Changing Schools!!

I registered Clark for Kindergarten last week. I also registered Kate for 6th grade the week before. Our lives are changing quickly.

Bedtime during the hurricane 9/12/08

Good Night... Everyone is headed to bed after a beautiful sunset. The wind has started to blow, the clouds are making circles in the sky. We've worked hard to prepare for Ike to come visit...

As Clark says, what's that H-thing... Oh yeah, the hurricane. I heard him in his room talking outloud all by himself... Dear God, could you please make this hurricane not come. You didn't really make it, did you?!

Clark also thinks we should be headed to Monkey Business for Adam's birthday party. Not tonight, Clark. Our sleepover in the living room...
We put mattresses against the windows...
Our pantry is our safe place if we need to go to an interior place. The kids want Peanut to go with us, but I think she'll have to go to the laundry room.
We did laundry and unplugged everything we could...All the dishes are washed... (we may not have water or electricity)

We turned the thermostat to 70 to try and cool it off in case we lose power...Bathtubs are filled, including saran wrap coated with vaseline to help make sure the stopper works tight...

Ice has been emptied and put in the freezer.

Extra water and food was bought... but I was appalled by the one item the stores had run out of that I needed...chocolate covered almonds.

I ended up calling my neighbor, Kelly, who I knew still needed to go the store, and asked her to buy a huge bag of peanut M&M's so that I could make it through the storm. Apparently, I'm sharing them with Jason because he keeps eating them. :) I'm terrible and put them in this red bucket so that I don't have an M&M bag sitting on the counter for the kids to see.We did a few more things, including, of course, making sure everyone is clean now in case we lose power and electricity. But, the part that cracks me up is that I decided to straighten my hair... afterall, if I don't have electricity, how would I fix my hair. As if it even matters... if it's hot, my hair will be in a ponytail looking terrible. AND, I didn't even fix my hair most of this week anyways, I just threw it in a ponytail. BUT, it is the fact that I might not be able to fix it!!! Good night. I'm going to go try and get a good night sleep with my family!!

Does the hurricane have wind? 3pm 9/12/08

Not very much yet. I'm sure we'll have a ton later, but we decided to try it out for now to see what kind of wind we could find... you'll notice we had to hold the kites kinda close to get them to fly.
...and exercise the dog while we were at it... she's almost like a kite!?!


NOTE: We tried again at 6pm and although we could get the kites higher, the wind is not constant, so we still couldn't fly kites.

Getting ready for Hurricane Ike 9/12/08

We're trying to figure out the safest place for the kids during the hurricane. What's your vote?!

(We didn't really have room for the chairs in the garage, so we at least chained them down.)

Clark started school 8/27

Clark started school this week. He goes to St. John Lutheran preschool from 9am-2pm MWF.
That is the longest I have ever put any of the kids in preschool, so it kinda freaks me out. The other kids only went to school for only 1 year -- pre-kindergarten on T/Th. This is Clark's 3rd year of preschool and for pre-kindergarten, he is going 3 days. I know that a lot of my friends have their kids in 5 days by this age, but still...

I put him in early because when Alyssa was diagnosed with diabetes, I knew I needed a few hours to myself. This year, I put him in 3 days because Friday, I'm volunteering up at the elementary school. Either Mondays or Wednesdays, I'm going to help Jason up at the office when I can, so that still only leaves 1 day for me to do things I need/want to do. On the first week, Wednesday was full of meetings -- for the Sampson Elementary Yearbook and for insurance at Integrity Structural. Friday, I had a yearbook meeting, but then went and got a manicure & pedicure.

Clark was excited about school because I told him we would go to Starbucks first. (For my yearbook meeting, but still...)

Clark started soccer -- but apparently it wasn't "Real soccer"

This past week, all of the activities have been starting up...

Kate started Tumbling. She did really well.
Alyssa started Dancing. You would have thought that she never took a few years off.
Grant starts back to Cub Scouts on Thursday. Baseball starts in a few weeks.
Clark started soccer...

...but apparently, it is not "real soccer". There is no goalie, so it can not be real (in his mind).
Which, honestly, I didn't even know to watch for the possibility there wouldn't be a goalie. I've heard 2 thoughts on the idea since then:
1. The kids like scoring more goals.
2. It teaches them to assist the goalie.

I'm going with thought #2.

But, Clark was appalled that he is on this team with no goalie. There are 6 kids per team, 3 play at each time. So, at the first practice on Saturday, his team scrimmaged. The other 3 guys scored and Clark's face just looked like, "What happened. I think I'm a little mad." Clark was really playing well, dribbling the ball, and doing just what he should. Despite that, the other 3 guys scored again and we knew Clark was upset. So, when the ball went into play the next time, Clark ran over to stand where the goalie should be. It was like he was saying, "If no one else is going to be goalie, I'll take care of it." So, the ball came up, he knew he was the goalie, and he grabbed it with his hands because the goalie is allowed to touch the ball with his hands. You can imagine how crushed he was when the coach blew the whistle on him for touching the ball. Afterall, there really is no goalie in this league.

So, this week, it was Tuesday, his regular night for practice and I asked him to get ready for soccer as soon as we finished eating dinner. He told me that he needed to go to "Real soccer"... the kind with a goalie. I explained how this would teach him and really prepare him... all this stuff that I don't know if I believe or not, but I paid my $110, so I believe it now! Hah! Finally, I said, "Clark, I'm going to have to call Ms. Liz to have her help me parent you through this one." (We'd been talking about it the day before.) Clark said, "Can I call her?" I said, "Sure." He said, "Ok, what's her number?" I rattle it off and he calls her...

"Ms. Liz, This is Clark. I have 1 question for you..." that's about all she understood. So, I quickly filled her in. They talked as I took care of cleaning up from dinner and helping Kate get ready for tumbling. When they were done, Clark handed me the phone, Liz asked if he understood it was "real soccer." I told her I'd find out and call her back. I asked Clark what Ms. Liz told him. He said very honestly, "She said it is not real soccer because real soccer has a goalie." Hah! I called her back and told her what he got from their conversation. She rolled her eyes through the phone and told me something like, "that's not what I said, but I tried." I appreciate friends like that.

So, I took Kate to gymnastics. Jason took Clark to soccer (along with Grant & Alyssa who wanted to watch). Clark was fine playing and kicking the ball. I think it helped that this soccer practice was actually on a soccer field, not just a make-up practice in some grass. (It had rained the Tuesday before, so we had the first practice in a field on a Saturday.) Jason told me that Clark ran around like he was trying to stop the ball from going anywhere, but he never actually did anything with it, just held his hands out and ran around the other people. I imagine it kinda like a foosball player that is spinning around, but not helping the game at all. Jason said Clark never tried to touch the ball with his hands but kept looking over to Jason for approval. Jason would give a thumbs up, Clark would give a thumbs up, and he'd go back to being a spinning foosball player again.

Jason almost popped a blood vessel, though, because Alyssa apparently had to go pee the whole time. She told me later that she had to go pee on the way there. Jason looked around in the middle of soccer practice and said, we are in the middle of an open field, there are no bathrooms. He said she screamed for an hour. (practice is only 45 minutes and I'm sure she did not start throwing a fit until after 20 minutes or so.) He finally text messaged me to see if I could come get Alyssa. I told him that we were just leaving tumbling and would not get to him before soccer practice was over. I told him to let her go in the grass. He said everyone will see. I said so what. He said there's nothing to wipe with. I said, she doesn't wipe half the time and I know it because she doesn't always flush either. He came home in a not-very-good-mood.

So, I got the kids to bed. He went to bed. It was all good. And, he got up early for the 3rd time in a row to go work out this week. I've been really proud of him. He's actually been very pleasant since taking his vacation. (Ok, except for this night... but he is a guy... we still love him.)

Trip to the Beach 8/18

We'd been meaning to go to the beach all summer. Last summer, we were going to go the week before school started, but we couldn't because a hurricane blew through. Details. This summer, we were going to go about 3 weeks ago, but a hurricane blew through. I mean, really, such details... I finally decided to just go on Monday since school was going to start in a week. The Leuschner family (Brad, Tammie, McKenzie, Austin, & Zachary) that I've been friends with forever told me that they were going to the beach for a week to stay with the Cooks (Jerian's family) at a beach house. So, we said, "Great. That's where we'll go."

I like to go in the afternoon so that I don't have to deal with sunscreen for the kids. Leave right after lunch, stay through dinner, then head home. So, we left here at 2pm, where it was pouring down rain. It was raining all through the drive there -- knowing we were crazy for attempting to go in the rain, but knowing that if we didn't try, we definitely would not get to go. If we did try, we might get rained out, but then it wouldn't be my fault for not trying.

So, we went and it rained a little, but we still got to swim in the ocean. It was very fun and we wished we could have stayed longer.

My Beach Bums!!

Clark picked up shells and lined them up on his arms. He was a little frustrated when they fell off.

Sleepover at the Quadruplets 8/16-8/17

After I took the quadruplets swimming, Mari wrote me the sweetest thank you email and said that she thought it would be fun to have the kids over for a sleepover. At first, I thought NO WAY would i do that to her. But, then, I had to turn around and think if I would be willing to have her kids, which of course I would. So, after a while, I said ok and had to let all thoughts of guilt leave my mind.

The kids had a blast. Chris and Mari took all 8 kids to the park. They sent my kids around the house on a treasure hunt. (With gold dollar coins from the bank.) They played games. I liked hearing about when they played Apples to Apples... the card was disturbing and Clark was just tossing out cards... his card said viagra... so, since he didn't know what it meant, and neither did the other kids, they all wondered why Chris & Mari burst out laughing.

Chris very patiently let Grant help him cook. That meant a lot to Grant.

When I picked the kids up in the morning, I wished I would have thought to take them to the library before they went so they would be calmer, but i didn't, oh well... I'll know for next time they do something that I should get books first. At least they had fun playing on the computer and doing pretend rollor coasters & swimming.

The Olympics are On!!

The kids are getting to experience the Olympics for the first time that they remember... so for the first week, we had one big sleepover in my room. I let the kids fall asleep while watching the Olympics. After a week, that had to stop because the kids were getting tired from staying up too late. But, it was a fun time.

Getting Ready for Extra-Curricular Activities

Ok, I am feeling crazy. Here is our extracurricular schedule for the fall: (basically, 1 sport/kid + scouts + bible study)

Sunday Mornings - Every other month or so, Jason will go to church early to play the keyboard during church.

Monday 7:00pm-9:00pm - Kate, Grant, & Alyssa go to Bible Study Fellowship with Jason

Tuesday 5:30pm-6:30pm - Kate goes to Thompson Tumblers
6:00pm-7:00pm - Clark goes to soccer practice (playing with Fairfield Sports Assoc.)

Wednesday afterschool - Every other week, Kate, Grant, & Alyssa will stay for Good News Club at school
5:00pm-6:00pm - Alyssa does ballet/tap/jazz at Dance Central

Thursday afterschool - Every other week, Alyssa has Daisy Girls
Every other week, Kate has Girl Scouts

Thursday evenings - Every other week, Grant has Cub Scouts
7:30- whenever - I go to Bible Study

Friday afternoons 1pm-3pm I volunteer in the library at school.
I am also co-chairing the Sampson Elementary yearbook.

Saturdays - Clark has soccer games

Not set yet - 3 times/week, Grant has baseball. 1 practice, 1 game, and 1 practice/game. He's playing with Cy Fair Sports Assoc.

I think we are going to be a little busy. It's a good thing I limited it to one sport. Hah! Grant also plans on doing Basketball in the winter. Alyssa plans on doing soccer in the Spring. And, some of my kids have talked about doing swim team as the school year finishes out.

Did I mention that I love staying home and chilling?! Hmm...

Boys in the Morning

My boys are really hungry in the morning, so they get up and go eat breakfast before we get up (on days when we do not have to get up early). This morning, I was still laying in bed and Clark came up to me and gave me a hug and told me "I cleared my place." We've been working on it so I was very proud of him. ...until... Grant went downstairs and called for Clark... (we work on the kids talking to each other instead of tattling on each other)

ClaRK (sing-songy, yet determined voice)...ClaRk AlAn LAYmon... Come down here (not ugly, but insistent).

Clark goes down

Grant: "3 things"... 1. Why did you spill all that milk?

Clark: "I don't know."

Grant: "I cleaned it up for you, but it makes it so that you are not being a good boy... do you want to be a good boy?

Clark: Yes. I am a good boy. I've already been good... two times in a row.

Grant: Was it from today?

Clark: No.

Grant: 2. Why did you open the cereal box upside down?

Clark: I didn't... it was just like that.

Grant: 3. Why did you put cereal in the milk? That's bad.

Clark: Oh. Why is it bad?

Grant: It just is...

Thoughts from Clark...

Thought #1: "This is how much more my hair has to grow before it touches my weiner." Thought #2: Clark loves to show how tough he is... he's been doing this for a while, I just finally videotaped it... as seen in the background, I think brother eggs him on... (If you get this post by email and it doesn't show up, try going to the website to see the video.)

Thought #3:

Mommy: "Clark, why do you want to change out of the Superman costume? I just helped you put it on."

Clark: "Because Batman kisses more girls."

Grant: "Clark, go get on the rest of you costume, like your cape."

Clark: "No, I'm just going to pretend I have the rest on."

Mommy: "Grant, do you know why Clark wants to be Batman instead of Superman?"

Grant: "Why?"

Mommy: "Because Batman kisses more girls."

Grant: big smirk... "yes, I told him that."

Mommy: "Why did you want him to be Batman?"

Grant: "I just did... so I told him that."

Mommy: "Clark, why do you have the light sabor?" (Note: Grant is dressed up as a Jedi.)

Clark: "To fight Grant."

Thought #4: Clark can read now...

Clark was playing on Grant's Skateboard game on the TV. He told me he was playing "Free Scat-E". I told him the "E is actually silent making the A say it's name, so it is free "skate". He went to the next page and I asked him what he was playing and he read it. So, he is officially a reader now. (He's been reading Dick & Jane for about a year now, but this is the first time I would classify him as a reader. He turned 4 in March.)

This is all fine and good until we are laying down and I turn the guide on TV to watch one of my shows and Clark says, "Mom, I want Spongebob." That's where it all goes wrong... when your child can read the guide on the tv and you have to start hiding the shows they want. :)

Thought #5: Clark wants to play soccer. (This is a picture of his new ball:)

So, I'm looking on the computer to see where I want him to play. At first I search for soccer at the YMCA, so google throws up 20 links per page like it normally does. One of them apparently says something about "2006." Clark says, "2006?! Aw man... I already DID 2006."

I decided to have him play through Fairfield Sports Association because I've heard good things about it and all practices and games should be only about 7 minutes away in Fairfield subdivision. But, when I clicked on the registration page, I was surprised by the price at first... it was like $105 or something... but that includes 10 games, the shirt, shorts, and socks... so it is reasonable... Anyways, when I said, "Wow. $105." Clark put his hand on me and said, "Mommy, can we just pretend like I have that much money?"

Clark was so excited, he decided he had to call "Ms. Courtney." That would Penny's sister... they used to live 2 houses down and thankfully still work for us at Integrity Structural Corp. So, Clark grabs the phone and asks me, "What's her number, Mommy?" I pull it up on the computer so he can see it. He looks at her name and rattles off all 10 numbers (it's 10 digit dialing here in Houston). Then, on the phone dials 832- looks it up, dials the next 3 - looks it up and dials the last 4 digits and hits "talk" so he can tell her all about it. We love Ms. Courtney who doesn't mind phone calls like that!!!

VBS - Cy Fair Christian Church 7/14-7/18

I created this video for the PowerLab VBS we did at our church. Our VBS was at night time. It was a lot of fun. I had a lot of technical difficulties, so I didn't have much time to work on the quality of this video, still, I felt like it turned out decent. I used ProShow Gold to create it in.

This week, we also had fun sleepovers:


On Tuesday night, we had a blast with David & Madison Knight... we brought them back in time for VBS on Wednesday night.

(David's mom, Maggie Knight is in the picture with him.)


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Silly hair was the way to go this week!!

Then, on Thursday, we were able to have the Kidd kids sleep over. Ashley is 13, Coby is 10, Audrey & Christian are 3. We had a lot of fun. I wish I could have played more, but I was trying to work out my technical issues with creating the dvd. Still, for having 8 kids and a busy mom, the place ran amazingly well. We were so glad to have them all here. That night, the meal they served for volunteers included gluten free parts, so we were able to eat dinner there. Apparently, a kid at the table next to ours kept commenting on the bigillion kids that were at our table! Hah! I felt lucky to be with them all and know how excellent they all were!!

Saturday we did NOTHING. Sunday, we had a lot of cleaning to do!!!

Meanwhile... back at home July 4th

Jason & the kids enjoyed fireworks and XBOX & Wii while I was gone to Missouri!!

Apparently the kids were cold?! They said they were afraid they would get cold... Grant said he was fine.

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New Japanese Friends come 6/28-7/3

Micah (pronounced Mee-ka), Jo-Jo, and Lucah came to visit. Micah made this awesome sushi dinner on the last day she was here!!

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They were in town visiting my parents and came to Houston to visit. Then, Jo-Jo, my Dad (we call him Gichan), and Grant went off to Church camp... I'll write about that next...

The rest of us stayed and played at water parks and games and such...Oh, and helped my friend Shannon Farrier who unfortunately lost her house due to a fire caused by lightning. See http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6220516. With my mom & Micah's help, we packed up Coleman (Grant's age) for camp and made food for Clay. (He's 6, on the autism spectrum, and eats on a very specialized diet -- not gluten, dairy, rice, potatoes, etc. Since I now know how to cook like that, I did my best to help out.)

VBS @ Cypress Bible Church June 23-27

This week, we all went to Vacation Bible School at Cypress Bible Church. This is not the church we attend, but we do go to VBS there every year and the older 3 kids went to preschool there. The VBS is always unique and amazing. Penny, who was our neighbor until May of this year, but thankfully still runs the office, is in charge of music and is the one that got us going to this VBS. I decided to volunteer in an easy place... snacks... but quickly became the snack person in charge of food allergies. There were about 25 kids that had food allergies and I made sure they received a non-allergenic snack each day. This is a really fun week and I'm glad we went. After I catch up on this blog more, I'm sure I'll show more personality. Right now, I'm just trying to get things written down. :)

Meanwhile, back at home...June 15-20

This picture is from Grant's crossover to being a Cub Scout Wolf back in May.

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While Kate & I were at camp, my mom stayed with the other 3 kids and got to experience my very full life. Grant went to cub scout camp from 9am-2pm and had a blast... he enjoyed archery, golf, and eating lunch.

Alyssa & Clark stayed home and played with Nana. I came home to a PILE of library books because she told them they could take as many as they could carry. Apparently, they could carry A LOT!!! Poor Nana was very done by the end of the week... cooking allergy free and dealing with all the diabetic issues is a lot!