Family Fun

We went to the lake over Memorial Day weekend and had lots and lots of fun. I've been trying to catch up on all the errands I needed to run before Mark heads back to work so I haven't had any time to post the pictures of all the fun that we had.

Let me just say that the weather was H.O.T. Our weather is funny like that, last week we were wearing pants and then suddenly, it's 90 degrees. It was kind of an unfortunate situation, hot weather, freezing cold lake. The kids didn't mind, it was just the adults that had to supervise the kids that complained. :)

Brooke and I hung out on the deck overlooking the lake and I painted our nails. She was thrilled when I let her put the clear top coat on my toes. She was really sweet about it.

I took the kids by myself on Saturday afternoon and Mark came after work on Sunday afternoon. I almost didn't go but at the last minute my brother-in-law and sister-in-law changed their plans and freed up an extra bedroom. That meant that Stella could be exiled to her own room and the rest of us could sleep happily ever after. And we did.

Oh, the water was so coooold. Kids don't care about that sort of thing though.

We took a few boat rides and roasted the first S'mores (or S'morels to some folks) of the season.

Luke was afraid his marshmallow might get a little too warm so he was sure not to get it anywhere near the fire.

Stella on the other hand was all about the marshmallows, hot or cold, she didn't care as long as it was going in her mouth (or on her face).

Work it, sister!

The Peanut Gallery: Mark's sister, Pauline, and her husband, Bert and my handsome husband, The Pilot.

The best part of the weekend was the cousins. Joe, Emily and Dan brought their cousin, Adam along with them. The kids played so wonderfully together that Mark and I got to sit around most of Sunday and did not have to break up arguments.

Bert and Pauline have it easy. They can just sit and read books while they keep one eye on their older, independent children. Luckily for us, their older and independent children played with our needy, dependent children so we didn't have to. :)

Emily is a gem. She played with Stella for at least 2 hours straight. That was 2 hours we didn't have to deal with her. Yes, that sounds harsh, but true. Stella drains us of all we've got.

And just because she's cute doesn't mean she's not getting into trouble. It's the cute ones you can't turn your back on. :)

Brooke was beyond excited to learn to fill water balloons on her own. She and her cousin, Dan, spent a couple of hours filling and throwing them at each other. In fact, the kids had so much fun that they spent the whole day outside and they had sunburns to prove it. You should know that we did reapply several times, but it was just too much sun for one day. Ask me if a sunburn was worth a full day of not entertaining kids? You bet! I'd do it again in a heartbeat. :)

Nash took this opportunity to get a little R & R. When he wasn't resting, he was catching up on current events. Actually, if you didn't see the bottles laying around, you'd hardly know he was there. He did what he does best, sleep. Someday he'll be able to stay awake longer than an hour and then he'll be really fun.

So that was our weekend in a nutshell. I've got to drag myself to bed because we've got another big day ahead. Our favorite old neighbors are coming to hang out tomorrow. I need my rest so that I have the strength to talk for hours on end (Stephanie and I have to make up for lost time.). See ya around!

PS. I'm not sure why the pictures and text posted so crazily. Sorry, it's just one of the many unsolved mysteries common to using Blogger.

Stella Being Stella

I've noticed that lately I've been using the phrase Stella being Stella... a lot. If you haven't had the pleasure of spending an extended period of time with Stella, you don't really know what that means. I'm going to try to break it down for you.

Stella is independent. She wants to pick out her own clothes. She wants to put them on by herself. She wants to brush her teeth and get her own water from the dispenser on our refrigerator. She is the opposite of easy going. She has an opinion and that's the way she wants things to go. This sounds like every other two year old, but drop by our house in the afternoon and you can see for yourself. :)

Stella hardly ever naps. She really hasn't napped much since she turned two. Stella was the only kid (so far!) to climb out of her crib. When she's not napping she's pulling wipes out of the box, changing her clothes, taking her Duck taped diaper off, tearing pages out of books and throwing otherwise good diapers in the trash can.

Mealtimes with this sister are always something to behold. Stella's always yelling about this or that. She wants more of something or she's mad about something else. If you're ever invited to our house for dinner, you might suggest coming for lunch instead. :) Eating dinner with a two year old that hasn't slept a wink since she woke up anywhere from 7 to 9 AM isn't much fun. She averages 3 stints in time out per dinner and when she's put on the step in our kitchen to serve her sentence, she'll have to be spanked 4, 5, or 6 times until she decides she'd rather just sit there like she's supposed to.

In the afternoons I'll put on a DVD for the kids so I can make dinner in relative peace. Whatever that is! Stella watches the movie for about 15 minutes and then she gets bored. When she gets bored she'll start pinching people or hitting them or taking their things. She's a girl who likes excitement and if the movie is no longer doing it for her, she'll make some excitement of her own.

When I'm trying to teach Luke to use his words when he's frustrated with her, she's already torn up the special leaf he's been saving in a Ziploc bag before he can even get out the words, "Stella can I have my leaf back please?" She wrecks the things the other kids are playing with just because she wants to stir up some trouble. She's a bully.


If the squeaky wheel gets the grease then Stella would have been through 4 bottles of WD 40 in the last year and a half. I took her to Kroger last week at 4:00 to pick up a few things. This day she had no nap of course, but I was taking her so Brooke and Luke would have a break from her. She shouted through the entire store about what she needed or wanted. By the time we got to the check out, I was swearing under my breath that I would never take her shopping after lunch time again.

Rereading what I've already written makes me tired. Stella requires a lot of physical and mental energy. When I say she's the opposite of easy going, it's true. Getting her to "go with the flow" is easier said than done. Draw the line and she jump right over it.

The other day Stella was being Stella :) and I told her that she needed to be kind. She looked at me with a gleam in her eye and said, "hot sauce". Hot sauce is the preferred consequence of back talk in our family. When I told her that no she wasn't getting hot sauce, she repeated herself over and over, getting louder and louder. It took all I had not to laugh at her.

What saves Stella is her impish grin and a dash of sweetness. When someone is hurt, she's quick to give them a snuggle with her blankie and a hug. Stella has a larger than life personality that when she's not getting into trouble is utterly adorable. One on one (except when Krogering at 4 in the afternoon) she's very easy to get along with. She'll play great by herself if no one else is there to boss her around.

I suppose though if Stella were easy going she'd be lost in the shuffle in this family. I know that Stella is going to take the world by storm someday and I pray that she'll do it in the name of the Lord. She really keeps us on our toes and when we aren't too worn out from the other crazies, we love her for it. :)

That's Stella in a nut shell. Anyone wanna come over for dinner tonight? :)

Stella Strikes Again

It appears that we are in the middle of potty training Stella. When I say "we" what I really mean is I am in the middle of potty training Stella because Mark is on a trip. Stella's been going on the potty a little here and there for the last couple of weeks, but the one day I put underwear on her I had to change her 4 times in an hour. That is not my idea of potty readiness.

Yesterday was the least likely day I could think of for starting such a project. To say that I had a bad nights sleep is the understatement of the century. We spent another night in the basement in part thanks to Brooke. Brooke is boarding on hysterical with all the severe weather we've been having. On Wednesday night the tornado sirens went off 3 times in one hour. The severe weather actually missed us, but that doesn't matter to Brooke who was on the verge of seizing with fear. Since it was supposed to thunder and rain on and off all night, I suggested to Mark that we all just sleep in the basement where it's quieter so we could actually get some sleep without Brooke freaking out. The fact that we were in the basement did not calm her nerves and the other problem with that plan was Stella. She took FOREVER to settle down and go to sleep (it was 9:30 when she finally nodded off!) and then woke up at 4:45 mad, kicking and screaming...literally. That's how the day started and that's why I woke up foul. To say that I didn't want to deal with the potty was putting it mildly.

Stella had underwear on all day yesterday except when she was sleeping. She only had 2 accidents and was initiating trips to the potty. I've learned to wait until the child is ready to take on some responsibility before even attempting to potty train. Even though our day started out on a sour note, things really turned around and were fine. I figured since we weren't likely to go anywhere over the next few days, I might as well take Stella's lead and deal with the potty now. We will see how the next few days go.

Here's two pictures of some storm damage that happened last week. When we woke up after spending our third night in the basement since we've lived here (all of 3 months!) we found this pretty large branch laying across our front walk.

The funny thing is that we don't have a tree in our front yard that could have dropped that branch. Our neighbors don't have that kind of tree in their front yard either. Mark's theory is that it blew over our house from the back yard. While we were settling in the basement that night Mark saw the trees bending almost in half from the strength of the wind. It sounds crazy that the tree would blow over our house, but nothing else makes sense.

Last night was quiet without any rain or thunder. Thanks to Nash (who slept from 9:30 PM until 6:15 AM!) and the weather, I actually got a decent nights sleep. I never knew that bad weather could be so exhausting! Here's to more nights of peaceful sleep and to successful potty training.

The Glasers Take Kings Island

On Wednesday, Mark's mom came over to stay with Nash while Mark and I took the other kids to Kings Island. Clark Griswold, I mean, Mark Glaser, was in full effect as we were leaving the house. I thought I was going to have to walk there because I wasn't getting in the car fast enough and don't you know the park opens at 10 AM and it's already 9:50??!! He simmered down after we got to the park, but I think Mark was regretting bringing me along because I stopped to take too many pictures. :)

A nice stranger offered to take our picture. Do you love Stella in the goggles?

The fountain in the middle of the park was so pretty and Brooke even let me take her picture in front of it. Although the painful expression on her face might be an indication of how much she enjoyed it. :)

The first stop was The Great Pumpkin Coaster. Don't know the two kids in the front row, but look at Brooke and Luke in the second car with their hands ups. What dare devils! Stella rode with me and liked it too.

Since school isn't out yet the park was very empty. The lines were next to nothing (if there were any at all!) and so the kids could ride whatever they wanted, again and again.

Stella's one special girl. I saw some of the parents eye balling our kid's goggles, I bet they were jealous that they didn't have to cart a kid around the park wearing yellow swim goggles.

It was a hot one on Wednesday and we were all sweaty to prove it.

"Hi, Mom! I'm too busy driving to stop and smile for your picture. See ya around!"

Mark finally convinced Brooke (and Stella) to go on the log flume with him. Since the kid area is Planet Snoopy, the long flume featured none other than Charlie Brown.

There they go! Stella is sandwiched in the middle and believe it or not, they didn't get that wet since they sat in the back of the canoe.

Everyone lived to tell and I think they liked it too.

After all that we put the kids bathing suits on so they could run through this little water maze. Brooke enjoyed it the most and kept running through over and over again. Stella, not so much.

Mark tried to leave the house wearing tube socks and I put a stop to that. However, Luke slipped by me. Little white socks on white legs crack me up. He also picks out his own clothes too which is always interesting. Good thing the "canvas" is so cute and so it doesn't matter what he wears at all. :)

Clark, I mean, Mark was hoping to stay longer at the park than we did. We played until past lunch time and then our people were melting. Well, really Brooke was getting pretty crabby and Stella, well she was just being herself. We should have left 45 minutes earlier, but we were soaking up the empty park and couldn't bring ourselves to leave knowing that next time we will have to fight a crowd and wait in line.

After we took the kids home for lunch, Mark's mom stayed and the kids went down for their rests. We took that opportunity to go back to the park to have some fun of our own. Let me just say that I used to ride all the roller coasters so when I tell you that those days are over, you won't think I'm just a wimp. But yes, I am too old to ride those rides. My neck hurt and I felt really dizzy. I did ride a few coasters with Mark, but after 2 hours I was sure that would be my last time riding most of those rides.

Before we headed home at 4:30, Mark and I took a spin on the water ride, White Water Canyon, for old times sake. We got soaked and I screamed like a girl, but it was a pretty good time. It was a really fun day, even for this old lady. :)

The Relatives Came

As I was thinking of a title for this post what kept coming to mind was The Relatives Came. Its a sweet book about a family reunion. It's message is about how much everyone enjoyed their time together. In the book the family spends a month or so together in the summer and while I didn't have a month to spend with my relatives yesterday, I still enjoyed their visit greatly.

My relatives. This is my dad's sister, Sue, and her daughter, Miranda. They came all the way from St. George, Utah. It's been a long, long time since I've seen them. My cousin, Miranda, is the second youngest of 7. Yes, I did say 7. They are very sweet and gracious and free thinkers. I loved reconnecting with them.

They are staying for a week, but have a very busy schedule visiting other relatives. While our dinner last night seemed too short, I am glad just to have a little time to get together.

Thanks to my mom we ate at a quaint little restaurant just down the road from my house. Its' called The Wildflower Cafe. This restaurant uses locally grown food and organic, grassfed meat. It was so up my alley and to think I never would have gone (well, maybe eventually) if my aunt hadn't come to town. The food is DELICIOUS! We shared Truffled Mushroom Fondu, Tuscan Panzella, and Asian Style Veggie Noodles. Oh, the noodles! They were organic buckwheat noodles and they were to die for. Not only was the food tasty, but it's so healthy. You can read about that here.

Speaking of healthy food, a lot of our conversation focused on what we eat. I admitted to my aunt that when I was in high school I thought they were so weird because they ate and lived so healthfully. Coming from a teenager who craved Taco Bell, they were way out of my league. She laughed and said that they were weird.

As an adult, I've come to realize that different (aka "wierd") is good. I'm not one to counter the mainstream just for the thrill of being different, but when it comes to health, you need to think outside the supermarkets inner aisles and the FDA. To challenge your thinking I recommend Eating Animals and The Unhealthy Truth.

It only took me a decade and a half to get with their program and now I told Mark I wish that I could intern with them for the summer so I could learn more about natural healing. For instance, my cousin Miranda broke her back 6 months ago and instead of taking pain medication, she used essential oils. She says her back feels great and that she hardly ever thinks about it. Isn't that amazing?!!

It's a toss up, I can't decide which I enjoyed more the food or the company. :) I told Mark that we have to go there on a date. If you live locally and are thinking about dining there, call for reservations. To say it's a small restaurant is an understatement. However, I've heard good things come in small packages. :)

Little Handsome

If this little smile doesn't make your day, then maybe you need a nap...like I do. :) Hope you're having a good one.

Me

Maybe She's Getting The Picture

At breakfast the other day Brooke and Luke were fighting over where the syrup was to be placed on the table. I'm sure there are siblings everywhere trying to lay claim to the syrup so it can be on "their" side of the table. Luke was getting frustrated because Brooke was trying to boss him around and tell him where she was going to put it. He got so irritated with her that he says, "Brooke, you're not in charge!" Exasperated Brooke looks at him and says, "I know, Luke, everyone always tell me that." She's right. I must say that at least 5 times in a single day, when my kids ask why they have to do this or that or when they are trying to tell me what they are going to do, I tell them that they aren't in charge. Obviously, she's hearing me, but I guess there is a difference between hearing and obeying. :)

Handsome and Little Handsome

Yesterday, when my mom was over to babysit so I could take pictures, Brooke and Luke helped my mom wash her car. This was hardly work for them, but she told them that since they worked so hard that she would treat them to ice cream. We (my mom, Brooke, Luke and I) were sitting around the living room working out the details of the ice cream treat. We decided that my mom would take them to the downtown Mason creamy whip (or whatever it's called since there's no sign out front that I know of) right away while Lucy was napping. After the plan had been made, Luke's stomach growls and my mom says, "Luke, I heard your belly growling." That's when Luke says, "It's because it heard the plan!" That handsome boy cracks me up! Imagine if children were to be "seen and not heard" all the funnies we would miss out on. :)

I Can't Thank You Enough

One day last week, Brooke took a nap. She rarely takes naps and when she does, she's usually extra pleasant and much more enjoyable to be around in the evening. A lot of times it means she gets to stay up late. As a result, Brooke got to go on a solo trip with me to Trader Joe's. She was beyond excited and talked the ENTIRE way there. When we were 2 minutes from the store, she tells me that she's really tired already from talking. I suggested silence (a break for my ears!), but that wasn't what she had in mind.

We did our shopping and all the while Brooke kept saying, "Mom, I'm really enjoying my time with you." She told me how nice it was for me to have a helper and how much she liked getting samples from the counter in the back of the store that she calls "The Snack Shack". She was delightful to shop with because she was so pleasant and cheerful.

When we got to the check out she preceded to talk the ear off the cashier too. She told her how she's the oldest in her family, how her dad bought her a pulley and a rope for our swing set, how she can put in her own pony tail, and on and on she went.

I was waiting to see blood pouring from the cashier's ears. I chuckled to myself when the cashier asked Brooke if she went to school. Brooke proudly and very animatedly told her that she's home schooled. That's when the cashier told her that home schooled kids are smarter. It was obviously this woman's opinion, but Brooke's not old enough to get that yet. You should have seen the look on Brooke's face, she was speechless for about 5 seconds while she thought that one over and then said, "I didn't know that!" I can't wait for her to repeat that in front of kids and parents who send their kids to school. It should be very interesting to say the least.

The cashier's motivation behind that statement was something to do with an article she read about home schooling kids being popular with college admissions. Brooke, however, takes things that are said as fact. I should have pointed that out afterwards to save myself some grief or embarrassment when she repeats that, but I didn't and now I'll have to take my chances.

We got ice cream after shopping before we headed home and Brooke was still talking. She was so excited to get to stay up later than Luke and Stella and thrilled to be one on one with me. About every 10 minutes Brooke was say, "Mom, I can't thank you enough for taking me shopping with you." It was really sweet like and so polite. That's Brooke though. Polite one minute, and then the next she turns on me like a rabid dog. That night she didn't foam at the mouth and I could tell she was just overjoyed to be with me. It won't always be like that and I'm reminded how important it is to spend time with her so she can feel heard and loved. Mission accomplished!

Hello, Pretties!

I had so much fun today taking pictures of my sister and my nieces. The weather couldn't have been more perfect, lots of sun and a light breeze. Don't get me wrong, we were all sweating at some point, but it didn't interfere with our photos.

We took the pictures at a park near my house and then the railroad tracks. I have to give credit to Mark because he's the one that suggested both places. I had wanted to head down toward the river (the Ohio River for those of you not from these parts) but this worked out so much better and we were able to spend a total of 15 minutes in the car as opposed to an hour. We were finished in about an hour and a half which is pretty awesome considering my mom had to watch the kids since Mark is working. Thanks mom!

This is my sister, Michelle. She would KILL me if she knew I put a picture of her by herself on my blog. The good thing is that she doesn't read my blog so I don't have to worry about offending her. :)

My 22 year old niece, Stephanie. She's got great teeth. Every time I see her smile it makes me think I should whiten my teeth.

I saw this long grass on the way to the car and told them to jump on in there. I did do a snake check first though. I'm thoughtful like that. :)

Gotta love a girl in her boots and the belt. I love the belt. I wish I were cute enough to have a belt like that. Maybe if I were 22... :)

This is my 17 year old niece, Carly. We haven't seen her in months because she works all.the.time. She also probably has the most money in her bank account too. She's a junior in high school. That's how old I was when I met Mark. Wow, I'm old.

See the bench? That's from my living room. Mark mocked me for paying $200 for it at Hobby Lobby. It looks cute, but admittedly, it's not very well made. It's also heavy too. The four of us would know, we carried it A LOT today. It looked good and to be honest, sometimes that's all that matters.

Just in case you were curious, we did not see a train today. It would have been more exciting if we did, but no such luck.

Hello, pretty girl! Did I mention that I love her dress? I'm too old for that too. :)

As a SHAM (a stay at home mom) it's refreshing to get out and have fun doing what I love to do. I get out less and less, but it's necessary to keep my sanity. I felt energized and dare I say a wee bit more patient when I returned. I had so much fun, but I think I already mentioned that too. :)