. To me, that's a win.

An All Around Great Day

2007-03-12T21:36:00.000-04:00

These pictures have nothing to do with our day, our battery in the camera died, so I added some pictures of Josiah's birthday party last Monday and one of Noah this summer. Today was a really great day, let me tell you why. We actually started off really well no one complained about going to school and Josh came back from work and took the boys. That sounds simple, but it makes a big difference in our morning. Providence went to school happy and then Eve and I went off to exercise at the YMCA. The fitness room ended up being closed, so we decided to go to this great new coffee shop in Norwood. It's called the Speckled Bird Cafe and it is 2 blocks from our house. It is great, Eve had a little decaf coffee and I had a carmel latte. They have a fish tank and a some speckled birds. Eve loved drinking her coffee like a big kid and watching the birds and fish. I love that it is right down the street from me and is just another reason why I love Norwood. The people who run it just want to make the neighborhood better and have created a great community vibe. After the coffee shop we went to church to play with our friends for a while.

The afternoon was amazing, the weather beautiful. Everyone played outside. The kids raced through the homework and cleaning rooms so they could play outside. We grilled out and one of Noah's friends from school came over and ate and our friends Sam and Lisa came over to eat too. Sam is an amazing Hairstylist, so he brought his "tools" and cut the girls hair. It is adorable, they are in love with sam because he is pretty cute so they really listened and just kept grinning the whole time he cut their hair.

After hair cuts and getting the kids off to bed Josh, Sam, Lisa and I went to the coffee shop again. My mom sat with the kids. It was really cool to just walk down the street and have a great cup of coffee and hang out with friends. It makes me really excited about living here and reminds me how much I love community and want our kids to experience it daily.

2007-03-11T21:08:00.000-04:00

Today was a pretty good day. I had lots of laughs. Josiah got to go to his birthday breakfast with Grandpa Tim and Grandma Grace. Since he got to pick the restaurant, he picked Cracker Barrel. Tim and Grace thought he might really like the food there, but the found out real quick why he wanted to go there. The Store... All that candy and toys, Josiah was sure that he could talk them into something. Tim was on to him though and told him he had to eat all the food he had claimed he really wanted if he was going to get anything. He didn't eat it, so he didn't get anything. I was quite impressed that they really did what they said, I am sure Josiah was quite shocked. It's good for him to know that he is not always going to be able to use his adorableness to get what he wants. The girls and I started doing yard work and then rode bikes it was awesome outside. Noah had a sleepover last night and came home exhausted. They all spent time in the backyard "digging holes" they love to dig and Josh just loves to find the holes too... Sometimes they even take Josh's creek rock and fill the holes, that is always his favorite.

This afternoon Josh took the boys to a birthday party and I took the girls to the zoo. It was pretty funny. They are both a little bored of just watching the animals as you can see in one of the pictures they are far more interested in seeing elephant poop and talking about how big it is. Eve swore it was giraffe poop. Maybe they hop the fence and poop in the elephants pin and then hop back so they don't smell up their pin. We also have a knack for walking up and seeing animals doing their duty whether that be going to the bathroom or making more animals. The kids really enjoy the bathroom thing, but I try to distract them from the other because I am not interested in having those conversations at the zoo. We then left the zoo after about 45 minutes because they didn't have any icee's and that was the most important part of the zoo visit. Note to self, never promise Icee's at the zoo unless you are sure they have them. We walked out with Eve crying "I want a slushy, you promised, no don't leave, I want a slushyyyy." It was really pleasant, so I then caved and said we would get a slushy from burger king.

We all ended the night with all of us eating at Frisch's. It was actually quite pleasant. It was nice to see the kids actually behaving, I am sure we scared the waitress when she saw us seated at her table. It is a bit intimidating to see all of us. The boys had the salad bar and ate tons. Jello was everyone's desert. Josiah was so excited about having it that he couldn't wait to get back to the table with it. He was slurping it off his plate all the way from the salad bar to his seat. I am so glad we have taught good restaurant manners.

I will end today by telling some funny things the kids have said that I just have to get in writing.

A couple of mornings ago Providence out of the blue said, "did you know that when you kiss you stick your tongue in the other person's mouth." I must say I was completely caught off guard. I didn't no how to respond. So I just said, "huh, where did you hear that?" She promptly told me she learned it at school. I then said I was going to ask her teacher, I knew she was fibbing, then she said, "actually, I just know it." The next day we watched Dr. Dolittle 3 and she was so excited because "they kiss in this movie." The did kiss, at the end and it was a peck, so I asked her if it was a real kiss. She said, "they are too young to kiss for real, you have to be old and married." That was a relief to me to hear.

When Josiah was getting dressed today for his breakfast he wanted to wear all his batman clothes that Grace and Tim had bought him. He couldn't find the underwear. I told him they were dirty. He said, "That's OK, I don't mind wearing dirty underwear." I promptly said that his grandpa Tim and grandma Grace might care. It's funny I have to make sure he puts underwear on every morning before school, but now that he has batman underwear, I have to make sure he has clean underwear on.

That's it for tonight.

2007-03-10T21:46:00.000-05:00

All right, I missed a day. It is now Saturday night. The funny pictures you see are my attempt to capture swimming lessons for Noah, Josiah and Providence. I would have Eve's picture too, but I have to be in the water with her, I couldn't do that and take pictures. Just know she is cute and loves to swim, as long as I don't let go of her.

Life in our house has been pretty crazy lately. Josh has had to work and play out a lot lately and that seems to make me a nut after a few days of being on my own with the kids. Hopefully things will calm down this week though and life will move at a little slower pace. Yesterday the kids and I played outside for a while throwing football, mud, whatever was within reach. You could definitely tell that we needed to be outside. I am so excited about having good weather. I kept trying to come up with creative things to do at night, but no one could agree on one thing. Noah ended up playing on the Pokeman website. I must say I am so lost when it comes to these things, but he loves it and it kept him happy for an hour. Josiah finally decided to cover the entire dining room table with butcher block paper and make roads to drive his cars on. I took so long to design and make just right that the cars never actually made it on it. We left it on there until morning, but it then became a big place mat and was covered with milk and cereal. No problem it kept him happy for an hour too. The girls did agree on something, they got in the tub with some "nakey" Polly Pockets and took them swimming. For the most part this worked except when Eve was whizzing polly pockets at Providence for touching her with her feet. Then I would hear, "Eve, stop" then "Mooommm, tell Eve to stop." Then tears, but with the threat of getting out they stopped. This happened a few times, but I swear they stayed in the tub for 45 minutes. They were good and pruned when they got out.

I was then dreaming of sleep and Josh called to see if I could come sell merchandise at his gig, so my mom seeing that I needed out came and put the kids to bed so I could go. On this outing I learned a few things. 1. I am too old for the club scene, I had a headache within an hour 2. I really appreciate how much I appreciate the smoking ban in Ohio (the gig was in KY) 3. I now understand the importance of a good sound guy (theirs was not good) All in all it was not horrible, but I jumped in the shower immediately after returning because I smelled like an ashtray, but I did get to eat Chinese with Josh at 2 in the morning. That was fun.

Today we had a packed day. Swimming lessons for the three older ones and if I do say so myself, they are all amazing at them. They have each charmed the "mean old ladies" who teach the lessons and now they "aren't mean anymore." It has been pretty funny to watch these 70 year-old ladies who seemed to be pretty mean in the beginning become putty in all the kids hands. All Josiah has to do is smile and they melt for him.

The girls had a princess party to go to for their friend Lydia today. It was really cute, I dropped them off and came back 2 hours later to the girls wearing dresses and high heals. Providence was singing in a microphone like she was some sort of pop star. They loved every minute of it.

Noah and Josiah have birthday parties this weekend. Noah is currently at his now, it's at Scally Wag Tag. Crazy name, but apparently a ton of fun. I would have fun playing laser tag. Josiah's party is tomorrow. He thinks it's not "thair" that he has to wait for his party until tomorrow.

The kids and I all in all had a good couple of days. I am thoroughly looking forward to the coming good weather to do more outside large muscle activities with them because they are going stir crazy.

What I have learned in the past two days... the kids need the outdoors bad. I need the kids to be outdoors bad sometimes, and life sometimes is so packed with stuff that you forget to take a moment and realize how blessed you are.

Pool Play

2007-03-08T19:20:00.000-05:00

I am on day two of blogging, so far so good. Let's see if I keep this up for two months, that will be an accomplishment. Today our lives were pretty boring. Pancakes and sausage for breakfast, most of the kids really wanted cereal. What happened to really wanting to eat hot breakfast, I used to dream of having hot pancakes for breakfast. Now my kids just want exactly what I loathed eating as a kid cereal. Ironic...

I made the mistake of letting Eve look at bunk beds online with me today because we want to get some for the girls. Well, now apparently she thinks that we are going to get them today. She has not stopped talking about them. She told Providence that "we are getting bunked beds today." I had a little explaining to do.

I went to Providence's school a little early today and watched she and her class playing on the playground. It was pretty hilarious. She was chasing all the boys and then vice versa. There were some other kids picking up rocks and sticks along the fence and stuffing their coat pockets full, I am glad I don't have to empty those pockets. There were some girls who were throwing sticks and rocks over the fence into the parking lot. One hit my car, the teacher about crapped herself. I told her not to worry about it, if she really looked at my car she would see that the stick could not cause anymore damage than I have by just driving. Providence eventually fell and scraped her knee in one of the many chases. It "broke my leg, so I have to hop now." Very entertaining as well.

When the boys got home we played outside because it was so pretty. Mud was in full force. My brilliant children decided to rake and shovel the mud into piles and then jump on it to stamp it back in the ground. Sounds like fun right, it is, but now my porch is covered in muddy shoes.

After dinner I stole my friend kate's idea and made little pools for the three younger kids to play in with their toys. It was a brilliant idea, thanks Kate. The girls had Polly Pocket pool parties and Josiah had Batman and Robin water games. We took it to the next level by making rafts and water slides out of tupperware and cut up water bottles. It was great for them and I was able to clean up after dinner and play with them for a while. My table ended up getting really clean because I had to wipe up lots of water, that's a bonus.

I am getting ready to help Noah with his homework which is really obnoxious. I have trouble making him do it because it is so silly. The girls are in bed playing leapster (I am sure this is a bad habit, but it makes my life a lot easier on days when I am on my own.) Josiah is trying to tell me how unfair life is because he can't do what Noah is doing and I agree with him but make him go to bed anyway. Once homework is finished Noah and I are off to watch Survivor together because it is such enriching tv to watch with you kids... (that is a joke in case you aren't sure)

My First Blog

2007-03-07T21:45:00.000-05:00

So, here I am at 9:45pm with my first moment of silence. I was checking all of my friends blogs to see how they were doing and realized duh... I could do this too and I might actually have fun. It would save me some phone calls and would be great to look back on. I can also send some family members here so I don't have to repeat stories to everyone over and over. So it seems like a win to me.

I would like to consider myself a roll with the flow kind of person, but tonight I realized that I am borderline control freak, not roll with the punches. I had a volleyball game this evening. I play every Wednesday night, it's great exercise and it is a place for me to get aggressions out, and just have fun. Tonight I had a sitter scheduled, had the kids in the car and really excited to go see the sitter. I get to where she is supposed to be and oops, she had called Josh earlier and had left a message that she wasn't going to be there. I was in the atrium at Crossroads surrounded by small groups of people who were talking quietly and suddenly I am on the verge of freaking out. I didn't then, I stayed calm, but my kids took care of the freaking out. Josiah, Eve, and Providence all starting screaming, "I want to play at Crossroads, you promised" or "I want Ashley" or "I am not leaving." So then I began to freak out, everyone was looking, I was trying to get the kids out without literally dragging them and trying to figure out how to get to volleyball in 20 minutes with my kids. I get the crying, heart broken children to the car and immediatly call my husband, because somehow this was all his fault. (I usually go there first, really bad habit) Luckily he was calm and quite nice even though I was quite nutty by this point.
The thought of going to volleyball with my kids was not at all exciting. I could picture them running on the court, getting hit by balls, or beating the crap out of each other while I was trying to play. At this point I am on the verge of tears because my nice planned escape was unraveling before my eyes. On a last ditch effort I called Josh's grandparents to see if the kids to could hang there. It was on the way and they said yes. I was so excited. My kids were excited. It was amazing. What makes me sick is how freaked out I was and how ridiculously close to flipping my lid I was over something so simple. In the end everything worked out awesome, the kids were "angels" according to Grandma Liz, I had a blast playing volleyball, and we all had ice cream on the way home and had a great time talking about ice cream flavors. All but one kid is bathed and all of them are asleep. It's amazing how a day can go from one extreme to the other. I am also so thankful for family. Grandma Liz is amazing she is in her early 80s and can keep up with all my kids and they listen to her... I don't know how she does it. What is really cool is that she always does it with a smile on her face and really loves them. I am constantly learning what a blessing family and friends are and how just asking for help can make my life better and often theirs because they love all of us.