Monster Shoe

Rehm has been working on a project for one of his classes at school. He had to start with a shoe, add ten items to it to make it into something else and write a story about it. He also had to have one movable part. When they were done the did presentations to explain their Monster Shoe.

Here is Rehm's presentation.



If you caught the part about the sharp nose that fell off. Apparently the UFFF had a toothpick for a nose but at some point before the presentation it fell off.

Jenn

Retro Charlotte

This is Charlotte in an outfit my grandmother made for me when I was around Charlotte's age. It is one of her favorite things to wear right now. It makes me smile every time she puts it on because I remember wearing it and how cool I thought it was. I did notice that it needs new elastic in the skirt and the hem needs to be fixed in a place or two, but not bad for a 30 year old outfit.

We're Presbamaterian

Yesterday was Michael's Godson Liam's baptism. Before the baptism we had to go to Covenant so I could set up for Sunday school. When we saw Paster Rick Rehm informed him"we are going to a different church!" And had to go into the whole story of how one of Daddy's friends' wife had a baby and we were going to see him get baptized at a different church that was not presbamaterian. He repeated this whole story to anyone we saw at Covenant. Apparently the the concept of a non-presbyterian church was fascinating to him. Which is funny as he goes the the baptist church with my parents when we are at their house.

We got to St. David's Episcopal and saw some of the others coming for the baptism. One of the ladies said hi to Rehm. His response - "We're Presbamaterian!" No hello or nice to see you just "We're Presbamaterian!" Then we took the little girls to childcare and the Director of Children's Ministries introduced herself and welcomed us. Again Rehm immediately chimed in with, you guessed it "We're Presbamaterian!" Apparently he really likes Covenant and being presbamaterian and doesn't want anyone to try to convert him to a different religion!

The baptism and service were beautiful. Rehm and Charlotte did a great job sitting still through the service (well the first hour of the service - then I decided it was time to give them a little wiggle room).

Afterward we got to enjoy brunch with the Letton-McCabe family. It was so wonderful and all the kids played well together, were polite and used their good manners!

What a nice day!
Jenn

And yes I know how to spell presbyterian, but my son doesn't know how to pronounce it :)

Appliance Repair

The dispenser on my refrigerator has had problems for months. About two weeks ago a piece actually fell off so I decided I had to call someone to fix it. I didn't have anyone specific to use for this as I haven't had an appliance problem in several years. I decided to just call the number in the fridge for the Sears Repair Center though I really didn't want to.

For some reason I just don't like Sears. I think it is because their sales people in the actual stores always remind me of used car salesmen - they just seem less than honest - especially the guy who sold us our vacuum - I will not buy from him again. Love the vacuum but do not like the man - story for another day. [If you are a honest used car salesman please ignore the previous statement. I don't really have any first hand knowledge of used car salesmen, I'm going with the stereotype here - bad I know.]

When I called I had the number wrong and couldn't get through so I asked Michael to call. I wasn't at home where I could look the number up. He did an online request. Three days later we still hadn't heard when the appointment would be, so I called them.

Of course, I was dealing with an automated system and not a live person. When I said I wanted to schedule service the system told me I already had service scheduled and asked if I wanted to know when. Well, duh, of course I want to know when. How do you expect me to be home if I don't know when you are coming? The system proceeds to tell me that a person will be coming 8 days later and the window in which they will be there is from 8am to 5pm. Um, I don't think so! Sorry I have a job, four kids and well, a life! I'm not sitting at home for 9 hours waiting for someone to show up! It's just not gonna happen. By this point the system thought it had taken care of my problem and had hung up on me.

I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that it was scheduled so far out and for such a long window because the request had been made on-line and called back to talk to a person. When I got to a person she tells me that is the earliest date they have available. I ask about the call window, she proceeds to tell me that is the standard call window in my service area. So I tell her she can cancel my appointment as that is completely unacceptable that I will call someone who can arrive in a more timely manner. She then asked me if she could help me with anything else? Hello! If you can get someone to repair my refrigerator this week and give me a four hour or less call window, sure! Otherwise, you have helped me immensely by making sure I never call Sears again for appliance repair!

But now I'm back to square one, the door is falling off the dispenser, making the fridge run too much and I still have no one to repair it. [Just a note here to say we weren't using the dispenser and were keeping the door manually closed but every once in a while one of the kids would forget and try to get ice and the door would then be hanging open until an adult happened to notice it.]

Luckily when I asked some friends I got a couple of recommendations. I picked one and called at 3 pm. They said they would be happy to come out the following morning between 9:30 and 11:30! Now that is what I'm talking about! That is service! After I described the problem they asked for the model information so they could bring the part with them! And proceeded to say they would be happy to call me about an hour before they came so I wouldn't have to wait for them!

Not only did they show up when they said they would, they were extremely courteous and well just pleasant! I will definitely call them again when I need appliance repairs.

For those of you who live in my area it was American Eagle Service at 341-9111. I will say I have no idea how their prices compare. My only reference point is that Sears would have charged me $65 for the service call if I decided not to have them do the repair and American Eagles service call fee was $45.

I guess the good news is I didn't have to buy a new refrigerator!
Jenn

Spooky!

What a fun day! Michael had a costume contest at work today. He decided to go as the Cat in the Hat since Ruby and Eliza Claire had Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes. This morning I asked if I needed to bring them by for the costume judging and he decided that was a good idea. Thanks to his ringers he won the overall best costume prize! Ruby and Eliza Claire were a under impressed by this though. I had to laugh the entire time we were there Eliza Claire made mean faces at anyone who spoke to her. I don't think she understood just how cute she was!


For trick or treating tonight Rehm was a ghost, Charlotte a monkey, Ruby - Thing 1, Eliza Claire Thing 2, Michael the Cat in the Hat and me, well nothing. You see in the frenzy of finding costumes for all the kids it never occurred to me to be anything. At one house we went to a neighbor asked what I was supposed to be. Charlotte piped up with, "she's Big Mama. She is very Mommy-fied tonight!" OK so how am I supposed to take that one? Cici - you don't need to answer that question and you can quit laughing now!


At bedtime Charlotte told me I was just Mommy again, I was no longer Big Mama - I'm not sure what changed but I'm very happy to just be Mommy. Please, please don't let her start calling me Big Mama on a regular basis! And if I catch any of you encouraging that idea it will spell big trouble for you! Cici and Papa, that means you!

Everyone had a great time trick or treating and I am thrilled to say all of the blue really did wash out of the girls hair! I was afraid it wouldn't but not enough so to forgo the idea!

For more pictures click here!

Happy Halloween!
Jenn

Authority

A few weeks ago at What-A-Wednesday (Wednesday night programming at our church)Rehm was making noise with his water cup during story time. Miss Stacey had already told the kids that if they kept making noises with their cups they would lose cup privileges.

Of course that meant Rehm was the next one to squeeze his plastic cup and interrupt the story. Miss Stacey promptly removed Rehm's cup from his squeeze little hand. He looked over at me in the "are you really going to let her take my cup" way. I nodded in the "you bet I'm gonna let her take your cup!" way.

About 45 minutes later, after What-A-Wednesday was over, while I was cleaning up I told Rehm he could go get some water. He looked at me horrified and said "No I can't! I lost that privilege!" I told him it was OK he really could have water now but he insisted he couldn't and would not go get a drink.

I guess the good news is that even though he doesn't listen to his parents, he apparently listens to other authority figures.

Jenn

Finally Almost an Austinite

I've lived in Austin for 10 years. And for several of those years I've complained that I have never seen most of the tourist attractions in the city.

Michael and I had a date Saturday afternoon. He asked me to confirm the sitter and said he would take care of the actual plans. Of course I was thrilled with this arrangement. So when we left the house on Saturday all I knew was that I was supposed to wear comfortable clothes and shoes and that I was not supposed to eat lunch.

We started out at Flip Happy, a crepe place, for lunch. It is a little silver airstream parked in a lot downtown. It has been featured on Throw Down with Bobby Flay on Food network. It was so good. I had a roasted chicken, goat cheese, caramelized onion and garlic aoli crepe. Dh had a ham, Gruyere, and scallion crepe and we split a cinnamon sugar, pecan, cream cheese frosting dessert crepe. It was so good.

Then we went to the Texas Capital and walked around. We didn't do a tour because I knew I would have at least 4 opportunities to do the tour over the next 10 years. I have never been inside before. It was very cool.


Next we went to the O. Henry museum (his house for about 2 years). Cool thing was O. Henry spent the first 20 years of his life in Greensboro NC (about 20 miles from where I grew up and I've been to his birthplace museum). DH didn't know that is where he was born. I joked with Michael that O. Henry and I seemed to be following the same migration pattern. Unfortunately that means I'll end up in federal prison before I become famous for my short stories! I'm not sure I like this plan so much.


Then we went to Mt. Bonnell - the tallest point in Austin - overlooks the river - really pretty - "the" Austin tourist place you must go. There Dh had packed a cooler and we had wine, fresh bread and two fab cheeses. We sat looked at the river and talked about the last 10 years and the next 10 years.

So now I can say I have done the tourist circuit of Austin - but he forgot the Oasis (restaurant with fabulous views of the lake but known for horrible food - most people just go for cocktails at sunset) and the LBJ Library, maybe by our 20th I'll have been to those :)

While we were having a wonderful date the kids were having a fun day with Miss Jenni. Here is the play they put on for us when we got home.



Jenn

Sixteen Already

Well, at least in months. Yep, Ruby and Eliza Claire are 16 months old. How did they get so big?



Ruby is walking. She has two teeth - one on the top and one on the bottom. She says dada, mama, uh-oh, all done, Eliza (Eeee), Grandma (ma), hi, bye-bye, please, cheese, shoes and thank you. Ruby is a very emotional girl and is very vocal in her opinions. She is either really happy, really mad or really sad. Those are her only three moods. She still doesn't have enough hair for a pony. She loves shoes and purses!


Eliza is walking on her knees - I told you she wasn't mine. She will take 6 or 7 steps this way and then start crawling or pull up on something. She cruises furniture but does not ever let go and just stand. She has 6.5 teeth (2 on the bottom, 4.5 on the top - the half tooth is part of one of her molars). Eliza loves food. And will eat pretty much anything. She is typically a very happy girl and very even tempered. She say dada, mama, hi, uh-oh, all done, bye-bye, Rehm (mmm) and I'm sure some other works I'm not remembering at the moment. She has lots of hair and thinks it is lots of fun to have her hair fixed.

The girls are really starting to enjoy each other and like to give each other hugs and kisses. They really look out for each other when they aren't fighting :)






October Pictures can be found here!
Happy Day,
Jenn

Echolocation

Apparently I didn't give birth to twins but to dolphins!

Monday night Ruby got cold during the night and had Eliza Claire and both of her parents up for the better part of three hours. During that time every few minutes one of the girls would make a little noise and a few seconds later the other girl would make the same noise back. They were making sure the other one was there! Michael was sitting in the recliner with Ruby and I was in bed with Eliza Claire so they couldn't see each other.

Let me just clarify, the girls were not in our room for the entire three hours. Ruby would scream and scream. Then we would go get her. Then Eliza Claire would get up too. So we would sit up with them for about 15 minutes, while they practiced their echolocation. Then they would get squirmy. At that point we would decide to put them back in their room. Then they would cry. Then maybe they would go back to sleep or maybe the screaming would go on enough that we knew they weren't going to sleep. If they went back to sleep they would be back up in 15-30 minutes. Every time we got them up we would adjust something - turn off the fan, turn on the heat, give motrin in case it was teeth, offer milk.

Now can someone please tell Ruby to quit being such a princess and sleep. She can't sleep if she is too hot, can't sleep if too cold, can't sleep if too much noise, can't sleep if too quiet...This is NOT OK! I like my sleep and I'm sure Eliza Claire is getting fed up with being awakened by her sister screeching. Of course it doesn't help that the girls' room is small had has 4 windows in it. Which means their room is always hotter or colder than the rest of the house. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

I guess this is just one of the many "twin things" we will discover.
Jenn

Three Little Pumkins

All four of the kids are thrilled to have Halloween shirts. Here are my three girls in theirs - Rehm didn't have his on yesterday and was already at school.

I promise a more detailed update soon and more regular updates thereafter!
Jenn

Happy Birthday Charlotte!

I know her birthday was 2 weeks ago. I was waiting until after her party to write about her birthday so I could include it too. Of course her party was a week ago. But both of the twins have had croup since then so I've been a little busy.


Charlotte woke up on her birthday so excited to be four. She said she felt just a little bit older that morning. Rehm kept trying to tell her she wasn't really four yet because she wasn't born until 5:00pm. Charlotte rushed through getting ready so she could go downstairs and open presents. She got a art desk and some furniture for her doll house. She also had really fun new shoes from her cousin Griffin. She insisted on wearing them to school even though they are not approved school footwear (we took other shoes to change into after she showed them to her teacher).


Then it was off to school with birthday cupcakes. And her Mommy and Daddy were both going to be co-oping at her school. Mommy had the 9-11 shift and Daddy had the 11-1 shift. Usually one parent would do the whole time but the twins had to be picked up from their class at 11 since they were still on their graduated schedule. Charlotte got a special birthday crown so everyone would know she was four!

That night for dinner Charlotte got to pick what she wanted for dinner. She decided she wanted Texadelphia. Michael and were pleased with her choice because it was one of the Kids Eat Free nights there. We did wonder if that made us bad parents since it was her birthday that we were so thrilled to not actually pay for her meal.

Charlotte's birthday party was the following Saturday at Chuck E. Cheese. She had a blast! She got to see her friends from school, plus a few dance friends and a few friends from the school she went to last year. Rehm was a little envious that she got to have a CEC party when he has never had a party there.

At Charlotte's annual checkup she measured 43.25 inches (97th percentile) and 45 pounds (95th percentile). She had to get three shots but she was as brave as she could be. She only cried a little bit. OK she was really quite dramatic and started whimpering anytime someone came in the room. And screamed when the started the shots. But she did calm down right away when they were all done.

At four here are some of Charlotte's favorite things:

Color: Pink

Food: Enchiladas

TV Show: Little Einsteins (This is a complete lie. She always refuses to watch this show. She really likes Pinky Dinky Doo, Max and Ruby, JoJo's Circus, and Sesame Street.)

Toy: The new rocking toys from Ikea (She does like these but her favorites right now are her art desk, her little tykes vanity, her doll house and Baby Caroline.)

Game: The Wiggles

Song: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and You are my Sunshine



Here is the Charlotte Birth to Four slide show. If you can't see this all of the pictures can be viewed here.

Happy Birthday sweet girl!
Jenn

Football

I should be working. I should be straightening the house. I should be doing any number of things and if I'm going to blog it should be about Charlotte's birthday. But I'm going to talk about one of my biggest football pet peeves instead...

Hair! Yep your read that right, hair! If you are going to play football and have on that hot, tight, sweaty helmet, why in the world would you have long hair? I swear it seems like every time I look up during a game, I see some guy pull off his helmet and his hair will be longer than mine. Of course it is extremely gross looking at this point because it has been stuffed up in the helmet getting all funky. And how in the world do they get the helmet on with all that hair? And how do they keep all of that hair out of their faces? I just don't get it. It is just down right gross! Do they really think it looks good? Do they really think people see them on TV and say "Oh man, look at that guy's hair! Wow it is awesome! I want hair like that!?"

OK, just to clarify, I'm not a huge football fan. I don't come home and think "man, I can't wait to turn on some football!" But I'm married to a man that thinks there are 3 sports in this world. They are college football, spring training and recruiting. So I see a lot of nasty football hair because this time of year that is what is going to be on TV if I don't have control of the remote.

Yes, I do have other football pet peeves but I'll stop with just one today.

If I was going to wear a helmet that much I'd shave my head!
Jenn

The Stuff Mart

We went to the Stuff Mart today - Ikea. This was our families first trip to the Stuff Mart. Appropriately as we are pulling into the parking lot the Veggie Tales song "The Stuff Mart" came on. The parking lot is huge and it was full. It took us a few minutes to find a parking space and then a few more to walk in the store.

My goodness! I who like shopping and was the one who wanted to go was totally overwhelmed. I could spend 24 hours straight in that store and still not know half of what is in there. It was complete overload for me. The twins were mesmerized. Their eyes were big and they were just staring. I'm sure it was the store and not the fact that it was 4 pm and they had not had a nap today. Now let me just say they were put down for a nap and chose not to sleep - I don't want you thinking I was a bad mom and not letting my 1 year olds nap. Charlotte and Rehm were in heaven. They both loved the store and can't wait to go back. Michael was the least impressed or phased by Stuff Mart. He did say they have to sell food because it takes so long to get out of the store.

I went to Stuff Mart for one reason. I wanted to buy some of their kid plates, cups and bowls. I didn't have enough plates and such now that the twins are eating real food and knew from friends that the ones at Stuff Mart were the perfect size and of course cheap. I have been wanting to go to Stuff Mart for months but have not found a good time to go. I finally decided I would just order them online and have them shipped since it didn't look like I would ever get there. Unfortunately when I went to the web site I discovered they were only available in the store! So if I wanted these items I had to go to the actual store to get them.

After we had been in the store 30 minutes and still had not seen the famed plates, bowls and cups I was starting to think they really weren't worth the effort. Alas we found them and a cute little rocking toy and after 15 more minutes of winding through the store were able to check out and leave. Now I do have to say we bought 12 plates, 12 bowls, 6 cups, and 2 rocking toys (they stack so storing 2 is as easy as storing one) and spent less than $30.



For those of you who don't have preschoolers the Stuff Mart is actually the subject of a veggie tales movie. It even has its very own title song. The moral point of the this Veggie Tales is contentment - that more stuff will not make us happier. The Stuff Mart is the store in the story that has everything. I really did feel like I was at Stuff Mart today.

As Veggie Tales put it "Happiness waits at the Stuff Mart...All you need is...lots...more...stuff!"
Jenn

PS I just spent 10 minutes on the Ikea website trying to find the rocking toy so I could add a link. I couldn't find it. It finally dawned on me that I have two of them and I own a digital camera, duh!

The Blanket Fairy

Today at school Rehm's class read a book about the blanket fairy. Then they did a worksheet where they wrote what they wanted the blanket family to bring them (and drew a picture). Rehm's sheet says "I want $600.00" and the picture is several green rectangles. Obviously the all that money he wants. I'm sure most of the kids wanted a kitten or a puppy or some kind of new toy. Not my kid, he wants cold hard cash! And not just a little bit, but $600!

I asked him about the worksheet. It went something like this:

Me: Did you do this at school today?
Rehm: Yes.
Me: Did you read a book about the blanket fairy?
Rehm: Yes.
Me: So what did you want the blanket fairy to bring you?
Rehm: $600.00
Me: Why do you want $600.00?
Rehm: So I can buy a Wii for the family!
Me: Do you know what you do with the Wii?
Rehm: Yeah, you buy Wii games and play them.
Me: Do you know anyone with a Wii?
Rehm: Yeah, Seth and Kyle (boys in his class)
Me: Do either of them have older siblings.
Rehm: Yeah they both do.

Of course my first reaction when I saw his answer was, "how have I raised such a greedy child?" But then after he explained he wanted to buy something for the family I had to reconsider, but it's not like he wanted to give it to his favorite charity or something. If we actually had a Wii he would not like sharing it with his siblings I'm sure. When I called Michael to tell him about this his response was pure giddiness that someone else in the family also wants a Wii.

Ah joy, video games.
Jenn

PS I was going to scan the worksheet for everyone to see but I'm having technical difficulties and my tech support person is not available to help me out a the moment.

Charlotte's First Day of School

OK Charlotte was supposed start school last Wednesday, but she had a fever and couldn't go until Friday. On Friday I forgot to do the interview (oops), so we did it yesterday.



In her interview she talks about having music in my office. I have a desk in one end of a large classroom and that is where they have a little movement class everyday. She thinks it is very funny that she is in my office. There are 10 kids in her class - not six. Parents do help in the class most days. She is very excited that next week her Mommy and Daddy are going to help

Enjoy,
Jenn

Gig 'Em Aggies

Michael here (yes, I do blog occasionally). The extended family had some extra tickets for the Texas A&M-Montana St game. So, Charlotte, Rehm and I headed to Aggieland with Grandma and Grandpa. The game was ok- the Aggies looked alright for the 1st game of the year, though not as sharp as you'd like against a Division I-AA team. Rehm didn't like the noise from the cannon (that is shot after each Aggie td) or the flyover from the fighter planes after the national anthem. So, he spent a lot of time looking like this:


Of course, after the game he said his favorite things were...the planes and the cannon!

Charlotte loved her Aggie overalls, getting kisses whenever the Aggies score and singing the Aggie War hymn.



Both kids loved their snowcones and watching the band march at halftime.


At one point in the game, Rehm was standing next to me and in front of his seat. The Montana St coach was out on the field arguing about some call and the man a couple of people over yelled, "Aww, sit down already!!" Rehm dropped into his seat like he'd been shot :) The man was very apologetic and explained to him that he was yelling at the coach.

Later, Rehm looked at me and said, "I wish there were designated smoking areas in Kyle Field. " I, along with the woman sitting on the other side (wife of the man yelling at the coach) looked at him in bewilderment. "Why?"I asked, "Are you thinking of lighting up?" He had no such intentions...he just thought it would be nice for the people who wanted to smoke to have a place where they could. How compassionate (in a completely politically incorrect way!)

Overall, a wonderful time staying up way past bedtime!

Toothless No More

It's official, no more toothless kids in our house. Ruby is finally sporting a new tooth. Granted you can't really see it yet but you can feel it. That is if Ruby is willing to cooperate and let you get a finger in her mouth. Now don't take that as an invitation to come up and stick your finger in my daughter's mouth. I don't know where your finger has been and well really just don't want people messing with my baby. So for a few more weeks you'll have to take my word for it. And what's a few more weeks when it took her 14 months to get one?

Happy Day
Jenn

Coo Coo Chicken

Charlotte helped Michael plan our menu for the week. Yes, we plan our menu. It makes grocery shopping easier and makes dinner prep easier as I skip the "what do I feel like fixing for dinner" step. Charlotte's pick was Toasted Cous Cous with Chicken. She thought it was a funny name and dubbed it Coo Coo Chicken.

Last night was Coo Coo Chicken night. Michael had a meeting and wasn't going to be home for dinner. I seriously considered cooking something else as I knew I wasn't feeding cous cous to the twins (too messy), Rehm wouldn't eat it and Michael wasn't home. But since it was the dish Charlotte wanted this week I decided to go ahead. She helped me make the cous cous (which is not actually toasted - haven't figured that out yet). At dinner time I decide to add cheese toast to the menu so there would be something on everyone's plate they would definitely eat.

We sit down to dinner. This is the conversation I had with Rehm.

Rehm: I don't like anything on my plate
Me: Sure you do you like cheese toast
Rehm: It's the wrong kind of bread and the wrong kind of cheese.
Me: You eat both of those.
Rehm: I only eat that bread for peanut butter and jelly and I don't like American cheese.
Me: You eat American cheese all the time.
Rehm: Yeah, only on grilled cheese!
Me: And how is a grilled cheese different from cheese toast?

He proceeded to ask for cinnamon toast and dessert. He got neither. He ate nothing on his plate. I refused to fix him anything else. Next time maybe cheese toast will sound more appetizing to him.

Charlotte would not actually try the Coo Coo Chicken and only picked the cheese off of her cheese toast and ate her strawberries.

Why did I go to the trouble of Coo Coo Chicken? If you figure it out let me know.
Jenn

Fourteen Month Update

The girls are so busy now. They have so many new tricks.


Ruby is cruising all over the place and likes to walk holding our hands. Last night she took about three steps unassisted. It won't be long before she is officially a walker! She can climb up and down the stairs. She loves to patty cake. Her newest word is "woohoo." She is still toothless.


Eliza Claire is cruising. She likes to play with any toy that has balls with it. She can climb up and down the stairs. She loves to play peek-a-boo. Her favorite word is "hi." She has 3 teeth and 3 more on the way.

Where did my babies go?
Jenn

PS new pictures are here.

PSS I've been trying for two days to upload a cute video of the girls and have had no luck. I guess it is time to talk nice to my personal tech support personnel. I'll post it when I can.

Happy Birthday Sam

Sam's eighth heavenly birthday was August 30th. The evening before his birthday was really hard on me this year. I still miss him so very much. I still wonder what he would look like and what his favorite things to do would be. I would love to see him playing with his siblings. I would just love to give him a big hug and tell him how very much I love him. But since I can't I try to be his mom in different ways, one of which is reaching out to others who lose a baby.


Yesterday we celebrated his birthday with a party at the cemetery. I know this sounds very unusual and it is. But when you involve your children in the planning process this is what happens. In their minds it is his birthday and that means there must be a party. It doesn't matter that he is in heaven, there must be a party. Of course if you have a party there must be guests and party favors and cake. This year they insisted on inviting more friends than in past years. So I got the task of inviting everyone to our unusual party. Luckily we have wonderful friends who are very gracious about our strange requests

Everyone had fun celebrating Sam's birthday. The kids went on a tour of the section of the cemetery to ring all the wind chimes they could find. Rehm and Charlotte had picked out little plastic zoo animals and lizards to decorate Sam's stone, so all the kids helped with the decorating. Then we sang Happy Birthday and had cake. Then we release balloons to send to Sam in heaven. The older kids really liked that part and really liked watching After the balloon release we gave everyone their party favor (a light stick) and it was time to go.



It is really touching to have family and friends who love our family enough to come to the cemetery for a birthday party. I feel truly blessed to have such amazing people in my life.

After having lunch Michael, the kids and I went to the hospital. Every year we take a bag containing a book on grief, a journal and a keepsake (usually a Willow Tree angel) and ask that it be given to a family whose baby dies. Every year we trek to the Labor and Delivery Nurses Station and the staff standing there look at us like we are crazy since we have several kids with us and are obviously not about to have a baby. We explain why we are there, give them the bag and leave. It is something I'm glad we do and I hope that whoever receives the bag finds a small measure of comfort in that bag.

Happy Birthday my sweet boy!
Jenn

Breakfast Dinner

Tonight dinner was supposed to be easy. It was breakfast dinner night. Can't be hard, right? Well I have to say I have never had such a fiasco in the kitchen as I did tonight.

Now part of the problem is that Rehm likes only pancakes and bacon, Charlotte likes only eggs and sausage (OK she'll eat pancakes and bacon but they aren't her favorite) and Ruby and Eliza Claire will eat it all.

So I'm cooking the bacon and sausage, mixing the pancakes and trying to get the eggs in a bowl to scramble. Eliza Claire is fussy and wants to be held, so I'm doing this all one handed. I get the egg carton open and Eliza Claire decides she must have the carton right this second. Yep she knocks the whole thing in the floor, upside down of course. A full dozen eggs on the floor, smashed! Of course, at that exact moment all of my children get a sudden urge to be in the kitchen, no other place will do. The closer they can get to the raw oozing egg mess the better.

Oh and now what is that I smell? Oops, that would be the bacon. Burned to a crisp. Uh oh, I forgot that pancake was in the pan, yep burned. Oh my, where is that baby, about to crawl through raw eggs. Yikes! What to do!

I turned off all the burners, banned all the children from the kitchen (which is hard to do since it is completely open to the family room). I called Michael to tell him I ruined dinner. He offered to pick up something. I asked him to come home and let me see if I could salvage it.

While still holding Eliza Claire (she was having none of being banished to the family room) I managed to get the eggs off the floor, find more bacon, save the sausage from burning and start more pancakes.

By the time Michael got home I had pancakes, sausage, bacon and 3 scrambled eggs ready. We all managed to find enough to eat, I'm not sure how, but we did.

I have never, ever, ever had a dinner turn out so poorly. I'm a good cook - according to Rehm. How do you mess up breakfast dinner? It is easy. Nothing to it. If I was going to mess up dinner you would expect it to be something like last night's dinner. Last night I made Fettuccine Alfredo, marinated chicken, sauteed mushrooms and onions in a white wine sauce and steamed peas. All without a recipe! All while holding Eliza Claire. It was yummy! Delicious! I felt like super mom making dinner from scratch (OK I didn't make the pasta, just boiled it). And then tonight complete and utter failure and on such an easy meal. The shame, the horror! How?????

Jenn

PS Sorry for the lack of pictures. I thought about taking some of the disaster zone but alas the safety of the children won out over the desire to record this fiasco.

First Grade

Yesterday was Rehm's first day of first grade. He has a great teacher and already knew at least six kids in his class. He seemed to enjoy his day though I could not get much information out of him about it.

He brought the "What's It" Box home with him yesterday with instructions to place one item in it and bring it back to school. He was supposed be able to give the class three clues about what was in the box. He could not bring a toy. His three clues were: it's a collection, it's a special type of rock, You can make them with sugar. Some of the guess were: gemstones and sugar crystals. He actually took his crystal collect (small pieces of quartz he found on the playground last week and carried around in his pocket all that day)

Jenn

I've spent the last hour trying to upload our traditional first day of school video but keep having technical difficulty. Hopefully I'll be able to add it soon.

Mommy Charlotte

Today Real Mommy was playing "Babies" in the car with Charlotte. It was my turn to be the baby and Charlotte was my Mommy.

Here is a portion of our conversation,

Baby: "What's my Daddy's name?"
Mommy: "I don't know, he didn't tell me."
Baby: "Oh"
Mommy: "I think his name is Tottis, yeah, that's it."
Baby: "How old am I?'
Mommy: "One. Your birthday is tomorrow!"
Baby: "How old will I be then?"
Mommy: "Two"
Baby: "How old are you Mommy?"
Mommy: "Sixteen, you have to be at least that old to be a Mommy."
Baby: "How old is my Daddy?"
Mommy: "One older than sixteen...let me count...13, yeah that's right."

So Mommy Charlotte was 16 with a two year old and she didn't know the daddy's name! I've got a lot of educating to do.

Jenn

Charlotte's Favorite Activities

Every night at bed time Michael asks each of the kids what their favorite activity was that day. Then when they pray they thank God for doing that activity.

Tonight we were talking after the kids went to sleep. I asked Michael what Charlotte's favorite thing was today. He said it was playing Sea World.

I thought that was interesting because Charlotte asked me to play Sea World in the car today and got side tracked and we never played. Sea World in the car usually consists of someone being the worker and someone being the visitor and going from activity to activity at Sea World - this is always played in the car so it is just an imagination game. Most of the time Rehm is the worker and when we "arrive" at Sea World we are the one millionth customer and get lots of freebies and a dedicated staff member to take us from place to place.

I voiced my surprise to Michael since we never actually played and he said "Yeah you did, you went outside in the back yard and you blew up her dolphin float and Charlotte went swimming with the dolphins..." At this point I interupt to say "Um, we didn't do any of that."

So I asked what her favorite thing was yesterday. It was playing dolls with me - we never played dolls yesterday!

I expressed my concern to Michael that her favorite activities all seem to be made up and that I'm a terrible mother. His response was "well, Charlotte thinks your a great mom." Apparently her Imaginary Mommy is a great mom but her real mother obviously needs to spend a little more time playing with her.

Who knew you could feel so terrible when your daughter is telling huge lies.

Off to be more like Imaginary Mommy,
Jenn

Charlotte and Big Mo

Here are the promised pictures of Charlotte and the water slide.

Before

During (click on the picture to see it larger to get the full facial expression)

After

Mo Ranch

This weekend we traveled to Hunt, Texas to attend the "All Family Retreat" our church was hosting at Mo Ranch. This is our second year to go. Yes, we were crazy enough to go last year with two eight week old babies. What were we thinking?

Again this year I was just amazed at how wonderful this trip is. I did not get to attend any of the adult programming as I was helping with the children's programming at those times. I did hear the speaker was really good.

The thing that has struck me both years on this trip is how much my family feels part of the larger community. There were countless times where adults went out of their way to connect with my children. My children are learning that their church cares deeply and personally about them and not just on Sunday mornings but every day.

At every baptism in our church we as a congregation promise to help the child grow in their faith. Mo Ranch is one of those times when I feel like our church really does this, not just in the programming but more in the personal connections.


We arrived on Friday Evening in time for dinner. After unpacking and having a quick dinner it was time to go to the opening programming. Programming wasn't over until 9:30 so it was really late before the kids were all in bed. Rehm and Charlotte were staying in Grandma and Grandpa's room (thank you, Grandma and Grandpa). They had a leaking toilet and had to change rooms at 10:30pm! So it was a really late night for them. After kids went to bed I got the opportunity to visit was good friends for a few hours and catch up.

Saturday everyone was up and ready for breakfast by 8:00am. Then it was off to the morning programming. After the program we all met for lunch. That afternoon we had free time. Grandma and Grandpa were nice and offered to watch Ruby and Eliza Claire so we could take the big kids to the river. Ruby and Eliza Claire were so sleep deprived at this point they didn't want to nap. I'm afraid it wasn't a very pleasant afternoon for Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks again for doing this.

Michael, the big kids and I started off at the pool but with in a half an hour had decided to go check out the Guadalupe River. Charlotte decided she wanted to ride Big Mo, a really tall and fast "water slide." She rode with Michael. Her face coming down said it all (picture to come). When she got back to shore she said it was "pretty fun" but did not want to ride again. Rehm wouldn't ride.

After Big Mo we headed off to the rapids. This is an area in the river where the limestone is very close to the surface. The river has eroded the stone in a way that forms a natural water slide. Due to recent rain the river was probably a foot to foot and a half higher than last year and more swift as well. Last year both kids loved it. This year Charlotte loved it and went down the rapids proabbly 20+ times. Rehm only did it three times and two of those were with a borrowed intertube. Apparently it was too much for him this year. He enjoyed sliding down one big rock into the river instead. We spent a couple of hours enjoying the river and then it was time to head back. On the way back the kids convinced us to take out a canoe for a quick trip up the river. This of course is the first time I've been in a small boat in probably 20 years - since I used to go fishing with my Dad. This was the first time I'd ever had paddling responsibilities and of course I had not clue what to do. Michael was right it was pretty easy. The kids had fun and we paddled up to the rapids and back.

Then we had dinner and entertainment for the whole family (singing songs and face painting). After getting all the kids to bed we sat outside with our friends Clark and Meredith, Grandma and Grandpa, and Clark's parents. It was so nice to get to visit with everyone and connect across generations. Again that sense of community. Church is not just a place we go on Sunday morning. It is a group of people that truly care about each other and come together through their mutual love of God.

Sunday we had breakfast and packed up the room. I got locked out of the room and it took 3 trips to the office to finally get a key that worked. Then it was time for worship. Rehm had a complete and total meltdown on the way to worship (thanks to too little sleep and too many activities). It was not pretty. Luckily he eventually got over it and was able to join us for worship.


Worship is held at an outdoor chapel overlooking the river. It is always a moving experience for me. During the service we Passed the Peace (Meaning we would tell each other "the peace of Christ be with you" and the other person would respond "and also with you") What was especially moving for me was to bend down and pass the peace to all of the precious children around me. To do my part in helping them know that God loves them and that they are important to Him and our church. I'm sure they don't understand at this point but hope when they are older they will look back on these experiences and see that there were several adults besides their parents and grandparents that loved them and wanted them to know Christ.


After the service we finished packing the car. Had lunch with our dear friends the Weatherbys and the Kildays and headed home.

It was a blessed weekend. It is a tradition I hope we as a church and we as a family continue for many years to come. I think it is so important and part of what makes it special is that it is a multi generational experience. It isn't just something for families with small kids, or families with youth. Having friends, parents, and grandparents all there and involved is just an awesome experience. It is what the Church is supposed to be.

I'm reminded of a song my kids have learned in Sunday school:

The church is not a building,
The church is not a steeple,
The church is not a resting place,
The church is the people.

Here are pictures from this year and last. It seems that I forgot to take my camera to many of the things we did this year.

Blessings to all,
Jenn

Traveling Halfway Across the Country with Four Kids

Many people have asked me how we did it? So I'll take a few minutes to explain.

The most important thing is planning. This starts a few weeks ahead of time and includes everything from planning the route and hotel stops to planning what to pack to planning what toys and snacks to have in the car. Now granted Michael's answer would probably be different but I'm a planner by nature so for me this is a must. A trip that takes 3 days to get to the destination definitely adds complexity to the plan. You have to figure out what you need while you are there versus what you need while traveling and have enough room for both. I go as far as making a packing list for each person and for the car. Then I make a list of all the things I have to do before I leave. Then I make a list for the pet sitter. By this point Micheal is rolling his eyes. Then I pack the packing list so I know what I should come home with. Then he really rolls his eyes.


Once everything is packed and in the car it is all about attitude. The trip is an "Adventure" not "the longest time we have ever spent cooped up in the car trying not to kill each other." This means going with the flow. If someone has to go the bathroom 30 minutes after the last stop you laugh about it and take away their water bottle. If someone gets a speeding ticket you ask them to at least not get another one until we reach the next state, instead of reminding them of the hassle and cost. If you realize neither of you printed the directions to the hotel, well then you get a little snippy. If you get to the hotel at 11 pm instead of 8pm and everyone is cranky you give them a bath and read them a story and cross your fingers they all go to sleep. If you get to the hotel at 7:00 and everyone is cranky, you give them a bath, read them a story and turn the lights off at 8:00 even though you aren't tired - a good book light comes in handy.



We make frequent stops, about every three hours. We eat breakfast at the hotel. Our first stop is for lunch. We usually end up at a McDonald's with a indoor playscape. Our next stop is mid-afternoon, again at a fast food place with a playscape. These two stops really help as the kids get to run around and play for a bit. When they get tired of playing I use my stop watch to time them going through the maze. This makes it fun again and gets about 10 more minutes of activity out of them. Most days we have an unexpected "I gotta go potty bad, Bad, BAD" stop that is at the closest gas station or "forest" we can find. Dinner is usually a sit down restaurant so we can have something have way healthy to eat.



The kids watch a bunch of DVD's and eat a bunch of snacks. The little ones take a couple of naps. Charlotte usually gets bored with the TV and asks us to play games with her. She usually picks some kind of pretend game, most often Baby. She's the baby, I'm the Mommy, Michael is the Daddy. Hmmm. Why does that sound so familiar?

When we get to the hotel the big kids help carry in the "hotel" bags and pack-n-plays while Ruby and Eliza Claire enjoy crawling around and being free. Then it is bath time and bedtime. I would love to say that everyone goes right to sleep. In actuality trying to get 6 people to sleep peacefully in the same room is impossible. We quickly found that Rehm and Charlotte can not share a bed. And that at least one baby will end up not sleeping in the pack-n-play. And everyone wakes up early.

I hope all of us will look back on these trips as fun family adventures. And they will turn into stories our children tell their children about "the great vacations we took when we were kids."

So that is how we travel halfway across the country with four kids...
Jenn

So Big

When did my babies get so big? Today Eliza Claire woke up from her nap not feeling well and fussy. Ruby went with me to get her up. While I was sitting in the rocker comforting Eliza Claire, Ruby crawled over to Eliza Claire's crib and got her lovie and brought it to Eliza Claire. Then she crawled back to Eliza Claire's crib and got her paci and brought it to her. Then she crawled back over and got her blankie and brought it to her!

When did they get big enough to understand this much and do this much? What an empathetic little girl Ruby is. Hopefully Eliza Claire will feel better soon.

Jenn

Adding a Fifth

Yes, we are crazy. No, we don't know what we were thinking. But it is true, this week we have a fifth child at our house. Our sweet niece Brooke is spending the week with us.

Hee, hee that was fun. Admit it you thought we were expecting again and you thought we were CRAZY! Well we aren't quite that crazy. So you can rest easy.

Brooke will be here until Saturday. She is such a sweet child and such a blessing to have. She comes most summers for a visit. Charlotte is so happy to have a big sister to play with this week. I think Brook is enjoying having babies to play with too. This morning she even helped me get the twins dressed. She did a great job but was surprised at how hard it was.

Off to pack dinners, we have to go back to church so I can work.
Jenn

Vacation

We are finally home from a 3.5 week vacation to NC. We arrived home Saturday evening and I'm just now getting a minute to post. Now I shouldn't be posting, I should be emptying the dishwasher, folding clothes, putting away the last few items from the trip that have no home and most of all working. But, here I am.

We drove from Texas to Pine Knoll Shores, NC in three days - 2 long days and 1 short day. It was amazing to drive through Texas and see all the creeks and rivers above their banks and for everything to be green. Usually by July everything is pretty brown in these parts. Everyone traveled well.

Our first week in NC was spent at the beach with Papa, Cici, Aunt Sherri and Zander. It was wonderful. The kids loved the ocean. Charlotte didn't remember it from her last trip two year ago but decided the ocean was awesome and in typical Charlotte style had no fear. She kept asking her Daddy to take her our further and further and loved riding the waves. Rehm enjoyed looking for sand fleas, fishing with Papa (they caught a small shark) and riding waves. He was definitely more cautious than Charlotte. Ruby and Eliza thought they should eat sand and shells. The loved the edge of the ocean and crawled around exploring.

While at the beach we went to play miniature golf, to the aquarium, to Fort Macon (for a civil war reenactment, no less - Rehm even got to train to be in the army), and to the town of Beaufort where Michael and I were married.

We happened to be at the beach for my birthday. Michael kept asking what I wanted to do to celebrate. I had no ideas but knew I needed to come up with something or he would just keep bugging me. I found a flyer for parasailing and decided that is what I wanted to do for my birthday. It was a lot of fun. It was not as thrilling as I expected it to be it was much more peaceful. I would definitely do it again sometime.

We dropped Michael at the airport on our way to my parents house. The kids and I stayed with them for almost two weeks. We had fun going to the children's museum, going to breakfast at Mickey's , visiting with Granny and lots of aunts, uncles and cousins, going to the park, sewing with Cici, making potholders and making picture frames with shells we collected at the beach.

More details to come later,
Jenn

PS If you can't see the slide show all the pictures can be seen here