Two degrees from Kevin Bacon

I had an exciting Friday night. I found out that I am only two degrees from Kevin Bacon. A guy we know is his third cousin. How cool is that! Now I have conversation for the next party I go to. (Because we all know that I go to parties all the time)

Our new pool

We got a new swimming pool!!! The kids love it. So do mommy & daddy!!!

The morning moon

The cheery voice of my eldest son greeted me this morning as I walked up the stairs at 6:15. I had been in the kitchen and heard the toilet flush so I suspected he may be up. "Mommy, you have to see this. It's a bunny. Come look Mommy! You have to see it!" John was very awake for 6:15. What I was not prepared for was what I saw as I walked into his room. Unfortunately, John had gotten distracted in the middle of getting dressed. This happens occasionally with this three year old. He was sitting on his knees on a chair (he had moved by the window) and his top half was buried under the shade covering the window. He was completely naked from the waist down. He was so taken with the bunny rabbit that was in our yard below that he basically had no recognition of his naked bottom. When I mentioned it, all he could say was "But did you see the bunny?"

Accomplishment of the day

Sara went across the monkey bars at the park all by herself for the first time today. Way to go, Sara!!!

Memories from the recent family visit

We said goodbye to grandparents, an aunt and cousins this morning. I was going to share pictures, but can't currently find my camera. (Here's hoping I didn't leave it outside last night.) So I will just share stories and insert pictures later. Here are some memories from the last couple of days:

• John & Daddy playing stick swords

• Cousin Luke getting over his fear of slides

• A rousing game of hide 'n seek at the park


• Cousin Hannah's hair


• Sharing Daddy's homemade pizza

• Cousin Luke tasting a roasted marshmellow for the first time

Nathan demonstrating how to eat a marshmellow

• The COLD splashpad


• Kisses for Cousin Hannah


• Nathan and Cousin Luke sharing the cars outside


• The tire swing at the park

Watching the ducks go by

How I respond under pressure

We had just settled down for a long summer's nap. We hit the sack around 10pm after an exhausting day (remember we have 6 children in our house--3 in diapers & one being potty trained). I immediately fell asleep. It was 12:30 when I was awakened by a fog horn being blown in my ear--at least that is what it sounded like. I screamed and and leaped to my feet. I often wonder how I would respond in a true emergency in my house and last night I discovered that I don't handle pressure well. I was basically jumping up and down screaming "what is that?!". Joe was on his feet mumbling something. Ten seconds later he leaned over and the sound stopped. Then the silence was deafening. It was only then that I composed myself and was able to think. So what was it, you may be wondering? Well, we have been doing remodeling in our attic (which is where our bedroom is) for over a year. Slow and steady, but it is almost done. Joe has been working on the trim. As trim carpenters will know, it takes an air compressor to work the nail gun. Joe had forgotten to unplug the air compressor (sitting next to our bed) and so at 12:30am it decided that it needed to fill itself up. Joe apologized profusely and then justified it by saying "Well, now you'll have something to blog about tomorrow" Gee, thanks!

Our splashpad visit

We decided to take the whole crew to the splash pad today. It was a perfect hot morning for it. But I guess it is only perfect if you enjoy it. Nathan, very clearly, did NOT enjoy it. So he spent his morning wearing Sara's flip flops around the outer circle of the splash pad and wandering by the picnic tables.. He was obviously very careful about not getting wet any further. In all fairness, the water was pretty cold and the snacks that some of the other families visiting the park had did look rather good. John enjoyed the splash pad (somewhat), but he did not enjoy the feeling of his shorts after they got wet. And so we discovered that we still have some more work to do on privacy issues. One of the new rules for him is that you cannot take off your shorts in the park. John is also teaching his little cousin Luke some new tricks. For example, did you know a saw (a toy one, obviously) makes for a good sword especially when the other person has a hammer? Luke seemed very pleased that he had someone to learn from.

Back to normal

Our lives are back to normal. Well, not exactly, but very close. Our kids returned home today. We also have my sister and her two kids visiting us. So within a 2 hour period we went from absolute quietness and serenity and no children to 6 children (6 and under) and absolute chaos. Yep, absolute chaos--back to normal. It is absolutely wonderful and it definitely feels like home again.

My humble movie opinion

I love going to the movies. I don't get to do it very often and frankly, lately, there haven't been a ton of movies that I even want to go see. But, since we were on vacation this last week and since it is summer, there were a few movies that I wanted to check out. So this last week we went and saw 2 movies. I don't remember the last time that I did that in one week. (Well, actually, now I do remember, but it has been a long time.) Anyway, we saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3 last weekend and we saw Ocean's Thirteen this weekend. Obviously I am not a professional movie critic. If I was I could have a lot of fun making a lot of money. So I will give you my amateur critique. I know it probably isn't fair to compare the two movies and I should look at them individually, blah, blah, blah. But, Ocean's Thirteen is a much better movie than Pirates. First of all, you don't have to watch all the other Ocean's movies to understand what is going on in the third one. I had to rent the first two Pirate's movies and watch them before I went to watch the 3rd one. I don't remember things very well--especially movies that I watched last year. Also, the plot was just by far and away better in Oceans than it was in Pirate. Finally, I just was not happy with how they ended the love story in Pirates. I won't spoil the plot for those of you who haven't see it yet, but definitely left me feeling rather disappointed. So, there you go, my humble movie opinions.

It's definitely time for our children to return

We heard some noises last night at supper. Actually Joe did. We were eating dinner and talking (a little) and suddenly he had a strange look on his face. He told me to be quiet and looked very serious. He was intently listening for something. Then he relaxed and said he heard something and thought there might be someone upstairs. This made me want to go track down the baseball bat. I'm always paranoid about their being someone in the house. (I think I've watched too many scary movies.) After a few minutes we concluded that he just heard us chewing our food. (BTW, we were having fried walleye--very delicious.) So we think it is probably time for the children to come home. I'm afraid if they don't we might get crazier than we already are.