Catch Up....again

We have been busy...so busy. Summer is in full swing and finally we are getting some heat. Where to start... well we traded in my Pacifica ( I shed a few selfish tears) for a 03 Suburban and camper. I really LOVED my Pacifica but with 4 children and all that goes along with them we needed more room... I don't have a picture but have no doubt you all know what a black Suburban looks like. So the obvious thing to do next was go camping. We took our first camping trip of the season over 4th of July weekend. Icelandic State Park is just 6 miles down the road and is by far the best campground I've ever been to. The fact that it is so close is also a big plus. The kids had fun riding bikes and playing baseball. Most of Kevin's team was out camping so they had a few impromptu games. No fireworks (they aren't allowed in the park) but no one seemed to mind...or miss them. Olivia isn't particularly fond of the noise...she is even afraid of the tee-shirt gun at the football games so....she wasn't the least bit upset for missing them. We had a lot of fun but I realized today, while downloading the pictures, I only got a few shots of Olivia and Weston and a little incident we had at our campground... So on our last day we were packing up and Kevin and the boys were up visiting friends at another campsite. Olivia, Weston and I were cleaning up and she asks me if she can go swimming. (Our friends brought an inflatable pool) I said sure. She comes back in the camper and said, "Mom, there is a chipmunk in the pool." I disagreed with her and went to look. Here is what I found:

Needless to say I am so glad Olivia was paying attention! I made Kevin get it out....good times!

What I said vs. what I've got

When I was 17 or 18, well before I was considering having children, when I knew so much and had grand ideals of how things should be, I used to say that when I finally did have children there would be a few simple rules to follow...

1. They would always have clean faces and body parts.
2. They would always have clean, neat attractive hair.
3. Their clothes would always match and have coordinating accessories.
4. These rules would always be followed, both in private and public, and of course my children would agree and love all of the above rules.....

I have successfully raised 3 rule breakers....and she is the biggest rule breaker of all...but I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Who knew those bridesmaid shoes would be loved so much!

We still have rules but I am the one being taught to follow....

1. Always give lots of kisses and hugs
2. Always say I love you every chance you get
3. Always try to have fun
4. Laugh as much as possible
5. Spend as much time as possible being thankful..the time we have is entirely too short.
   

Ladybug

So I'm sitting here trying to get Weston to calm down and fall asleep so I can get on the treadmill and he keeps on puking on me. This conversation ensues:

Me: Weston buddy, what is upsetting your stomach?
Olivia: I think he has a ladybug in his stomach.

This is only funny because we have no less that 1,000,000 ladybugs in our house...they are all over. I vacuum them up everyday and still we have more....no aphids though!

Weston 11 weeks already

I just took these pictures of Weston...while I was sitting here to post. I can't believe he will be 11 weeks on Wednesday. At his 8 week checkup he was..11 lbs, 22 inches and 14cm head. He is just still so little. He is the snuggliest of all 4 and is so easy....he just started smiling and actively cooing especially when the kids are talking to him. He's giggled a time or two but still no belly laugh....that's my favorite. Enjoy!

The flash caught him off guard.

Picture and Polly updates

Here are just some pictures from the kids over the last month.

Here is Olivia and her Easter egg hunt haul...we filled 185 plastic eggs and had a fun time with some friends

Kevin had to clean out the warehouse at work and we went by to see him. There was a big roll of plastic wrap so I wrapped the kids...it was pretty funny but Olivia wasn't impressed...

This is Olivia's new face of disagreement. Anytime she wishes to express here dissatisfaction with you this is what you get...I can't help but laugh.

Grandma Sheryl hooked the brother up (lol) with some boy Polly's...we were so excited the day this package came. Payton (not admitting to liking Polly's) kept arguing with Gavin about which Polly guy he got to be...lol

So how funny is this....there is no snow on the ground and it was about 40 out but the wind was a whipping and my kids have become acclimated to warmer springs already....but I WILL swing on this swing TODAY MOM!

And finally I got a shot of Payton...I was noticing the other day I don't really have any of him because he's always at school or in his underwear...lol. He doesn't really like me posting pictures of him in his underwear. But here he is down by Cabela's and the infamous Red River.

Water and deer

*warning: dead animal and tirade to follow*

So about a month ago...the 14th of April to be exact... we (I) had a little accident. Let me preface the incident. Kevin and I have been contemplating our vehicle situation lately. My car seats 6, which is the exact number of family members we now have. Great except there is no (about 8 inches) cargo room if all 6 seats are in use. You see where I'm going with this?! Well if we had children who needed no entertainment in the car, or if we had some kind of wonderful grocery delivery system this would not be a problem, however, we have children who need entertainment for even the shortest car rides and I can't seem to find anyone here to do my massive monthly shopping...so...kevin and I have been discussing the idea of up sizing to an older suburban type vehicle. We were looking at used vehicles from both private parties and dealers and found a suburban in Fargo we thought might work. SO..off we went on the 14th down to Fargo (about 175 miles south) to look at the said vehicle. It didn't work out but we had a nice dinner and time away from the 3 older children. Weston, Kevin and I all started back to Cavalier about 9 pm. The flooding we had out here was still all around. The interstate was open but there was water on all sides and up the middle. (see pictures below) About 20 miles north of Grand Forks (halfway home) I hit a deer. There were 3 standing right in the middle of my lane. Kevin and I saw them about the same time and luckily I had time to slow down to about 45, but sadly (for me and my car) I hit the one stupid enough to jump first left to the center divider (full of water) then right back in front of my car. Oh I was so mad...not really sad like I thought I'd be after hitting an animal. It was 10:30pm and what to do? Luckily our kind friends came from the base and let the 3 of us sleep over then helped us to the rental car desk the next morning. There is more to the story but I figure this post is long enough. Best part...we were safe and unharmed. We realized, immediately and later on that week, that with all the water around it could have been so much worse. I am SO THANKFUL for our safety first off but for INSURANCE.


This is a shot of the center divider between the north and south bound lanes.


Here is a shot of the water clear up to the road. This is normally a crop field.




This is where I hit the deer (the next day). You can see all my fluids on the ground and how far the deer flew (it's there on the side of the road).

Here are some shots of my car after being towed. I hit the deer on the drivers side.

$5,500 in repairs and 21 days in a rental....that is my excuse for not posting sooner. 15 years in AK and I never hit a moose (thankfully) and here in ND about a year and whamo...I promise the next few posts will be of better subject matter.