stay tuned

Yes, I'm still alive. No, I haven't been overcome by heat stroke--VBS perhaps (of which I'm in charge) but not heat stroke. Actually loving the heat because it's great for my pepper plants and the more heat I have the more my peppers will grow, grow, grow, and hopefully the less I will have to pay close to $1.00/pepper at the grocery store. Absolute Craziness!!!!! I've got lots of stories and pictures to post--stayed tuned...

Not quite that old

The kids got up from their naps and wanted to take a dip in the pool in the backyard. We were/are on a limited time schedule as we have plans for tonight and I was kind of involved in some other stuff (like posting the previous post). So I told them sure, but make it fast because we only have an hour to play. Run and get your swimsuits on, I said. About 10 seconds later (proof that it shouldn't take some unnamed children 30 minutes to get dressed for school) they all emerged. I sighed...they all looked sharp in their swimsuits and they had done it all by themselves--even Nathan had his swimming trunks on. They are growing up too fast, I thought to myself. Se we all settled outside and about 30 minutes into pool time, Nathan came trudging out of the pool looking like he was having a hard time walking. He was headed for his tricycle when I took a closer look. He still had his other shorts on under his swimming trunks. And this also meant that he still had his pull-up from his nap on underneath that. His pull up had sucked up probably 1/4 of the pool. Whew! I guess they aren't as old as I thought they were.

Elephant Ears

It's that time of year again--county fair time! Well, it's also hay baling time of the year but I didn't participate in that. I just observed as I drove by feeling much sympathy for the guys on the wagon stacking bales in 90 degree heat. Anyway, the kids and I made our way over to a neighboring county fair this morning. We had three goals: elephant ears, animals, and elephant ears. Elephant ears are a fair/carnival tradition for the Snow house. Actually, they are the only tradition that we Snows have that is related to a fair/carnival. We didn't ever eat anything else or ride anything! Well, I think maybe we went on the merry-go-round once, but I ended up sick so that was out as well. As my sister and I have traveled and moved about the country we've come to realize that not near every fair--mostly state fairs--include elephant ears. A great travesty if you ask me! These lacking fairs would be TX, OK, IA, GA (I think--not sure if the Robeys made it to the GA one or not). I must admit that I didn't look at every single trailer at the IA fair, but if they had been there I'm sure they would have been prominent--all you see there is an IA chop on a stick--not really sure how they verify that it is from an IA pig since it looks just like an IN, IL, TX, etc. chop. (I should state here that I really did love the IA state fair and if you ever get a chance you should go. Although some of them are soooo very proud of it that they needed a reality check though.) I have greatly digressed. Sara was introduced to elephant ears by my dad a few weeks ago and evidently, until she actually saw what it was, wanted to have nothing to do with it. Would you want to eat a real elephant's ear?! Once she actually saw it and tasted it she was sold. And so we decided her siblings needed to get a taste. So after we wandered all the animals and made sure that John wasn't bit by any of the attack sheep or rabbits (he was convinced something was going to attach him), I insisted on a nutritious lunch before we went straight for dessert. So while they settled in with their corn dogs, I went on a quest and was delighted to see that they do believe in elephant ears here in IL. I bought 2 extremely large elephant ears. They all fell in love. Here's some pics:Note: Sara & Ashley are sharing one. Check out the size of their pieces and I had already eaten some off of them.

This shows off Ashley's most recent tooth loss well.

Sweet Babies

Well, here are the pictures of my neice and nephew on the Horn side of the family. I was waiting for some good pictures and my sister-in-law, Mandy (the mother of Abram) and Kristen (mother of Lydia) came through. They truly are sweet, sweet babies. Lydia has the greatest giggle and Abram smells soooo good--like baby--there's no other way to describe it! (I know his parents may disagree with that, but being a mom of four I love the smell of a baby whether they've just spit up or not) I got to rock him to sleep one night and it was heavenly.

Abram (the blonde-2 months) and Lydia (6 months)

Kristen (Joe's sister) and Lydia

My life

So this was the email that my sister-in-law sent me after reading the previous post. I laughed so very hard because this really is my life right now.

John: (if you've hung out with him much lately, you will recognize him in this picture)

Nathan:

(I realize now that you may have to get your magnifying glass out to read this one. If you don't have one, you'll just have to trust me that it is tear jerking hilarious!)

a new experience for me

Well, I suppose it was bound to happen. Even with four kids there are some parenting things that I haven't experienced. This was one of them. Picture the scene: it's morning (around 8:30) the three older kids are out playing in the front yard and riding their bikes, I am in the backyard watering our garden, Joe is inside taking a shower and Nathan is with him. Here's the discussion that takes place inside:

Nathan (stripping off his clothes): Daddy, can I take a shower with you?
Daddy: No, not today Nathan
Nathan (now totally naked): puhleeeease, Daddy
Daddy: Nathan, I said no
Nathan: I'm going to go ask Mommy
Daddy (not knowing where Mommy is): Fine, go ask Mommy she will agree with Daddy
Nathan (knowing the general idea of where mommy is) runs out the front door (remember where I am)
Daddy (about 3 minutes later) hollers out the backdoor: Karen, is our son running around naked outside?
Me--astonished and completely horrified: I should think not!
Daddy: Well, I'm pretty sure he is

Sure enough I find him naked as a jay bird (where did that saying come from?) getting on his tricycle with the girls staring not sure whether to turn and run or point and laugh.

When we got home from our vacation I asked our neighbor how it was when we were gone. She said quiet. I wonder what she would say now...

Miscellaneous Pictures

Here's a few more random pictures from vacation:Nathan didn't care what anyone else did as long as he got to drive the boat with Grandpa. He spent a lot of time in this seat during the last two weeks.He somehow put these on all my himself. Notice how impressed, or should I say unimpressed his older brother is.The daily line up to get lotioned upWhat a better way to spend a vacation morning then to make chocolate chip cookies after breakfast
Okay, so I have no words for this one...

We're home!

Well, after 2,277 miles we arrived back home yesterday around 6:30pm. The kids visited 5 states (IL, IN, OH, KY, TN) and Joe and I added 3 more (NC, SC, GA). Okay, so we were only in OH for 5 minutes, but that counts--Ohio land is Ohio land. We are still on semi-vacation for a couple of days. Today for lunch we had striped bass that Joe caught in TN, South Carolina peaches, and broccoli from our backyard garden. (We also had coleslaw, but I'm not sure where Walmart bought the cabbage.) However, I think vacation officially ended when we tackled the hayfield in our backyard. Here's some thoughts from the kids on the trip:

Ashley:
Trip favorite: losing my front tooth
Trip least favorite: saying goodbye to Aunt Kristen, Uncle Buddy & especially Lydia

John:
Trip favorite: playing in the pool
Trip least favorite: saying goodbye

Nathan:
Trip favorite: watching mommy on the raft screaming "help! slow down!" (okay, in all fairness, I didn't yell "help!"; he made that up)
Trip least favorite: saying goodbye

Sara:
Trip favorite: the raft on the lake
Least favorite: mommy screaming on the raft; it really hurt my ear. She also really didn't like saying goodbye

It was a bittersweet trip as it was our last hurrah with Joe's sister Kristen and her husband Buddy and little girl, Lydia. They head back to their home in Asia in a couple of weeks. We had a great time with them. The kids especially were able to bond with them while Joe & I were at our conference. We will miss them dearly.

The day of firsts: warning lots of pictures

The kids visited their first National Park--Smokey Mountain National Park to be exact. It was a big day, although I'm fairly certain that they were all pretty clueless as to what we were even going to do when we told them what we were going to do. Here were some of the comments: "Will there be a pool there?" "Can we all go in?" Nathan: "Are we still in 'tucky?" Poor guy is so confused! We also had the following ping pong conversation all day: Nathan: "Where are the bears? I want to see a bear." John (freaking out): "No, I don't want to see a bear!!" Here are some pics from the day:
Our first Nat'l Park trail and certainly won't be our last. The kids wanted to walk a lot more, but we just didn't have the time.
Their first waterfall--I know it's not a real big one, but we knew they'd be impressed just the same. Notice how impressed Nathan is; he has no idea what he is suppose to be fascinated with. However, he does thing the creek in front of him would be a lot of fun!
Our family: perfect with the first take!

Cades Cove, need I say more?

The girls and the boys

Their first experience with a mountain river.

I must say, and I think I can speak for Joe, this was the highlight of our vacation. I grew up spending my summers traveling visiting this great country that we live in. I've seen all the lower 48 states and visited too many National Parks to count and I loved every minute of it (okay, so maybe I didn't enjoy driving across Kansas with it being 102 in an old Chevy Nova with no air conditioning and only one small cloud in the sky or the time I woke up in Goodland, KS (again!) with the tent floating on at least a foot of water... I could probably go on--the memories abound). Anyway, I would like to pass even just a little bit of that on to my kids and hopefully this was a good beginning. Happy July 4th eve everyone!

Pool fish

If the kids aren't at the lake, they want to be in the pool. They've all become like fish--well the younger three are fish with life jackets. In any case, this trip has been really good for them getting over some of their fears of the water.
This is Nathan's general expression when he is "swimming" without us. He is in deep concentration and doesn't really appreciate anyone interrupting his thoughts.

John swam in the lake last night. He said the fish are on the other side of the lake when he is in the water. I must admit that no one has bothered to correct his thinking on that.

Not really sure why she is looking so frigid in this pictures. Ashley enjoys doing jumping jacks in the pool. Yep, jumping jacks...

By the end of the afternoon Sara was doing cannon balls in the pool by herself into the 5ft depth without her floaty. Those swimming lessons have certainly paid off.