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.

Swimming with the Quadruplets!

Wow! I had the awesome privilige of taking Mari's kids to the pool to swim. Her air conditioner was out in August in Houston... it's hot here... and we were going to the pool. But, the AC man had not shown up by the time we were supposed to go.

Grant never wants to GO swimming... until we get there and he has fun & doesn't want to leave.

So, I brought Grant to Mari's house. I took Finn & Cohen with me and we went swimming. Well, I actually just held Finn & Cohen and splashed around helping them learn to enjoy the water, but it was at a swimming pool, so we'll call it swimming.

They were done after about an hour, so we went out to the car to load up. But, Mari drove up because Grant wanted to swim afterall. The AC guy was working at her place, so she was just going to drop Grant off.

But, we decided to switch all the kids and I got to go back with Sophia and Noah to swim for another hour. Grant was very happy with the decision because he was ready to swim.

The pool is only about 1 mile away in the neighborhood, but it was kinda funny when we got to the car afterwards... I was in the PT Cruiser that day... and realized that I needed to stuff 6 kids (2 in carseats into the cruiser) and myself into that tiny car. Hah! It really is a clown car. Everyone fit and was safely smooshed.

It was a good time.

Bowling with Daisy Girls 8/18

Alyssa's Daisy Girl's Troop went bowling. (Daisy Girls are the Kindergarten & 1st grade year of Girl Scouts. They just changed up the program, so Alyssa's year is the first one to have a second year of Daisy girls.)

It ended up just being Alyssa & Emma that were able to attend, but it was a lot of fun. Jason had come back in town and taken the day off of work, so he went with us. We're glad he didn't hurt himself when he slipped on the alley. He had just told Clark not to step over the line so it was really funny. And, we would have felt bad if we laughed and he got hurt. :)

Kate & Alyssa ready to bowl.

Jason goes on Vacation!! 8/4-8/12

Jason was done. Like, stick a fork in him, done. He worked 80 hour weeks all summer. (Ahh... the joys of owning a company.) He just needed to get away from life. So, he decided to take a guy trip... And, he decided to make it for 8 days. He said he was paying me back all at one time for the weekend trips I take every once in a while. :)



He went to see his brother in Florida. He hadn't met his new nephew that was born earlier this year. He forgot to take any pictures, so I found this one of Jon looking like he's saying "duh" from the trip I took there to help right after the baby was born. :)

He then went on to see his dad. His dad lives in Ohio, so he flew there and drove over to Watkins Glen, New York to see some Nascar. They saw a ton of waterfalls on the trip. Here's a picture of his dad in front of one:

At the races:

I do not think he came back rested, but he came back refreshed. So, we're glad he went.

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.

Visitors - 4 Japanese High School Boys

My parents moved back to America last year, but they still stay in contact with many of their friends from Japan. This month, they enjoyed a visit with 4 Japanese high school boys. They ended up bringing them to NASA and they stayed with us for a night.

When we first met up with them, they didn't talk much, but Grant went with them to NASA, so he got them talking. He'd already found out all the Japanese words for boy things like Peeing, pooping, etc. from Jo-Jo earlier this summer, so this time he asked questions like, "Do you like armpits? Do you sleep with a teddy-bear?" He's pretty funny.

Then, when they got home, they had a chance to play with Clark, who is always a firecracker.

They are into rowing at home, so we hooked up the Wii to enjoy rowing here. They let me beat them one time.

The girls had sleepovers with friends that night (Tori & McKenzie), but came back in the morning and enjoyed time with the guys. They were super-nice. It was also Gichan's birthday (my dad), so that was fun, too.

We went to the Zoo (8/1/08)

Yes, I know... it is HOT in Houston in August. But, Alyssa has been asking to go to the zoo for a while so we joined Liz, Griffin, & Haley Sawyer at the zoo.

Kate's favorite was the sea lions and the carousel.

Grant's favorite was the orangatang.

Alyssa's favorite was the snakes.

Clark's favorite was the elephants.

Griffin's favorite was the reptile house.

Haley's favorite was feeding the fish bread.

Liz's favorite was watching the kids enjoy the zoo.

My favorite was cooling off afterwards!!!! :)

We went to the Circus!! 7/27/08

We took the kids to the circus the last day they were in town. It was the first circus we had taken any of the kids to!!



<--Alyssa wanted to take this picture outside Reliant Stadium.
Checking out the animals before the show. (There's a hard to see elephant in the background.)

Kate could not believe all the things the acrobats were doing!




But, she loved it!
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Grant thought the dogs were the funniest thing.
Alyssa just shyly watched everything, taking it all in. The main way I could tell she was excited was because her blood glucose numbers shot up. This was one of the girls she liked.



Clark thought the circus was cool, but too long. He was tired and wanted to go to sleep.

(BTW, this was our real view from the circus. We were front row for the pre-circus show, but we actually sat on the very back row for the real circus. Which, honestly, is better than the 2nd to last row... on the back row, you can stand up or sit on your chairs or do whatever!!)
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All in All, we were glad that we went. Jason said that he had a lot of fun, too. (Right before he went back to work late Sunday night. But, he took me out for a date Friday night. Which was funny because Grant said, "Why?! You are supposed to go out on one date, get married, and then only go out for your anniversary. You already went out back in May." Hah!Jason also relaxed with some Rock Band and Guitar Hero, so he settled into work at 11pm on Sunday night.)

My favorite part was the 2 rings they run around in at the end. It was awesome!

I think Kate & Grant were the perfect age to go to the circus. They really enjoyed it the most.

Neigborhood Get Together (with old & new neighbors) 7/20

Michelle Bellomy won a free Dreyer's ice cream neighborhood party... the only problem was that she sold her house... so we had the party in the block. We ended up just pulling our outside freezer to the front of the garage and serving up there. It was great to see everyone again.

We haven't gotten a chance to know our new neighbors as well since they tend to be working or gone more... it is just different than having 5 families where the moms were around at least part of every year (part days or home during summers, etc.).

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!!!

Alyssa's Church Camp 7/11-7/12

This camp is created for a parent to go with the child and get used to the campgrounds so that when they go in future years, they will feel comfortable going with others.

It was much easier only having to make 4 gluten free meals at this camp!!!

It was interesting going with a diabetic child to camp. They decided to have smores right before bedtime... I didn't know about that or we would have made some yummy grahamn crackers... so she just ate the marshmallows. So, at bedtime, her numbers were really high. She was thirsty and had to go pee. I felt so bad for everyone else there, but I had to let her take care of the diabetes. I finally got her calmed down to sleep. Then, I checked her in the middle of the night and she was low, so I had to give her sugar. Then, she fell out of bed (another girl had fallen out of bed earlier in the night... at least they were both on the bottom bunks... poor Jo-Jo at Grant's camp fell out of the top bunk). Then, it was time to wake up. But, we had a good time and Alyssa enjoyed her time with me and with her new close friends from church. She especially liked playing tetherball.


Mackenzie, Emma, & Alyssa in the pool.

Kate's 10th Birthday - July 8

Kate wanted a flowery summer garden party. (Refer back to her Church Camp posting to understand why.) We ended up doing lots of arts & crafts and having a great time. Check out the video for highlights. I learned how to make this video because I needed to make a DVD for VBS at our church. So, I decided to practice with this one.

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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Lindsay's Wedding 7/3-7/6

Immediately after camp, we cleaned up clothes and Gichan & I flew to Missouri for Lindsay Mirakian's wedding. I used to babysit Lindsay when she was 1 year old. I also took some time to be a nanny for her family when they were in Germany and the regular nanny was on vacation. Our families are really close family friends, so I really wanted to go.

On the way there, Gichan and I decided to give up our seats on the airlines and fly in a couple of hours later. So, now Jason gets to take a vacation to go see his brother in August for free with the voucher I earned!!

We had a great time at the wedding, but man was I tired when I got home!!

Grant's Summer Camp 6/29-7/2

Grant went off to 2nd & 3rd Grade camp with Jo-Jo & my dad, Gichan. It looks to me like he had fun at recreation time with Jo-Jo in the picture to the left.

One of the favorite things at camp is blobbing as in the pictures above. I just couldn't believe my dad blobbed!! Great job, Jo-Jo of capturing these pictures.


Grant ended up being CAMPER OF THE WEEK!!!! He memorized all of his scripture verses plus 2 extras and was the all around "best boy camper". Awesome job Grant! His prize is a free trip to camp next year! (YEAH for Me!!!!)

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!

Kate's Church Camp June 15-20

Kate with McKenzie Leuschner & their beloved Misty & Christy from camp.

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Kate & I went to church camp for Sunday- Friday. Last year, she went without me, but this year, I went to help prepare her gluten-free meals. (It was a little overwhelming having to have 20 meals ready to go before the week began, but thankfully, Jason helped!!) She had a blast and didn't seem to mind eating different food too much. She said that reason she didn't mind was because she realizes that sometimes being different than others is better... she could be creating flowers like in this email...
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An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half Full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. 'I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.' The old woman smiled, 'Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this Beauty to grace the house.' Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.

Summer 2008 began

Summer began and we had 2 weeks before any major events... it should have been a breeze... so we decided to mix things up and go to San Antonio. At least, the 5 of us did... Jason stayed home to work tons of hours "guilt-free" while we played. We spent most of the week with Nana -- she was so awesome -- she cooked allergy free for us and we enjoyed hanging out. We also saw Gchan, Uncle Quinn (& his girlfriend Lauren), Aunt Rachel, Cousin Kendall, and brief glimpses of Uncle Darrin, but didn't take any pictures.