How did we get to 16???

I want to tell you about A-Dog turning 16! 

However, I am feeling a bit guilty because I never recognized Hank on his birthday. It's sad that I didn't. It was way back in August.

It's because he's been a bad dog, and A-Dog has not.

Hank has resorted to taking himself for strolls around the neighborhood. A-Dog does not do that without asking.

Hank goes over to the neighbor's house and hangs out in the garage with Earl (Earl is elderly and LOVES LOVES LOVES to have Hank over to hang out-not helpful) and eats cat food and drinks all the cat water. A-Dog does not do that either.

Hank sneaks off in every direction, even though he wears a shock collar...cranked to the highest setting.  A-Dog...well let's just say apparently it is not actually legal to put shock collars on your kiddos....in case you were wondering. And thankfully, A-Dog does not sneak out...

But, Hank, Happy birthday. You are 7. Or 49. Or maybe nearly 50 now.  

Monkey LOVES Hank

Hank LOVES the misting system...

We love you Hank.

Sometimes we just don't like having to comb the neighborhood looking for you.

SO, let's get on with it!

A-DOG IS 16!!!!

We can hardly believe this guy is 16!

We have had an exciting season of Cross Country this year. As a sophomore, A-Dog consistently placed in the #2 or #1 sport for his high school.  At meets he placed in top 10 several times.  If you don't know, cross country is running...the course is always different terrain (not track) and it 3.0-3.1 miles.  


Usually in good weather...

And sometimes not so good weather...

We are so proud of the young adult that A-Dog is growing up to be. He is so responsible that sometimes I wonder how he manages all that he does. He always balances his school work, sports, clubs, Fantasy Football...and everything else....without us nagging him or trying to figure out if he has finished his homework. 

We tried to figure out how to deal with the 'car issue'. Ya know, we both felt that it should be something that he financially earned. However, how to you tell him to get a job when he is up every night until 9:30-10:00pm doing his homework or studying?? So, we decided school is his job and we just had to suck it up and deal with it ourselves. 

There she is. The Silver Bullet. Not to be confused with the beer. We had been teaching him to drive in my sweet husband's Suburban or his truck...but what we really needed to do was teach him to drive in the car he'd be driving. It makes it easier actually and he's been doing much better as of late. However, I have to tell you, as busy as he is...learning is limited and slow going. I suppose that is better for my insurance rates. :)

A-Dog has been really enjoying his Sophomore year. He recently found his true calling in Bobcat TV which is all about sports. Sportscasting, sports writing, filming, commentating....all things he loves. 

A-Dog - we love you beyond words. You carry more than your share of life right on your shoulders!  Always know that we have your back. We are here when you need us, and sometimes when you think you don't!  There is nothing that we love more than just enjoying you and the chapters in your life!  You will be successful in all you do as long as you keep God first!  Happy 16th birthday, even tho this post is seriously late!  (like so late your brother and sister turn 6 tomorrow! Ah, such is life!)

Annual birthday shopping - testing out massage chairs!

Cheers!

Fall Break Extravaganza!

We took the kids to 2 theme parks over Fall Break.  The BEST time to go because everyone else should be in school.

We went to Legol@nd first because the little boys LOVE LOVE LOVE Legos. Mini P loves them too, but not nearly as much as the boys.  Last time we were at Legol@and, this is what we looked like...

I'm sure A-Dog isn't going to be too happy about me posting this picture...sorry bud, it IS kind of funny that you have a scowl on your face...

What on EARTH were we thinking?  Taking 8 month old twins to Legol@nd?? Oy!

Apparently we survived, but I have very little memory recollection of it.  That's what your brain does in extreme situations, it blocks it out so you never really remember the pain and discomfort. Like childbirth. 

But here we are 5 years later...

Notice someone missing? I guess 15 year olds do not have their pictures taken with creepy guys in minifig costumes....

Never fear, I found him...nearly maimed by a scary lion. 

As a side note, In 2009 we took the kids to Disn@yland. The twins were closing in on 2...again, what were we thinking???  But I made these shirts in green and yellow:

It helped me keep track of the kids and the kids keep track of us. For our trip, we added each theme park to a shirt...yellow was for Legol@and. 

It was a perfect trip. I think the longest line we waited in was about 5-7 minutes. The kids were all tall enough to ride the rides that they wanted to ride. Pure bliss.

Second stop was Knott's Berry F@rm for 2 days. 

I have very few pictures. Apparently, the lack of standing in line kept me from taking any pictures. Seriously. NEVER WAITED.  Sometimes we even just rode it twice, never getting off. Some rides had one other rider on it...

Agent P and Mini P

Or, no other riders...

Mini P and Monkey

Yup. It was nice and quiet!

We spent 2 days there, and well worth it. I am not sure what we would do next time if we ever had to stand in line and wait say 15 minutes for a ride (gasp!). We certainly were spoiled!  I love vacationing with the kids and building memories for them. 

It goes without saying that I would have rather been in Maui...just sayin'.

Cheers!

Pull My Arm!!

Remember a while back...my post on How To Catch A Snowflake! ??

Well.

This wasn't as bad.

This was "pull my arm as hard as you can".

In the truck.

In different rows.

Diagonal.

She lost...

She is force smiling because she doesn't believe in frowny face pictures.

And because we are good parents, we ate before going to the ER.

Look, we were literally, pulling out of the parking lot after looking at a car we were trying to buy for A-Dog (let's not go there yet...I have to be better prepared to post about that..). Anyway, as we were pulling out, the kids were being annoying (shock I know) and I turned around and told them they needed to stop. 

Oh. They did.

And as soon as they did, Mini P realized she was hurt and SCREAMED and SCREAMED and wouldn't move her arm. I've mentioned she might be a bit of a drama queen, so you can imagine my reaction time was less than immediate. My sweet husband and I looked at each other and he says "you know we have to go in right?".  Yes, but let's eat first.  This girl has priorities.

So, we got out of the truck to eat... I Macgyvered her arm in place because when I was 18 I took First Aid and it all came back like it was yesterday. The rest I learned on Grey's Anatomy and Ninjago. It's all good. 

Luckily, Grandma and Grandpa were in town and Grandma met us there with that snuggly blanket so we didn't freeze in the ER.

Turns out little miss Mini P dislocated her right elbow. They popped her back in and we were in and out of that place in about 1 hour. Seriously. The ER. 1 hour! I know. I have all the luck! :)

Obviously feeling better after a few drugs kicked in and her elbow was back in place, she was able to color a nice picture and she even wrote "All Better" so I could text that to her brother A-Dog. 

So, moral of the story. Never pull someone's FINGER OR THEIR ARM!  Just sayin'.

Cheers!

Cannonball contest!

Sometimes around here, I have to get creative for learning...I have one 5 yr old who LOVES LOVES LOVES worksheets - and has workbooks galore to prove it.

Then I have another who HATES HATES HATES worksheets. True story.

Many a day I wonder how God gave me 2 VERY DIFFERENT twins, not just gender, but in near every way possible.

SO, we use the pool for math. 

I yell a math problem in they have to yell the answer when they jump in.  It works...

mostly...

until someone gets it wrong and cries about it. 

*SIGH*

Anyway, here are some pics from a day where we just did a cannonball contest...no math :)

But frankly...they are hilarious...

And seriously...the very best of the best...(besides the shadow on the face)

Cheers!

PRO-Crastination

I'm telling you now, in case you were wondering if you should entrust me with a project that you might like completed at some point in the near future...the answer is..likely no. I am a professional procrastinator. (next to my friend Jessie...she would argue she holds the title...it would be close).

I am not sure if I mentioned, but recently...and by recently I mean in the last year...we moved kids around in the rooms.  Twins were sharing a room...and now Agent P and Monkey share the room with the bunks and Mini P has her own room.

And good like I am with all projects...I forget that I actually have time constraints. Ages 5-15.  But, I moved a little of this and a little of that and VIOLA! Rooms were changed...

Or that is how I wished it went.

As I moved dressers and whatnot, I decided to just throw a coat of paint on the walls. One wall is nearly unreachable due to the loft, so really, dark brown is perfect. And frankly I can find a girl color to go with dark brown.

So. Pink.

I painted around the closet, door and main wall...

Got her some new girl things to hang so that her room looked more girlie.

And then...

Ya know.

I stopped.

But I have to tell you. I stopped at a point that when I walk down the hall..I don't actually notice it too much.

Of course you are thinking "what a genius"!  I know, I know...I admit, it was genius!

Now, I can walk down the hall and not have her room scream "YOU DIDN'T FINISH PAINTING YET!!!".

Funny, she hasn't really noticed, nor has anyone else.  

I may get to it...eventually...hopefully before the paint goes bad.

But, I have to paint around a window plus move the loft and paint in a very narrow spot - about 2 feet in depth and I'm just not looking forward to it. 

I will let you know when I get a round to it :)

Cheers!

The Naughty List

Yesterday, little miss Mini P put me on the naughty list.

Time out is what I would have preferred if I was to be in trouble...time out..in a hot bubble bath with a movie playing while I was left alone in solitary confinement for 3 hours.

But since Mini P decided to take discipling into her own hands yesterday, (delivering a swat to a brother who wouldn't listen to her), she got sent to timeout AND had her computer time taken away.

Well, she didn't care about timeout, but her computer time? That sent her through the roof. She screamed and hollered and talked to herself about the unfairness of it all, stomped and screamed some more...then made a drawing of her feelings...because hollering and screaming just weren't helping to relieve her feelings about the injustice of it all....

It says "MOM" at the top.  The 2 people in the middle - 1 is Mini P (on left) 1 is me (on right-can't you see my snarling face???).  She says "your mean".  I'm saying "you do not get vg" (video game - which is what she thinks her websites are that she is allowed on - mostly all educational).  

At the bottom it says "not Ainslie, mommy"

Apparently, I've been told. :)

Cheers!

Eating off the land

We have a small garden in our back lot, past the pool. 

Not big, just a few things - zucchini, dead tomatoes, strawberries, some chile plant, watermelon (which seems to be vining on things and basically dominating entire raised bed), peas or beans of sorts, near dead cilantro, squash, cucumber...I think that's it.  

BUT, it has been low on production. 

Here is what I had to feed the family for the week:

Yup.  2 small carrots, some beans (peas maybe? green beans?) strawberries and a cucumber.

Livin' large aren't we??

Last year I couldn't keep up with the zucchini. This year I was prepared with a plethora of great recipes to keep up on dinner varieties. 

I've gotten about 4.

So, frustrated with my lack of food going on MY land, I decided to take the kids to an orchard and pick some of THEIR food. 

I enlisted some help, because we tend to over pick and have trouble carrying it all.  So, help we got! (Really what I think we got was 2 more people picking...thus multiplying our load even more, but whatever!)

Hey, someone has to test the peach...you can't just 'pick' and hope the variety you are picking is your favorite.  You must sample.  It's a rule.

This guy ate 2 apples and 2 peaches while at the orchard...the boy loves his fruit!

So, we started in the apple orchard and moved on to peaches.  As usual, I am pretty sure we got too much:

Peaches

Apples

Because the 6 people in my family need this much fruit for the week.

Thus far, I have frozen 2 batches of peaches for cobbler or pie (about 5 peaches per batch), I made a cobbler and we subsequently ate it. I have canned 3 pints (I think that is what size...) of cut up peaches, 3 pints of peach butter (like apple butter...but with peach), 3 pints of peach syrup or something that might serve as a syrup since I have NO IDEA how to make syrup and at the end of the day I made it all, I was DONE and just added some pectin and called it 'syrup'. 

I currently have another batch of peaches cooking for another round peach butter and syrup. To add to the chaos, I bulk order ground beef and chicken - and the beef was scheduled for pick up in the midst of this and I had to package 40lbs of ground beef into 1.5-2lb food saver bags, seal them and freeze them.

Pretty sure I'm not cooking dinner tonight...the kitchen is a PIT. 

Hope the family loves peach butter and syrup...
Cheers!