The price parents of many pay...

For a little time alone! Sure as we were laying bed early Sunday morning and we heard Aubriel run upstairs into the bathroom to grab a towel and said "there's a big mess, just don't look at me" we could have gotten up then BUT we knew once we did there was no turning back so we opted to have a little more time by ourselves instead before Dave had to leave for work. I think they tried to clean it up, I am just not sure what they cleaned up.

So later that day my mom came over and we took a nice long walk to the park. It was a perfect day, not too hot but not too cool either... PERFECT!

Aubriel, our little gymnast...

Kain took this of us...


Aubriel said she didn't want to fall off the bridge
Now, this... I thought this was going to be a perfect picture, something sweet, my two boys walking down by the water, Gage bending down to look for some treasure of nature... right.... 30 seconds after this picture was taken Gage yells "look mom I found a shoe" GROSS!!! I should have known better with this one! Oh some of the things that come out of this ones mouth... just earlier in the day he asks me... "Mom can I sweat?" to which I replied yes you sweat, then he comes back with "sometimes when I poop my eyes sweat" What do you even say after that? On our last bike ride he said he was glad he isn't a squirrel so I of course asked why. His answer "because I would probably die really easy" This one is kind of obsessed with death... another time he said to me "the biggest thing that scares me about dying is that I might come back as a girl" Why can't I get the easy conversation with him like where do babies come from or something!

Brody I swear loved more than anything standing under the trees... not sure why he just did and it was super cute.

Although he also really enjoyed the grasshopper we found and played with for a while, luckily he was nicer to him than his home...

We found this really tall piece of grass which isn't that surprising but what made us wonder about it was how ALL the other grass around it was short but this one seemed to continue to grow.... My mom is about 5 feet tall

It wasn't as tall anymore after Brody got done with it.

Almost a perfect day....

Friday mornings are Aubriel's gymnastic day and not only do the older boys hate going to it but I hate bringing them as well. So since Dave and my Dad went to the Packer game last night and I think Dave may have even gotten drunk, he decided to go into work late this morning.... shhh, I think that is on the down low. So when the alarm went off this morning and both little ones were still asleep and I was so warm and cozy in bed I still managed to drag myself out of bed thinking it is going to be a very relaxing morning of gymnastic watching, I could even bring a cup of coffee and maybe read a little bit of a book.

I didn't anticipate it being as hard as what is was though to get up since not only was it kind of dark because it has been raining all day but it was FREEZING in our house, the boys asked me to turn on the heat this morning, that was funny... the heat in Aug. yeah, no. See the boys room is always very warm whether it be summer or winter, so last night before bed I cranked the air and kind of forgot about it... oops.

So I get Aubriel up and ready to go and make her a bagel and I grab my book and we are out the door... oh wait I forgot my phone, grab that quick... oh look I have 6 messages. See Brody has become a monkey and LOVES our phones so Dave and I have to get creative about where we keep them for fear Brody may dial 911 or call china some day or something. The problem is sometimes these places are a little too creative and we forget where we put them... well okay me more than him. So I start listening to my messages as I am driving and soon discover Aubriel and I are going for a morning drive around the block because her coach called and had to reschedule gymnastics.... oh well, I guess all five of us will be there next week. Luckily Aubriel took it pretty well, sometimes she isn't so understanding.

Kain has been sick most of the morning but just told me he is feeling better because video games help him learn and feel better... they must be working because look at how smart he is, little does he know that argument isn't going to work so well when school starts soon. Gage, whining hasn't been too bad today which is always a plus, Aubriel unfortunately is taking a late nap so I am sure she will be driving Dave nuts tonight when she is trying to explain to him she needs two people to sleep in her bed because it is too big for just one person, and Brody somehow managed to get a pair of shorts on that are too big for him so his skull and cross bones diaper that is hanging out the top of him is giving me scary flashes of what life might be like when he is a teenager... hopefully for his father's sake he will lose the pink high heels by then.

All in all though it has been a good day for being stuck inside due to the rain but you won't hear me complaining because I will take rain over snow any day!

Don't Feed the Animals...

Or the furry things at the zoo either. My friend and I decided to take a trip to the zoo today since school is starting again in less than two weeks!!! I can't hardly believe how fast summer has flown by. So she has 4 kids as well and we headed out this afternoon. The kids were all great, the bugs were awful but at least it didn't rain on us! We have been getting a lot of rain lately and today with it warming up again it was very humid but we had a good time anyway.

When I told Aubriel to smile for this picture she said moose can't smile only she can. So sorry I never did get a picture of the moose smiling.

So I noticed I didn't really have any good ones of Brody's face so I thought I would put in some of him practicing with the frisbee but then noticed this one isn't much better but I still thought it was really cute. Dave is always taking the older two out to play ball or something in the yard and Brody has recently learned that he can show us what he can do by saying Mom or Dad until we answer. So yesterday when Dave had to day off all he heard was Dad... Dad... Dad.... "what?" watch... then he would throw it.... too cute!

Toothpaste July 4th and Brody's sleeping habits!

Strange title for the day I know but the toothpaste incident was "the event of today." Dave and I have noticed that Brody gets into FAR more than any of the other kids did and we are not sure if that is his personality or if it is simply because he sees the other kids doing more than the first three ever saw... or maybe a little bit of both.

So Bro loves to brush his teeth which his second mom (Aubriel) is usually more than willing to help him out with this. This actually doesn't stress me out nearly as much as him just trying to do it himself... like as you can see he did today. Now the mess doesn't bother me either quite as much as the BLUE toothpaste on my floor. Now really as if toothpaste doesn't stress me out enough as I wonder how it really fits into my more "natural" lifestyle I aim towards "most" days. If I thought I could get my kids to simply use baking soda to brush their teeth I would and since Gage's dental problems I really have a mixed emotion with fluoride. I know dentist swear they need it but the fact that it was originally a poison to kill rats unsettles me some and that we have to watch how much of it is in our kid's water bothers me as well, it is like they tell us the kids need it even though they know it is bad but regardless the bottom line really being do they HAVE to make it blue?! Why should we even market a product that is suppose to go into ones mouth that looks like that? No wonder children put the strangest things in their mouths!

Okay on to our fourth of July pictures... Here they are before the fireworks















Kain and Gage of course loved the fireworks... Aubriel and Brodric not quite as much. I actually these two pictures might be the few we have of them not crying. Aubriel mostly just snuggled her head in Dave as you can see and after Brody got use to the noise he liked the "lights."

Now these pictures are even more random but I love how Brody will go and go all day and just take a "nap" where ever he might be... like watching TV.


Which then brings me to the day we couldn't find Bro anywhere and started kind of freaking out when he wasn't answering us. Finally Dave found him here... asleep....














Yes that would be under our bed.

Now the funny thing about this is that while I have been typing this I yet again had to go clean up toothpaste in the SAME place. I have no idea how he keeps getting it... it doesn't seem to matter how far up I put it or where. I may be the only mother that has to have her children's toothpaste kept under lock and key!

I can't believe I am here!

Well, I have to say I never really thought much about blogs... or at least nothing good at any rate. But as Dave and I enjoyed a date night with friends of ours that yesterday our "baby" turned 22 months old. He is just two short months away from being a full blown toddler! Which then as we pondered just how fast time really does fly we thought in just 5, quickly flying, years our little Bro will not be in school but our oldest will be a teenager as well and I am still not entirely sure which one of those two things scares us more.



So my friend has a blog in which she posts often updates on her family and I got to thinking with so much of our family out of town and my time being as limited as it is to send out pictures and emails to everyone that this might be a perfect way for those wanting to check up on our family they can easily. So here it is... my first official blog! Hope you enjoy!