Vacation

Well, we're here in Buffalo Grove for the second leg of our 2 week tour of Illinois. I would have posted while we were in Peoria but Dad's got his computer on lockdown and I couldn't get onto Blogger. Oh well. Anyway...

We had a nice visit in Peoria. As always, it seemed too short. Dad took the kids fishing at Glen Oak Lagoon one day and Jacob was so upset that he didn't get a fish. He claims it was the bait. The fish seemed to love the bait. I don't know.

The Old English Faire was a lot of fun...well...not for Jacob but it was for everyone else. Hannah and Daniel had their faces painted and all enjoyed home made root beer. That was Jacob's favorite part.

Mom and Dad took us to Hi Ho Mongolian Grill for dinner. The kids loved it. Hannah didn't look up from her bowl for a good 10 minutes. Daniel, after eating all of his shrimp, would pick out veggies and scream "carrots?!? I love carrots!" and then eat them. He did that with pretty much every veggie in his bowl.

We also went to Forest Park Nature Center with Deb and the girls. As promised, we saw a deer and a wild turkey. It was pretty amazing. We packed a picnic lunch and after walking the trails for a little while, we ate. It was a fun day.

Deb and the girls also came over and played in the sprinkler. Elmo seemed to be a big hit with everyone. I think that was the day that I discovered that you can put chicken nuggets on a salad. Pretty tasty! :)

We also had some scary moments in Peoria...Jacob ended up in the ER at one point, complaining of a stomach ache. They gave him IV fluids, did blood work, urine tests and discovered there was nothing wrong with him. Hopefully, we won't have to ever deal with that again.

Then, I pulled Hannah's elbow out. We've had this happen with Jacob so I knew what it was when it happened to Hannah. I just didn't know if I could pop it back in. Mom called Deb and reassured me that everything would be okay and I took care of it. Dad desperately wanted me to take her to the ER but I was not going to make two ER runs in the same week. Luckily, it popped back in and all was good.

I'll post pictures after we get back in. I'll also update on the BG leg of the trip later.

Is It Really Wednesday Already?

So much to do...so little time. Still have to get the dog squared away and the newsletter to the printer and then to Aimee. At least it's done.

Jacob had his first baseball practice last night. He's definitely in a different league than last year. Machine pitch is very different than t-ball. He had a hard time hitting it...mostly because he would swing too late. He was a trooper, though. Did everything that was asked of him. I was really proud. Daniel and Hannah were running around like wild children (so what else is new) and within 10 minutes of us arriving, Hannah fell backwards on the bleachers (she didn't fall far since we were sitting on the very bottom) and while I was settling her down, Daniel fell and his knee landed on one of the metal corners, leaving a huge hole in his leg. Two kids crying. Luckily, another mom had some bandaids and antiseptic wipes for Daniel (and I had been thinking that I should take some with me but had decided against it). Hopefully, Daniel's practice tomorrow will be less eventful.

I need to get going on my day.

Tired

I managed three loads of laundry yesterday prior to running out of Tide. I really need to do towels and the sheets before we leave on Friday. I could probably stand to do another load of clothes before we go as well. Oh well. I still need to get the newsletter finished up and to Aimee. She'll have to wait until tomorrow for it. I did get the house cleaned (at least maintained), vacuumed and mopped. Hannah decided she had to walk through the front entry with her filthy feet right after I mopped it...leaving little black feet marks as she went. Ugh. It seems like nothing stays nice for very long. I am loving the smell in here, though. Love that Pine Sol smell.

I promised the kids a bath in the "big tub" (our jetted tub) this morning since they didn't get a bath last night. They were in for a while but when I discovered they were using the back of the tub as a slide, that was the end of that. They were not happy with me but I was equally unhappy since there was about 1/2 inch of water on the floor. And they wonder why we don't let them take a bath in there very often.

Monday

Here it is...another Monday. Blah. Too much to do today and here I am blogging instead of getting it done. Oh well.

I finally got all of the pictures I've taken since April uploaded to Snapfish. It's about time. Almost 400 pictures. Yeah, I know, I take too many pictures. I hate just having them on the computer because if the computer crashes, I'm screwed. I could back them up onto CD but those don't seem to last very long around here.

Mike has been a cleaning machine here on the weekends. So far, he's blasted the living room, laundry room (quite an undertaking...you'll kill yourself in there!), dining room, family room, front entry and garage. Countless trips to the dump and Salvation Army and the house is starting to look good again. I'm trying to maintain what he's done so far and I've been given the task of sorting out the kids' rooms. I just go in there and don't know where to start! I think it's all a secret plot to get me out to Kansas in the next few months. He denies it, though. He had me looking at houses online last night. Of course, that's the fun part. I'm just shocked at what you can get there. Unfortunately, all of the houses seem to look the same. And yes, Mom, they all have basements.

I also need to get working on the MOMS Club newsletter. I need to have that to Aimee by tomorrow afternoon. I guess I should get to work on that. Okay...I should go get to work. At least the house looks nice! For now. I need to do laundry!

First Day of Summer Break

Jacob is officially on summer vacation. I had promised them that we'd go down to the library this morning and I was true to my word. Both boys got their very own library cards and were so excited (Hannah's not old enough). The librarian told them that they could each check out up to 30 books and I think they were ready to take her up on that. I told them they could each get five books (Hannah insisted on just one). Jacob loaded up on nature books (insects, frogs, etc) and Daniel just got a variety. They also picked up an insect video and Hannah got a Dora video. They also got a Goof Troop video to watch during the sleepover.

Ahhh...the sleepover. What was I thinking? Getting five kids to bed was a nightmare. I'm tired. It'll be a while before I do this again.

Yard sale day 2 begins tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have better luck with it on a Friday. Everyone says that Fridays are better sale days than Saturdays. I guess we'll see. Little Jake had asked me if we were going to sell one of Jacob's bikes. I told him we were going to try. He asked me why and I said that the brakes were broken. He looks at me and asks, "so you're going to sell the bike to someone who doesn't like brakes?" Too cute.

I discovered that Daniel has Mike's musical ear. Daniel was clearly trying to sing "You Give Love a Bad Name" by Bon Jovi this afternoon. Over and over again, Daniel sings, "Shock in the heart and come and play." I was laughing so hard. He was trying to get Hannah to sing with him and was upset that she wouldn't.

Monday (I can't think of a better title)

Another Monday. Jacob's last Monday for this school year. His last day is this Wednesday and he's so excited. We're in negotiations for Luke and Jake to spend the night on Thursday. Just a little treat for all of them.

John and Donna have offered to let us have their wooden swingset that is currently in their backyard. They don't intend on taking it to their new house and want it removed so that their backyard looks larger. I asked Donna how much they want for it and she said nothing...we're doing them a favor. It's all a matter of figuring out how to move it from their backyard to ours. Wayne has said he can help us move it this weekend. He's so handy. We have awesome neighbors!

I finally finished Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. It only took me 8 months to do it. I'm happy that I read it but I can't say that I would tell others to read it. Angela's Ashes was such a phenomenal book and this one was so scattered. Random thoughts with no sense of cohesion other than all are stories from his teaching career. The next book on my list (I'm trying to get through all of the books I have but have never actually read) is Cavedweller by Dorothy Allison. I loved her book Bastard Out of Carolina. I read that when I was taking Women's Lit at Bradley. I hope this one's as good. Other books on my summer reading list (I need something to do while I watch the kids play outside) are The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I need to go through the box in the garage and figure out what other books are out there. I have We Were the Mulvaney's sitting on the bookshelf but it's a miserable book. Any ideas or suggestions for my summer reading list would be appreciated!