Bullet Point Friday!

**So I bought some microwave popcorn last night.  I am a fan of caramel corn and kettle corn.  This had the words "salted caramel" on the outside of the box so I assumed...YUM!  Well, it tasted good, but barely had any caramel taste to it at all.  J.D. saw the box this morning and asked me now it was.  I told him disappointing and told him why.  He suggested that the next time I should read the ingredient list before I buy it.

**we have a dog...a miniature dachshund...she's little. And she is fast..  So something got into her yesterday and she decided to take off down the street.  Nathan and tried corralling her for awhile.  The little stinker would come just to where we could touch her and then turn around and run.  Sara stood at the door laughing at us. She said that she wished she had it on video so she could share it with the world.  Yet another reason my kids don't have smart phones!

**i bought my kids pop tarts as a treat for breakfast.  They were thrilled. They always feel like the pop tart setting is a waste on our toaster because we NEVER have pop tarts.

**Ashley went to the store with me last night.  As we were leaving I realized I forgot to get eggs. I mentioned this to Ashley and she said can't you just use banana as a substitute.  To which I replied...not for scrambled eggs.  I don't know why not was her response.  And she wouldn't understand since eggs and bananas are number 1 and number 2 on her dislike food list.

**I. Am. So. Excited!  One of our kids has decided to follow in his mother's footsteps and play the trumpet.  I pulled out my trumpet for him last night and began reminiscing about the fun that trumpet and I had together.  Then I had a brilliant idea!  I haven't really touched my trumpet much since I graduated from high school.  Sooooo...I suggested to him that I pick it back up again, shake the rust off my playing and then we could do a duet together.  His answer...."ummmm, no" partnered with a look of complete disbelief that I would even suggest such a thing.  I was almost to the point of begging, when he looked at me again and said "that is not going to happen."  Sigh....but I haven't given up!

I will leave you with a shot of two of the three handsome men living in my house:

(We've decided Nate's football nickname is "Heinz")

Where I've been

So the last couple of weeks I have been about a block from my house, hanging out here:

watching this guy:

If you look closely the second one in the back row has the last name Horn on his practice jersey.  That is Nathan.   In the first picture he is in the same row and he is the one running.  (These were ipad pics.  Hope to get my actual camera out to practice soon to get some good shots.).  I didn't get any pictures of John.  His team was away from the regular practice field last night.  They had gone to a different part to practice on the sleds which John absolutely LOVES!  This week was the first time this year I have actually gotten to watch them practice.  I took on a new role this year.  I am a board member now of our local JFL (junior football league).  I am responsible for registration.  So I have been consumed with making sure 103 table players paperwork is in order as well as all our flag and cheerleaders.  I have enjoyed it, but I missed getting to watch this.

Something interesting to point out....those of you who have seen John in his football uniform, may remember how he looks in it as he stands, walks, runs, etc.  (or that may just be a mom thing).  All the boys look alike when they are in uniform with a helmet so you learn to recognize your own kid's movements.  Those of you who know my boys also may know how different they are....they are built differently, act differently, etc.  The craziest thing happens when you put a football uniform on them though. They look just alike!  They stand alike and even run alike (Nate is still faster).  I can't get over it! They are definitely related when they are playing football.  I hope in high school they get to play on the same team at some point.  It would be so fun to have them both on the same field at the same time on the same team!

Do you see it?

Do you see an owl in this tree?  Yeah....me either.  My daycare kids are convinced there is an owl in the tree hooting. I can't seem to convince them that it is probably a dove.  They don't believe me.  And it does sound a lot like a hoot.

It has been a busy week here filled with football practice, work for both of us and a birthday yesterday for Joe.  Oh, and allergies....I have seriously started praying for frost so the itching can stop. Itching in my eyes, throat, ears...you name it, it itches.

Tonight we kick off the year for Salt and Light...our youth groups at church.  Our pastor does a family night of food and fun.  We have walking tacos which we discovered last year must be a regional thing because many had no idea what in the world a walking taco was. Another leader and I chopped and diced as well as browned meat this morning.  It is going to be a fun year.  I help out with it and the leaders were asked to submit an idea for a theme for the year.  There were some really good ones.  I am so curious to see which one we are going to do.

And now it is time to make our way inside...one of the 2 year olds is afraid of the owl, one is taking off her shoes and the itching has once again commenced. 

Quote of the day

Our quote of the day came very early this morning at the breakfast table.  Joe was sharing how far and how fast he had run this morning. It was a pretty impressive figure.  He has gotten fairly fast. Ashley, in an effort to be encouraging said..."dad if you entered a 5K you could beat....(long pause as she thought hard)...someone who is slower than you!" Brilliant, Ash, brilliant!

Hot Water

The definition of irony at our house today:  on the hottest day of the summer we have no hot water.  Well, that isn't totally true.  We still had a little hot water out of the faucets, but the leak in it was bathing our basement floor in hot water. So we had hot water; it just wasn't where we wanted it. So Joe got an early birthday present...a visit from our friendly plumber and a new water heater! Just what every 41 year old wants for his birthday, right?!  Happy Birthday babes!

Bush Baby

So Ashley woke up on Sunday morning looking like this:

Her eyes were completely dilated.  She looked just like a bush baby, and while it was kind of funny and creepy all at the same time, it was a little scary.  Go ahead and google causes of dilated eyes and you will be a little nervous for her too.  We drilled her with questions about other symptoms and of course her dad asked her if she had been smoking marijuana lately.  She had no other symptoms and she assured us that she had not become a druggy.   They looked a little better this morning but we went ahead and called the doctor.  A sure way to cure someone is to call the doctor.  By the time Joe picked her up from school for her appointment they were back to normal.  The doctor looked her over for good measure and the conclusion is that she was having an allergic reaction to an environmental allergen.  She may be back to normal, but I think the bush baby nickname may stick.

The promised picture....

So as promised here is the first day of school picture.  I had to change my instructions this year as they lined up for pictures.  Normally I say tallest to shortest, but this year I had to say oldest to youngest.  When I said tallest to shortest there was a discussion between the oldest two on who was tallest.  I think poor Sara will get passed up in this next year.  But I am pretty sure the boys are going to pass them both up at some point.

And I am back...

I am back to blogging and so excited because I just discovered a blogger app for my ipad.  I don't have much time during the day to blog anymore due to my job and the kids typically are using my laptop for homework in the evening.  Thus not much blogging has taken place....well, that and a super busy summer contributed to it as well.  

We are back to school here.  I will get some pictures posted soon...hopefully.  We have a 3rd grader, 5th grader, 7th grader and 8th grader this year.  Boys started back to football the week before school started.  They have been whipped the last couple of weeks!  Four days a week for two hours of football would whipped anyone especially since summer decided to make its appearance.

Summer was fun and full of travel this year.  We may have overdone the travel just a little bit, and that is saying a lot coming from me.  I LOVE to travel!  We started out with about two weeks in Florida at the beach.  It was a perfect way to start the summer.  Let's be honest, the beach is a perfect way to start anything.  We were back for two weeks and then the girls headed to camp.  They each did a specialty camp this year.  Sara did horseback riding for the second year and Ashley did drama.  They both said it was their best camp week yet at Timberlee. The day after we dropped them off at camp I went to Jordan for two weeks.  Wow!  Yes! Jordan the country.  That deserves several posts of its own.  The day after I left, the boys headed to my sister's house with my parents.  She now lives in the same state I do.  I know....still pinching myself that she is here in the Midwest.  If you are keeping track, yes, that means Joe was still at home...by himself...alone...in the quietness...and...very lonely according to him.  He was just by himself the first week fortunately. And we were super blessed that FaceTime worked great while I was in Jordan.  The second week I was gone, the girls came home and the boys went to their other grandparents.  Then I came home and a week later John headed to camp for the first time.  He LOVED it!  Then he came back, I headed to my annual Iowa visit for an overnight, and then football started, school started and BAM! Summer was over!  Whew!  You can catch your breath now.  We aren't going anywhere in awhile.  Well, we did travel to my sister's last weekend, but now we aren't planning on going anywhere.

I will leave you with the funniest thing I heard today.  Nathan was reviewing his science lesson for the day.  They watched a little Bill Nye.  He was explaining an air mass.  Nathan had all the hand motions and dramatics and in his best Zorro voice he announced the air mass's name.  It was "El Macho".  We stared at him briefly and then Joe asked him if he meant "El Niño"?  Oh yes, he said...that was the name.  I will always think of Nathan now whenever El Niño wreaks havoc on our weather.

July 4 2014

We had such a good time on the 4th this year.  I got a patriotic taste earlier in the week as I was called for jury duty.  As much as it is a pain and a disruption to life (and it certainly was this time!), sitting in the courtroom and listening to the judge and feeling the weight of my possible responsibility makes me feel very patriotic.  Fortunately, I did not get selected this time (apparently the defense lawyer for a man accused of child abuse doesn't want a mom of four and a daycare provider sitting on the jury; the man was convicted by the way.) One day I wouldn't mind doing my civic duty and sitting on the jury.  Anyway, all that to say, it was a patriotic week and a very patriotic day...I even made some apple pie!  We had some friends come over for the evening.  The kids ran around the yard while the adults and the teens played Kill the Overlord and King of Tokyo.  Somehow Sara ended up winning both games....still trying to figure that out!.  I let Sara have the camera for most of the evening so most of the shots can be contributed to her.

My beautiful friend Amy who is a photographer

trying to catch some fireflies

Vacation 2014

A week after school was out we packed up our van (and by packed, I mean you were lucky if you had a place for your feet) and headed south to the beach.  We have been to New Symrna Beach, FL a lot.  The first time Joe and I went was the summer before we got engaged when we joined his family for their first trip....so 19 years ago! It feels a little bit like a second home.  This trip was special in that we stayed for almost 2 weeks which Joe and I have never done.  We've always just been able to do a week. We were also joined by Joe's parents and his oldest sister Alissa.  We basically sat on the beach and did nothing.  It. was. great.  Okay, so maybe we did a few things....here's the highlights:

• Introduced the kids to Brisco County Jr.  
• Watched The Incredibles on the way home and felt like accomplished parents since the kids could quote all the great lines (No Capes!)  Watched The Princess Bride as well and quoted right along with it.
• Searched for sea turtles, but I think we were too early.  The beach where we stay is popular for sea turtles to come out at night and lay their eggs.  In the past we've been fortunate to actually witness this.
• Spent a day in St. Augustine exploring the oldest city in the U.S. and doing some shopping at one of the best Outlet Malls I've been to.
• Played Kill the Overlord more times then I can count
• There was word of a snake on the dunes between our condo and the beach.  If you know me, you know that made my walk to the beach a lot more adventurous then I had planned for it to be.  
• Nathan discovered hair glue thanks to his wonderful aunt.
• We hate driving through Tennessee.  This isn't new for us, but I thought worth mentioning.
• Joe and I both read 3+ books.  I think this broke some kind of vacation record for us.
• The kids taught me how to use a boogie board
• We perfected our football catching and throwing by some rousing games of monkey in the middle in the pool.
• We really can drive straight through without stopping at a hotel.  We were on a little bit of a time crunch when we returned home as we had to be back for a wedding.  So we thought we would give it a try.  We did it.  We couldn't walk very well by the time we got home and our hips were creaking and complaining, but we made it!
• The kids all saw dolphins for the first time and we enjoyed checking out the manatee as well.

Here are some pics:

the fort at St. Augustine

Father's Day at the Beach

A sand castle builder graciously let the boys help him

This is how I looked and where you could find me most of the week

I love these boys!

View from our condo