a collection of kid quotes

a couple of weeks ago, chad was using the hose outside. when the hose is on outside...it sounds like a cow is dying inside. the kids and i were in the kitchen and after a while, even they were getting annoyed by the noise. all of a sudden aiden blurted out, "i wish daddy would turn that thing off...it's getting on my nerds!" i replied with, "it's getting on your what?" and she said very loud and very plainly, "MY NERDS!" then chase said, "i'll tell you something that is putting on my nerds......" at times like this...i should probably correct them, however...i didn't.

when i was cleaning the kitchen and doing the dishes, i walked away from the sink to grab a dirty dish off the cabinet. i left the water running. it was somewhat of a surprise when chase calmly told me to "please not waste the water." i was too tired to argue or defend myself...so i just said, "ok." he stood there a little longer watching me rinse the dishes and finally said, "mom...after you bathe your dishes, i want to show you something." i chuckled. to him...if there is water and soap involved...it's a bath.

a couple of days ago...i had to get out of the house. we had been couped up for days and with no end in sight...i made the call to go do something different...something we had never done before. my mom and grandmother were visiting and i thought going to a fresh fruit and vegetable farm would be fun. and the kids would see the crops and get to pick out the fresh fruits and veggies for dinner that night. surely this would sound fun to them. i stood up, and excitedly declared, "who wants to go to a farm today?" annslee looked at me with wide eyes...but my 9, 7 and 5 year old didn't even turn their heads from their ds games. i stood there a couple of seconds longer, thinking that maybe they hadn't heard what i said. that thought was interrupted by colton...head still buried in his game, saying, "yeah.....i'm not really in the "farm" mood."

we went anyway. then we cooked up a storm. then we ate, and ate, and ate to the sound of good music and lots of laughter around the table, where a.j. decided that she liked fresh sweet potatos and fresh pinto beans....and that she loved her grandaddy.

my favorite baby in her favorite pj's

who doesn't love a freshly bathed baby with a scrunchy nosed smile in cute, cuddly pajamas?

and the tiny flowers...well those are a bonus.

story random

i'm not really a big "fashion" poster. however...i have to take a moment to welcome back the best piggy tail holder ever. i have a "thing" about hair. i can't stand to not do aiden't hair. i probably come by it naturally, as my mother would NEVER let me out of the house without my hair done. i even had to sleep on those foam pink rollers. i don't make aiden do that...lucky for her, strait hair is in these days. i just have this standard for myself that, as a mom, it is my responsibility to do her hair until she can do it herself. plus...i like doing it. why send her out with stringy, tangly, unbrushed hair when it only takes a few extra minutes to fix it. and let me say here...before i get a z snap from someone...that if she had a really sensitive head or was one of those kids that wanted to fix her own hair, i would let her. but she likes for me to do it, she chooses what style she wants, and it makes her feel special and cared for. so that's what we do. a lot of our do's involve piggy tail holders and i typically use the tiniest clear ones. however, if it's holding more than the end of a braid, they generally end up loosening by the end of the day, which drives me nuts. i've often wished that they would bring back the one's my mom used in my hair because they hold tight and don't slip. AND...BONUS...they hold a ribbon in place and keep it from slipping too. so, without further ado........WELCOME BACK, CHILDHOOD FRIENDS!

if you don't want the knobs to show, just attach them under the piggy. i did that with the one straggler i had left all the way through high school dance team.

i'm not into crafts. i'm crafty...well, a little...but the end result doesn't usually make up for the mess. we did make summer bracelets though. it was pretty fun and the threatening about dropping the beads on the floor worked. sorta. chase did pick up the necklace aiden made for me before i got it tied off and about 100 beads bounced all over my kitchen...but that was after the craft was technically over. i loved how it showed their individual tastes in color. mine has a bead for each kid. black for colt (he chose); green for chase (of course); pink-ish for aiden; and purple for a.j. i don't know what's up with my hand in this picture. i look like the crazy, hulk man. note to self.....lay off the p90x. :)


this picture was to capture a favorite summer game. they love, love, love to dress up and act out a story. especially chase and aiden. i will be shocked if chase does not end up in some form of entertainment. and he can put a costume together out of just about anything. it's a real talent. and source of entertainment. here they are playing "james bond vs. the villain, punkin brewster. (the other day, my mother happen to tell chase of my deep love, and somewhat obsession over punky brewster as a child. don't ask.) so, when creating his villain...he created punkin brewster. creative........right?? colton just needed to be in the picture to show off his new glasses. boy do they make him look older.

well...that was a whole lot of story random. it's the kind i do best.

basketball, movies and the pool

i love when ordinary days turn into memories. this morning, we all went to colt's basketball game at the y. chad was asked by someone who works there if he would coach a boy's team that was without a coach. it happened to be a team of 9 year olds with 1 slot left. so...even though it's not his "turn" to play a sport...he is. i love, love, love watching chad coach. it's not just because he is my husband that i say this...everyone says it. he really is good. i always tell him that i wish he could be a coach professionally because he loves it too. this morning, one of the other moms from our team said, "you must be the coaches wife" as i carried in annslee on my hip with aiden and chase by my side. i said, "yep! how did you know?" she said, "we knew he had four kids...and no one else around here has that many kids!!" i ended up knowing her from high school, which was nifty...but that's beside the point. colton is a pretty good ball handler, and he decided to show that off today with a fancy between the legs dribbling maneuver at the top of the key. my favorite part of the game was watching chad "handle" that situation. colt sat the bench for a little bit after that. he had told me before they left for the game that he had a special surprise for me during the game...and that's what it was. after the game i whispered, "that was great...but maybe we should reserve those types of skills for when you're in high school. or on the playground."

then, colt and i decided last minute to go see the karate kid. it was a good flick...but my favorite part was when colton held my hand when we were walking into the theater. he wasn't even embarrassed...which helped me to see the little boy that is still there. and boy do i love that little boy.

then, we went swimming at the club this evening and ate dinner at the cabana there. i was trying to convince the boys to let me fly them off my shoulders...but they were too scared. so i told chad to come fly me. he did...and lets just say that my sailing through the air didn't quite have the same "flare" that it used to. my form wasn't quite what it used to be...and my swim suit placement was questionable...and i ended up with water in my nose and hair in my face...which didn't really scream "fun and games" to the kids. in fact, colt's exact words were..."that doesn't really seem safe mom." i sputtered out..."oh no...it's super fun" in between coughs and wheezes. i don't think they believed me. we didn't do that anymore. and i tried to avoid eye contact with the life guard after that.

i love it when days that start out with no plans end up being one of the most fun.

it's pouring rain...and other stuff

this afternoon, it was raining. shocker. i assumed the swim lessons would be cancelled, but it was just sort of sprinkling and passing then sprinkling again. so...none of this fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants stuff like usual; i was calling the y to get the scoop before we traipsed up there like a carnival act. (that's what i assume my brother calls me behind my back. he thinks having 4 kids is nuts and that my house is a circus.) anyway...they said that as long as it wasn't thundering that they would still have them. i called again...15 minutes before the lesson started because it was sprinkling and they said that they were. so, i went and woke up annslee from a very sound sleep and there we went. i got a chair, wiped it down, folded the towels for me to sit on, hung my purse and the diaper bag on the iron fence, got the kid's flip flops under my chair, and folder their shirts neatly in the chair next to me, got puddie's pappy out for her, and breathed a sigh of relief as the kids started towards the pool and annslee sat happily on my lap. now, when i say that all of a sudden, the sky parted and a massive down poor began in a matter of 30 seconds...i'm not exaggerating one bit. the life guard blew the whistle before the kids even got in the pool and chairs began blowing in and people started scampering everywhere. we grabbed everything is a very unorganized manor and made it inside and watched it blow over. the lesson only started 15 minutes late. at one point i think puddie asked why i woke her up for that.

we got home...(in the rain)...and colt showered while i bathed chase and aiden and then annslee. i got annslee ready for bed and fed her. then i began making dinner for the kids. they begged for pancakes, which was fine with me because chad was not coming home until late. so, i was busy making pancakes and decided to make fruit smoothies to go with them. i filled the blender with frozen fruit, vanilla yogurt and milk. aiden likes to stand on a little stool by the cabinet and watch me work. so, she was freshly bathed and in her pj's...standing there watching. i picked up the blender to go put ice in it, and i swear to you that what happened next actually happened and is not out of a hannah montanna episode. right as the blender was passing over aiden, the bottom fell off and every bit of it's contents fell out right on top of her head. sticky yogurt milk was covering her, covering the floor, covering the island, dripping all in the silverware drawer...the cabinet...into the mixing bowls and measuring cups stacked in the cabinet...the rug...etc. etc. etc. we both froze. aiden has never been in so much shock. this is where i had nothing left to do but close my eyes, look to the sky, and begin clicking my heels together. "there's no place like home...there's no place like home..." well...in my case..."there's no place like anywhere else other than my kitchen." i stopped the flooding and took aiden and bathed her again. then it took me 30 minutes or more to clean up the mess. by the time the kids sat down to eat...you can imagine my response when colton said that the smoothie didn't taste very good. as soon as i put the first bite of pancake in my mouth, chase spilled some of his smoothie. he felt really bad and kept apologizing. that's ok chase. mommy spilled a little smoothie too. i cleaned up chase's little mess and sat down to eat again. several minutes later, colton spilled his entire smoothie. i cleaned that up and then sent them all to bed. now i feel guilty. and tired.

so tell me. what do you do when you have "those kind" of days?

4th of july with uk and kansas

we have a boy scout that lives next door...so our street is lined with american flags

the perfect backdrop for our first 4th of july picture

uk and kansas brought pop pops, black cats, and sparklers

my young man is ready to play

i love when i get "that's so them" pictures
that's so chase!

sweet pea and her magic wand

due to a common spit up incident...puddie is out of her red, white, and blue...although still goes with our family color palate.

the sweetnesses with uk and kansas

sweet pea and puddin pie

annslee's 6 month picture

(actually taken closer to 7 months)

aiden's 5 year picture

sisters
(i had reservations about having their picture taken without the boys. however...i have one of the boys around the same ages that is similar that i love so much...so i decided that they could hang together and that it would be ok. and i think they will be glad they have it.)

i thought this shot was so sweet. they captured how annslee looks at her big sister with such aw and admiration...and how sweetly aiden looks at her little sister. i just love it.

*i do realize that taking pictures of pictures is kind of sketchy...but since we don't have the monetary funds to buy pictures for everyone...this is the best i can do. plus...who wouldn't want to see these sweet shots of our precious kittens?

*summer goal: get individuals of the boys and also brother shot and all four of them together. this my be more of a fall goal...shen chase turns 8 and annlsee is turning 1.

(that was more of a note to self.)

this week

it's been raining here for days. this hurricane alex fella is really making quite the impression. it directly hit mexico, and colton is quite confused on how we are getting so much rain from it. it's putting a kink in our summer schedule. we were supposed to be at the pool on tuesday...but it was cloudy and thundery. then we were supposed to be at the pool on wednesday...but it was rainy. then we were supposed to be at the pool this afternoon...but it was hurricane alexy from afar. so, i could tell the kids were getting bored when i saw colton and aiden this afternoon. i was sitting in the living room, talking to my brother on the phone when colton sneaks through...(unaware that i am even there)...in a white t-shirt, gray track pants, a black leather cowboy vest that he wore when he was 2, a blue indiana jonesish sun hat (gap; circa 1991), and a mickey mouse cell phone. i watched as he tip toed by and then did a double take when aiden shortly tip toed through after him with a kitty cat mask, black fluffy tail, while waving a sword.

i don't know.

i really wish i had it on video because it was one of those moments where i needed chad in the room so that i could ask him if i just saw that right. but...as it is, you will have to take my word for it.

speaking of video...if i could figure out how to get them to upload onto blogger (i tried multiple times earlier and i don't know why it's not working) you would see colton looking super cute in his new glasses! he just got them today and he keeps telling us what time it is. apparently, he couldn't see the clock before...something we obviously didn't know.

and lastly...but not leastly, chase learned how to ride his bike without training wheels!!!! that little love bug is pretty proud of himself. i'm not ready to turn him loose to the streets just yet. we still have to remind him to look where he's going instead of at our proud faces. :) and he really only likes to go in a straight line...so he's a one-way ride for now.

and that is this week, at a glance.