Horton hears a family say AIR CONDITIONING PLEASE!

Yesterday I took the kids and we met my sister at The Ohio Theater to see Horton Hears a Who at the summer family film series (AKA free!). The kids LOVED it and I thought it was pretty good (except for the homeschooling comment that REALLY didn't settle well with me). I really enjoyed sitting there thinking "Hey...I know who does that voice....now WHO IS IT?" I had to get online and check it out...I had Jim Carrey, Carol Burnett and Amy Poehler right but I completely missed Steve Carell and Jaime Pressly.

We returned home to have lunch a play a bit before rest time and school work. I was home for a while when I realized "it's awful warm in here" so I walked over and played with the air conditioning unit....nothing.......played with it again.....nothing....hummmmmmmmmm So that's when I call Kyle. he says "Well, I will look at it when I come home and see if there is anything I can do." Needless to say, he came home and 2 elements are shot. So what are our plans for today? HOPEFULLY we can pick up the elements we need (sometimes they have to be ordered) and then we are spending our day at the pool lol.

Fun in the sun, birthdays, and strep

Wow has this been a busy week! It started off with Friday July 11 when we met our friends from Haiti for dinner. It was wonderful getting to talk with them and "catch up" on what is going on with them. Maddie was all over Edna and just didn't want to let go! The next morning we headed out to Six flags as the kids (and myself) had free tickets from a reading program. We had a WONDERFUL day as a family. Katharine, Noah and I hit the roller coasters and had a ball! We all headed to the water park where there was a killer wave pool and even more slides :) I took Katharine up and she picked out the slides. In my old age I had forgotten that I don't like water slides that are completely enclosed...as I started to hyperventilate...begging for light...I remembered why i didn't enjoy them lol. We all decided to head off to eat lunch after the water park. While I was getting the kids ready Kyle went to fill up our drink (you could buy a drink and they refill it all day for free...so yes we shared...this is important info for later on...). So there I am...Apparently I had too much water in my contacts and the only thing I could see was one big blur...So kyle leaves us...me...the blind lady...and 3 kids...and all the towels..and bags...I am sure it was a sight to be seen. My two oldest had me by the hand trying to lead me out of the water park to find Kyle....yeah...real cute....At any rate, we stayed until the park closed and all kids were sleeping by the time we left the gate :)



The following day we went to our congregation as usual but then in the evening we picked up our Haitian friends and took them out to Manville Christian Church so he could present his situation and try to gain more support. All day Kyle had had a bit of a sore throat but didn't think anything of it. However, by the time we left Manville that night he was well on his way to a migraine. The following morning he woke up and he could not even talk....and his throat was completely coated with blisters and ulcers. Off to call up Dr. Napier and whisper a quick "Happy Birthday" in his ear as yes...it was his birthday. We arrived at Dr. Napier's who was appalled at Kyles throat. He said he was going to do a strep test (which is what we believed it was) but he said he had never seen strep that bad so in his opinion it must be something worse such as Mono or Epstein Barr. While we are waiting for the test to come back he is bringing all kinds of people in to look at his throat. Kyle says "Why is it every time I come in here I am some kind of medical freak and everyone has to come see my illnesses???" Which is so true...Kyle doesn't get sick all that often, but when he does, he makes it COUNT! The test came back positive for strep which was a good thing as he could now get antibiotics...2 SHOTS! The nurse shoved one shot into his rear end and suddenly the kids broke out into a chorus of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR PAPA HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!" The nurse was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes and the Dr came back to give Kyle sympathy as he could see sympathy was not on the kids agenda for the day LOL. He stayed home from work for a few days and was feeling better. Wednesday night Noah came down with a fever and sore throat.....by Friday morning it was gone *whew*



Friday I ended up surprising the kids by taking them to The Beach Waterpark where they had a ball there too. Another day of fun in the sun! Noah and Katharine went on every water slide there was available while Maddie and I played in areas more appropriate for her. I was beginning to think that we were finally out of the sickies......



But as you may notice..it is 10am on Sunday morning and we are not at worship service.....reason? We checked Maddie's throat this am and she has some white "bumpies" back there...sigh.....who will get it this week????

Help! I'm Stuck!!!!

So just the other day Noah was in the shower, recovering from our camping trip. I heard a shout from the bathroom "I FORGOT A TOWEL! WILL YOU PLEAAAAAASE BRING ME ONE???" Without a moments thought I grabbed a towel and tried to open the bathroom door....nothing. I shoved on the door....nothing...I said "Noah I need to you unlock this door!" only to hear back "Mom it's not locked!" uh-oh....The door was completely jammed and Noah was stuck all by himself in the bathroom. It wouldn't of been so bad but Kyle was helping out neighbor work on something. "Katharine....go tell your dad Noah is stuck in the bathroom and I need him to help get him out." Katharine runs out, tells dad. 5 minutes later I am still waiting and teasing my son "there is plenty of room underneath the door. I can slip you a sandwich every now and then. You have a sink for water and a toilet along with a shower. What else do you need???" After about 20 minutes Kyle comes walking through the door...Noah freaking out just a little bit by now...Kyles reactions? "Oh he really is stuck! I thought you were kidding me!" So off comes the doorknob apparently completely busted on the inside. Out comes the boy...FREE AT LAST!

Adventures at the 4-H fair....

Last Monday, Kyle was working in the shop. He had just primered a car when he said "well it's going to be a few hours before I can do anything else...anyone want to go to the fair?" Well YEAH! So we all packed up and headed to the fair. We made an agreement with the kids (ok we made it sound like it was their decision) that they would not ride the rides. Since we went camping last weekend and then we are off to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom this Saturday (free tickets from a reading program) we told them we just don't have the money to do everything. If they wanted to ride rides it was going to have to come out of our gas money for six flags....so ride rides at fair...or ride rides at six flags....they chose six flags and we had basically no complaining (only from Maddie with whom I was ready to leave with the cattle).

On the way we were teasing about how we were "off to get another free vacation" like we did last year (last year we won free tickets to Indiana Beach). I didn't know how true that was going to be! We made our 1st stop at one the booth of a local radio station. Kyle spins the wheel...nothing. I spin the wheel....nothing. Noah spins the wheel....nothing. Maddie spins the wheel....nothing. Katharine spins the wheel.......Free tickets to Holiday World! Whoo hoo! We had a good laugh over that one and went on our merry way. We walked all through the expo halls...we picked up our annual yard stick, balloons (those things are evil), our annual cup of ice cream (.50 per cup and Katharine's was free for entering a 4h project), and went on the hunt to search for the littles 4h projects. After that we went by more booths....went by another radio station booth. Kyle spins...he wins "Elvis sunglasses" which we later confiscated by his brother. I spin...nothing. Katharine spins....she wins an Elvis clock with "swinging legs" LOL. Noah Spins....he wins tickets to The Beach Waterpark. Maddie didn't want to try....

CAMPING TIME!!!!!!

Last weekend we took the weekend off and went camping as a family. We had SO much fun and it was a MUCH needed family get away. Kyle has been working hours on end at his day job and in the shop so we have not seen much of him at all the past couple months. It was so nice to "leave the shop behind" and get away for a couple days. We headed off last Thursday to a new-to-us campground called Sycamore Springs Park. It was a beautiful campground with wildlife everywhere. When we 1st pulled into the park there were several deer standing there waiting to greet us :) We found our site, got set up, and headed off for firewood. By the way....along with there being no charge to camp, they supplied firewood for free! Anyway..after a quick dinner we headed off to bed. The following day the kids spent their time riding bikes and fishing! All 3 kids caught their 1st fish while we were there while I stood by and took pictures. No, I don't fish :) I stand by and cheer (or listen to the mp3 as the case may be).

Maddie being her silly self

Noah with one of the many fish he caught
Noah has discovered a new game....UNO...we have played it before but for some reason it REALLY took hold. Here is Kyle and Noah playing game 423. Doesn't Kyle look thrilled?

Snowflake doing what she does best....

Maddie "enjoying" her watermelon

Our camper and camp site. The camp sites were pretty close together but we had room in other places. Here you can see two of the bikes on gravel. That gravel is actually another persons site but we were lucky and they didn't show up the whole weekend so we did end up having a little bit extra space. We had a road in front of our camper (you can see it at the bottom of the pic). Across the road was our fire ring and picnic table.

Here you can get a better idea. I am standing between the bikes on our campsite. You can now see the road and directly across is the fire ring and picnic table. You see the blue trash can? There was one at each site and along sides of the fire rings. Now what you can't clearly see...is that just beyond where Katharine is standing is a nice sized creek that we were able to fish from...right from our site :)
Katharine enjoying her watermelon
Kyle doing what he does best :) This dinner was BBQ pork ribs, green beans w/onions &bacon, biscuits w/ butter, and grilled corn on the cob....yummm yummmmm
Noah playing his favorite game of UNO (he's concentrating)

All of the rest of the family fishing...I am jammin on the mp3...


Kyle and the kids playing at one of the MANY play areas the park has.
once again, Kyle and the kids on "The Circle of Vomit"
This was taken at another park...Katharine being her own "diva-ish" self
Maddie



Noah, Katharine, and kyle fishing at our campsite. Anyone want to guess what I was doing?

Katharine's 1st fish
Maddie's 1st fish (this was on the same day she "enjoyed" her watermelon...I ended up throwing the shirt out as not even Oxyclean could get that watermelon stain out!)
Noah with his 1st fish...out in the pouring rain...he was so proud :)

She's Swimming!

As I have mentioned in other posts, Maddie is an absolute fish when it comes to water....she floats on her back (for fun), dives face first in to the water, and the second her toes touch the water she is a kickin. Yesterday afternoon I thought I would take her life jacket off and see what she could do. I took her out into water where she couldn't touch well (about 3 1/2 ft) and this is what happened...

Can you believe it??? She was swimming by herself! She dove her head under the water and just started kicking! She was able to swim for about 5 ft without coming up for air. She kept asking to do it again and again....then she wanted to jump in and swim to me...which she did...quite well! What can I say! I think she is part fish!

The other kids were also doing quite well! Noah gets stronger and stronger every time we swim. It is amazing to watch! He is brave enough now to go off the slide in the deep end and off the diving board all by himself. Better yet...I know he is a strong enough swimmer that I don't have to be at the bottom of that slide or diving board praying he doesn't land on me waiting for him.

Katharine on the other hand, seems to have "digressed" a little this year. Last year she was going off the diving board with confidence. This year I have had issue getting her to go where she can't touch. She immediately "freaks out" and takes her eyes off of her goal. Being as part of her issues are "keeping focus" this should not come as a surprise. If it doesn't come easily...its usually not worth doing (according to her). But alas...mama wont let her give up quite so easily. 1st thing we did at the pool was the four of us plus Aunt Terri headed over to where it was 4 ft. I made them take turns swimming to me (Maddie still had her life jacket on at this point). After making her swim a few times she seems to get more and more confidant. By the end of the day she was going off the slide in the deep end with me there ready to drown catch her.

I've Lost my baby..............

As of Yesterday, my Sweet little baby turned 4. She had a blast on her birthday. She wanted to go swimming (so of course I have pics!)

Maddie taking a rest

Maddie "getting a tan"

Noah pouncing off the diving board!

Noah swimming alone

Darling Katharine

The cake for "the princess"

Kyle looking thrilled in his "birthday girl" hat

Maddie ready to blow out her candles

Blow Maddie Blow!

Maddie...ever so proud of her "lollie lockets"

Isn't she just beautiful????? I can't believe it..my "baby" is 4....She is 4 but will always be my baby....we love you girl! We have seen you turn from this tiny frail little baby (were you ever really frail??) into this bubbling, vivacious little firecracker. You are such a blessing to us and we couldn't be happier that God chose US to be your mom and dad!