His mother's son

I have never been someone who was really into "girly" things like fashion.  I never wore panty hose, and, to this day, I still don't wear make up.  I've also never been a big shopper.  These truths come with two exceptions: hats and shoes.

I have a huge head, so I can't wear most hats, but I do love trying to find one and I love buying them for the kids.  And, shoes.  I've never owned high heels, but I love few earthly possessions more than a comfortable pair of Birkenstocks or Keens.  When it comes time to buy new ones, I find it positively thrilling.

I bought Luke the most adorable pair of Tom's last year, and he has loved them.  Although I think they're very comfortable, I'm pretty sure the biggest reason he likes them is because he always knows which shoe goes on which foot because they have tags on the outsides and "the tags can't touch."

The shoes had grown very small on him and were also pretty worn out, about a week ago, he and I looked online and picked out another pair.  He was pretty excited about them.  The shipping has taken a while, but this morning when Luke woke up, he looked at me with excitement, and told me, "I had a dream about my new tag shoes."

'Atta boy!

"Oh, Buddy, I've been dreaming about your new tag shoes, too!"

Luke at Bay Beach
"Mommy never lets me play with toy guns!"

Mac and cheese

Luke is usually very shy around people he doesn't know.  But, I guess everything changed when his world changed.

We were in Wisconsin Dells on Saturday looking for a place to have lunch.  We saw a restaurant called Mac's that was entirely devoted to mac and cheese.  As a family we decided we had to check this out for Luke, since, aside from fruit, occasionally pizza, and his recent discovery of chicken nuggets, mac and cheese is all Luke has ever liked to eat.

When his mac and cheese arrived, he took a bite and exclaimed, "This mac and cheese is fabulous!"  We all tried not to laugh too hard at him.

Later a worker came by and asked how everything was, and Luke, who has never talked to a server, or anyone, by his own free will, looked up and told her, "This mac and cheese is fabulous!"

IVF humor

You probably remember that by the time Dave and I did our last IVF cycle, we had just two embryos left.  One was graded an A and the other was the only B/C graded embryo we'd ever tried. (A few rounds had previously failed with two A embryos.)  We were completely shocked that both embryos grew. 

Tonight Dave and I were sitting on the couch, exhausted after a long day.  The kids weren't going to bed well.  Luke had gotten up to say he needed something and we'd just said, "Good night."  He went back to bed.  Kate and Anna had called down to us, and we'd told them we were "off duty," and they, too, went back to bed.  But Ally, despite our best techniques, had been in the hall howling that she couldn't fall asleep (after having tried for less than one minute).  Dave and I sat on the couch staring straight ahead, waiting to see who would get up next to deal with her.  As we sat there, Dave said, "She was definitely the grade B embryo."

They did go to the bathroom

I was sitting on the rocking chair in the twins room with Luke and a book in my lap.  We were waiting for Ally to go to the bathroom so I could read to them before bed.

Ally came back, seemingly too soon, and I asked, "Did you go potty?"

She told me she did.  But, I apparently looked skeptical, because she said, "I did."  Then turning away from me, bending over, and lifting up her pajama shirt, she continued "Look!  My bottom is empty."

She gets very mad when anyone laughs at something she says, so I bit my lip and nodded that I believed her.

Then Luke piped up, "Me, too!  My bottom is... my penis is empty!"

Happy Birthday, Finn-dog!

The kids helped make a dog cake recipe for Finley's birthday today.  We also took Finn to the dog park, where we all had so much fun (until Ally got knocked over by Finley and a dog-friend during chase, so Ally swears she'll never return).

Love this picture!

I just love this picture Dave's Uncle Walt took of the family.  

I'm going to hang it up in the cottage, but I couldn't wait to share it.

Here are a few more fun ones.

Uncle Walt loves photography.  He also loves dogs.  Here he is with Finley.

"My dream came true..."

I've always known Ally inherited my flair for the dramatic, but apparently so has Kate.  She's mentioned occasionally over the past year that she'd like to try horseback riding.  Then, a couple weeks ago, she got on a real kick that she just had to ride, and now.  

I looked into it a little, but Oma came through.  She said she had researched it when Kate mentioned it to her a while back.  When she heard I was looking into it, she made all the arrangements and treated us all to a wonderful time riding.   

I later saw an email Kate wrote the night before that began with, "My dream came true!!!  Tomorrow I am going trail riding..."  I love that kid!

She did great riding, and so did Anna.  I wasn't even going to take Anna, because I thought she'd back out last minute, but she took to it like a natural!

Our strawberries

Monday we found one ripe strawberry.  We promptly cut it into five pieces to share it.  

Just two days later, look what we found!

Things we want to do this summer...

For the last few years, we've made a poster the first day of summer 

listing the things we want to try to do over summer vacation.

We have an ambitious list this summer.

When we made our spring break list this spring, Luke's only suggestion was "Drink milk."
Kate, giggling, added it to this list, too.  Something tells me it'll be on all our lists from now on.

The straw that broke my back

I was awake with one of my worst-ever migraine until almost 4 am last night.  Then today, on three hours sleep and with a residual migraine, I took all four kids grocery shopping and then I took them all to Kohl's to buy a Brewers' shirt for Anna to wear when she went to the Brewers' Game with Joey for his birthday.

I had suggested Anna wait to put her new shirt on until it was time to go, but she kept asking to wear it.  With my migraine, I just let her.

Less than an hour before it was time to go, just as I was hoping to finally sit my weary self down in a chair, Anna came in from outside covered in mud because she'd fallen off her swing into our muddy yard.  I had to quickly wash the shirt... and Anna.

As I was bathing her and the other three muddy kids, and trying to be fast, because we were running late, we had the following conversation.  Let me preface this by saying that one of my biggest pet-peeves as a mom is when one of the kids, usually Anna, ask me a question and doesn't wait for an answer.

Anna - Mommy, is my Brewers' shirt ready?

Me - It's almost ready.  I just have to get it from the dryer.

Anna -  Mommy, is my Brewers' outfit ready?

Me - Anna, what did I just answer you?

Anna - Mommy, I have a question.  Is my Brewers' shirt ready?

Me - Anna!  Are you freaking kidding me!?

Yes, I said that, and I said it pretty loudly.  Definitely not my proudest parenting moment, but Oh.  My.  Goodness!  I'd held it together the entire day, through errands with four kids, three of whom seemed even louder than usual, and one pre-adolescent who had some kind of an existential crisis while debating whether or not to use her allowance on a pair of strappy sandals at Kohl's and then burst into tears when we didn't have pizza for dinner.

It was the proverbial straw.

Oh, Anna...

At lunch, Anna said:

"Mommy!  I just throught of something bad.  When Joey and I get married, there will be a British dad and a mom who's not British!"

I just stared at her, utterly confused,
for a few seconds until I said, "Oh!  Jewish.  Not British, Anna, Jewish."

I just had to laugh picturing the parenting debates.  

"We can't raise our children calling it a boot; it's a trunk!"

"Fine!  But I will not call a holiday a 'vacation.'"

On television and housework

I was cleaning the toilet and Ally was intently watching.

"Why you dumping that in there?"

"Because," I said, distractedly, "it helps get it clean."

"Oh!" she said, her eyes lighting up, "like the TV said!"

I had to laugh, because this exchange made two things embarrassingly obvious.  First, despite my best pre-actually-had-kids intentions, my preschoolers watch TV and see commercials.  And, second, I clean toilets so seldom that my almost-four-year-old didn't know what in the world I was doing.

I just answered a question

I can't remember exactly how it all degenerated, but it started with Kate and Anna discussing which chores they would have their kids help them do.  Somewhere along the line Anna asked me what you can do to not have any more kids.  I answered.  There were a couple more questions, and a couple more answers, and within minutes, we had chaos.  Ally was protesting that she didn't want to take medicine that made her crabby, and Luke was screaming about how he didn't want anyone cutting slits into his testicles.

My Ice Cream Cone

The squeal had sounded like a car slamming on its brakes, except I was in the middle of Michael's and the squeal began with a "M" sound and ended with a "meeeeee."  I turned away from the rack of magnets and looked behind me.  Just three kids, all girls.  This confirmed what I'd feared; that squeal came from Luke.

I found him just around the corner.  He began yelling at me for not coming when he'd first called me to see a train set.  I bent down and told him I hadn’t heard him, but he needs to stay by me in the store and he also needs to use a nice voice.  Then I looked at the train set and told him it was nice, but we already have one like it at home.  This was followed by loud whining and complaining as we made our way out the store.

We’d had a busy morning of playing, picnicking, and hiking, so I understand he was tired.  But so was I.  

As we all got in the car, my own tired mind began to reel.  I thought of every negative behavior he’d had lately, and I decided something needed to be done.  If I could give him a good consequence, maybe he’d learn.

Instead of heading for home, I drove to McDonalds.  I prepared myself for Luke’s crying the whole way home.  I reminded myself it was going to help him become a better person.

When the kids saw where we were, they started asking, “Could I have some ice cream?”  I answered the first two kids yes, but when Luke asked, I said, “Oh, honey, no.  I wish you could, but you know what just happened.”

There was a moment of stunned silence, and then Kate said, “Oh, no! Poor Lukey.”  She sounded like she was going to cry.  Then Anna let out a choked, “Oh, Lukey.”   Ally tried a different tactic.  “Mommy, wemember Lukey felled yesterday and hurt his head.  He weally needs ithe cweam.”  Then Anna said, “Lukey can have my ice cream.”  And Kate said, “It’s okay, Anna; he can have mine.”  And then my eyes teared up.  I didn’t know what to do, when I heard, “Welcome to McDonalds…”

I ordered four cones.  I wasn’t planning on having one, but I reasoned I could keep one depending on what I decided.  This bought me time.  

As we waited in line to pay, I heard Kate and Anna planning how they’d each give Luke the top of their ice cream cone.  Well, this had sure backfired.  I never give in when a kid throws a fit… but Luke wasn’t throwing a fit.  But, what if he only wasn’t throwing a fit because he was confident he’d be rescued.  That would be worse.  But, how do I tell these kids who I’ve taught to always share that they can’t give their brother any of their ice cream?  

Darn, parenting is hard!

I decided maybe it would be okay if I pretended I was giving him mine; it’s not like I bought him one.  “It’s okay, girls.  I’ll give him mine.”

“No, Mommy; you’re tired,” replied Kate, “You need one.”

When I finally convinced the girls I no longer wanted mine, Luke quietly asked, “Can I hab chocolate?”

Are you kidding me?  I didn’t respond.

Then, more decidedly, Luke told me, “Get you-self a chocolate one, Mommy.”

School's out for summer!

Kate and Anna finished their last day of school for the year, and Luke and Ally finished their last day of school-being-in-session-and-not-supposed-to-be-there for the next 18 or more years.  So, we celebrated by getting out the sprinkler and cutting into a watermelon!

Anna says

"Mommy, I love everyone in the world and in outer space except robbers."

Water skiing

Dave water skied growing up.

I water skied once, when I was about sixteen at a weekend camp.  I didn't pulled myself up all the way, and I didn't let go, so... well, long (disgusting) story short, I gave myself an enema...at a camp... of boys and girls... and, did I mention, I was sixteen?

I was hoping our kids would have positive experiences with waterskiing, and Kate is off to a great start.  She's a natural!

By the way, aren't they so cute in their life jackets?

But, poor Finley.  Poor, poor dog.  She hates the boat.
We thought she'd love it, but look at that expression!
She always tries to jump off, like,
"I don't care what happens to me,
but I can't spend another minute on this boat!"

Secure your furniture

My kids had never climbed up a dresser or bookshelf. Yet a couple years ago, after reading a tragic story of a family whose toddler was killed by a dresser he was climbing on, we ordered special braces and secured every dresser and bookshelf in the whole house to the wall. Last night, we heard a terrible crash and found that the twins, wanting Luke's pajama pants, had climbed up the one dresser we'd gotten from friends *after* we secured the rest. 

(Their first time climbing, the only unsecured piece of furniture in the house, and not even where we store Luke's pajamas.)

Thankfully, miraculously, neither were hurt. 

But, if you're reading this, and you have little ones, or even if you just have kids visit a lot, secure your furniture!

You can buy them online easily.  Here's a link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VW7WBC/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Planting time

It was late planting this year, partially because of the crazy-long winter and partially because I started my seeds inside late because I was debating whether or not to plant a garden at all since we'll be at the cottage so much.  

After seeing what it was like to plant with the kids all a year older, I'm so glad we planted.  Everyone was really into the process this year.  Kate even has even taken on the cucumbers herself.  We opted for two long pots of them along the house so we can give them the sun they need and hopefully get a good crop this year.

Although it took three times longer to plant than it would have with all the extra help, it was so wonderful seeing all the kids digging out holes for the tomato plants and helping build up mounds.  They experienced finding worms and finding mystery objects in the soil.  Anna is pretty sure most of the objects came from an ancient village below the garden.  She dug her heart out in an attempt to hit a rooftop.

We planted the old standbys, a lot of tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, and cucumbers.  And for our probable disappointments, we chose watermelon and pumpkins.  The littles were all really excited for sunflowers, so we bought some 12 foot ones and planted those along the fence with some dill to pickle Kate's cucumbers. 

Ally's rant

I don't usually care what my kids want to wear, as Anna's teacher could attest, as long as their warm enough or safe from the sun.  But when Ally, who had already gotten a mysterious sunburn the day before, wanted to wear a thin strapped dress out in the sun all day, I had to tell her to save it for when we got home.  This set her off in a rant.  At one point I jotted down several seconds of her argument, because, although I didn't find it particularly persuasive, I did find it amusing:

"I never weared this.  This is my whole life!  I didn't wear this even when I was a baby... and Lukey was a baby.  We're twins.  I never weared this.  I'll tell the whole world."

Shopping at Home Depot and trying on a gardening hat.

Camping

This was our third annual "Just the Big Girls" camping trip.  The first year, we had so many bees that nearly a dozen died in our boiling water while I was making mac and cheese.  Last year, we spent hours in the bathroom seeking refuge from a tornado that was spotted nearby.  This year we faced mosquitoes in numbers rivaling Egypt's locusts, a couple of thunderstorms, and were evacuated for impending winds in excess of 50mph.

But, every year we have so much fun!

Anna doesn't like marshmallows, so she substituted pea pods and carrots.

She rated the taste a "thumbs up!"

The girls working toward earning their Wisconsin Explorers Badges.

A Wisconsin Explorer treasure map activity.

Another Wisconsin Explorer activity.

Their badges!

The girls learn to levitate.

The best site yet!  We eyed it up last year and got it this year.