Jumping in the Backyard

For the kid's birthday, we got them a joint gift of a trampoline.  I got  a good deal on a 12' one from Sears.   From everyone I know who has gotten one, it is a pain to set up because the directions are always difficult. I agree with that! But the reward is a toy that kids of all ages and abilities can play on at the same time.  Not to mention the exercise and "tire them out" factors.  The kids had a blast on their first day jumping.  Here are a few pictures from the HOURS that they spent outside playing.
Here are all the kids at once.  (For the safety folks: Yes, together the do not exceed the weight limit!)  Then a few individual photos.

   

                                                 

I will say that it appears to be money well spent!


Advice for putting together your own trampoline:
My bit of advice to the makers of trampolines is to color code 4 of the spring hooks.  That way you could actually follow the part of the directions that says to hook the 1st spring, then hook the other spring that will go directly opposite it.  This would be easy to do if there were not 50+ springs and you only thought is "if I mis-hook this, then I will have to redo the entire thing!"  So here is my solution to following the directions.  I started off hooking the springs every other one, then every 3rd, then every 4th, then every 5th one until I was completely around.  Then I went around and filled in the "missing springs."  My kit cam with a hooking device  for the springs that was VERY helpful.  Apparently not all trampoline kits come with this.  If yours does not come with this tool then look for some tool that you might have with an "L" shape (Like a large allen wrench).  It allowed me to pull the tension of the spring without worrying about pinching my fingers.

Happy 3rd Birthday Keener

Happy 3rd Birthday Sweetheart!

My last birthday of the month.  It is little Miss Keener's 3rd birthday today.  She is such a pistol!  Makes me laugh all the time with her expressions and sauciness.    She is such an opinionated girl.  I am so glad that my little girl was born 3 years ago today.  What a wonderful day.  We did not find out if we were having a boy or a girl, so it was a perfect surprise to have another little girl.  I love you so much crazy girl,  I hope you have a wonderful day.  I hope you never loose your spunk!

Alter Boy.

Today Christopher served as alter server for the first time at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.  Wow!  Isn't that a mouthful!  We went on a tour there today with our good friend Father H and our homeschool group.  He gave mass in the BEAUTIFUL chapel and Christopher was one of the boys to get to participate.  He was so excited!  The nice thing about Father H. is that he wants to seize the joy of being a server and allow boys to participate whenever they are ready.  He figures that if they have the desire to serve God, then allow them to participate.  He does not mind the little mistakes and tries to encourage them on their way to serving God.  Some priests are really bothered by the little mistakes, but not Father H.  He just corrects them with a gentle word.   I was very proud of my little alter server.  He did a great job.  Father H also had me do the reading for the mass.  Oh boy was I a nervous wreck!  Oh well, God knows I tried my best.
    So after our wonderful day at the Basilica, I came home to have dinner prepared for me by Keener's godmother.  She brought dinner and cake to celebrate Keener's 3rd birthday (Next monday).  Oh how yummy and what great conversation! Once she gets her pictures on her blog, I'll put a link up so you can see the food.  Kebabs with scallops, shrimp, swordfish, chicken, tomatoes onions, and peppers; and a Kenwah salad.   I am so glad to have friends like these.   She is a great comfort and help when I am not feeling my full 100%.
   I'll leave for now, baby has decided to kick for a while, and I want to enjoy it.  It is always a comfort to know that baby is doing well and has the energy to move around.

Chuck E Cheese

We took Rolo and Keener to Chuck E. Cheese for their birthday party today.  The party was after Rolo got out of his preschool, so most of his preschool class was able to come. I have to say that I HATE that place, but the children love it, so I force myself to be nice and take them once or twice a year.  I have learned the secret to going though and I will pass them along in a set of 5 rules.
Rule #1 NEVER  go when it is a school holiday.  In the middle of the summer is fine, but then you must follow rule #2.
Rule #2 Go Early in the morning or between 2-4 on a non rainy weekday
Rule # 3 Never go when it is raining.
Rule #4 Never go on a weekend, except for rule #5
Rule #5 The best time to go is early Sunday morning.  I know, what about church?  But that is WHY it is the best time to go.  This is when it is nice to go to Saturday Mass or got to an early church service.
By the way, the place was empty and CLEAN today.
The best part about going today is that I said "no more parties there. They are too expensive.", so now I get to avoid that place forever.  Honey can take them once or twice a year, but I get to stay at home and be content with silence.

3 down 1 to go

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  It is also Rolo's Birthday.  Happy 6th Birthday Rolo!  Amazing!  My little sweet boy is 6.  I remember that it was overcast and it snowed on the day he was born. He was my back labor baby.  I wish that on no one.  Not that it is particularly more painful; different but like all labor it is more mind over matter than anything else.  The problem was that  the contractions did not register on the machines, so the nurses did not believe that I was progressing that quickly.  Boy were they wrong!  He was my fastest baby. 1 hour 50 minutes.  For the second time, the doctor came running into the delivery room.  I am starting to wonder if I really need them at all, if they barely bother to show up!  Luckily my sweet baby was born and has brought me a great amount of joy.  He is my snuggle bunny.  I love to cuddle with him.  He is happy to stay cuddled for hours.  Rolo also has a tremendous amount of patience and self reliance and has a great ability to play nicely with others. Yet, he has always been content to play by himself building things.  He was born to be an engineer or an architect. (Only if he wants to be!)  He is constantly building.   I enjoy watching him grow up and seeing all that he learns.  Oh, baby boy I love you very much!  I hope you have a wonderful birthday.

2nd One & still going strong.

It is Christopher's 8th birthday today.  Wow!  Is my little boy really 8?  It seems like time barely moves on, but yet here I am celebrating 8 years of being his mother.  He is truly a wonderful and energetic boy.  I remember thinking, where did this baby come from?  Elizabeth was so calm and such a GREAT sleeper, that I was taken for quite a shock with him.  He was a fast delivery  (2 hours 5 minutes, literally the doctor ran into the room at the last minute)  and he hasn't stopped running yet.  He is also VERY consistent about waking up.  It is a rare day that he does not wake up at 7:00 am.   Energetic does not begin to describe him, but I do love watching him play.  He is always so busy.  It can be tiring, but there is such a pure joy of life, that it is hard to not just be happy and enjoy life too.  So Happy Birthday dear sweet boy.  Don't grow up too quick, your mama still wants to cuddle a little while longer.

Another year older

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!  My dear Elizabeth is 11.  Wow, time sure does fly by!  I was thinking about the Sunday morning that I became a mother and she changed my life forever.  What a wonderful day!  It is hard to imagine that my sweet baby is almost all grown up.  Every year that she gets older, I wish she was younger.  I keep thinking that I am one day closer to not getting to spend every day with her.  Soon it will be  time for her to leave the nest.  I know I will never be ready for that, but time goes on and we must let them go no matter how hard it is.
In the meantime, back in the real world and out of my mopey dreams, we had a busy day.   I think Elizabeth had a lot of fun  which is all that really matters.  One of her friends and her cousin spent the night last night, then we went to church, had lunch and cake with her friends at home, then drove to a local indoor pool (Cub Run Rec Center) with water slides.   All the kids had fun.  The bonus was that the admission was less than expected, They charged us a family rate.  Yeah! How often does that happen that you save money unexpectedly? Normally it is the other way around.  
       My only word of caution is that I think the pool was not originally designed very well.  They have slides and play features for little kids (2-4 year olds) and two big slides for bigger kids (48"+).  There are no medium slides.  This makes it hard to take a 5-8 year old if they are short or scared of the really big slides.  Otherwise, the facility is nice and clean and easy to get to.

Whoo Hoo For Me! I can now be president!

So I had my birthday last week in the middle of the snowstorms.  It was sort of hard to get  excited about it since I was stuck in the house AGAIN looking at fluffy whiteness.  But the good news is that I am now eligible to be the President of the United States.  Look Out Obama, I might just run against you! Yes I passed to that tender young age of 35.  But don't tell my kids, I keep telling them I'm 29! Which is not exactly a lie, I am 29 years and 2192 days!
    It has always been fun celebrating my birthday because I am a twin.  I am never alone and I always have a birthday buddy.  Ironically I have met over 30 people in my life who had the same birthday and even dated a guy whose birthday was the day before mine.  And his roommate's birthday was the same as mine.  Weird right?  I even share my birthday with William Henry Harrison (9th President, known for the serving the shortest time as president.)  My sister and I always get together to celebrate and just enjoy each other and our families.  This year was a little delayed because of the weather, but I got to celebrate with her today.  We let the kids play and our husbands got take out for us, which left us to chit chat and relaxation. Trust me when I say that this is SOOO much easier than dealing with 7 kids in a restaurant.

I am so grateful to have my sister, I love you sis and I am so very happy to share my birthday.  Here's to celebrating many more, even if we don't run for president.  Of course I should never say never...
 

Happy Birthday Puppy Dog!

Happy Groundhogs Day!  I am always hopeful for less winter, but alas this year it appears that I will not get my wish.  Every winter I ask myself, "Why oh why did we ever move from Hawaii?"  I of course loved the snow when I was a child, but now that I am an adult I think, "If I move back to Hawaii, I could always visit snow somewhere.  It will always be winter somewhere."  I definitely could live without snow and go back to flowers blooming year round, daily rainbows, and Christmas at the beach.   Oh well, I have to take the path that God gave me and be grateful.  I'll send you pictures of the 2nd big storm that we expect to see next weekend.  
At least my 13 year old Hawaiian dog likes the snow, no make that,  LOVES the snow.  For a dog born in Hawaii, I am always so surprised by how much she loves the snow.  She gets snow, snow, and more snow surrounding her birthday this year.  She was born on Groundhogs day and while I did not know her until she was 5 weeks old, I always try to remember my sweet dogs birthday with a bone and a nice meal.  As she gets older I realize that there will not be as many to celebrate, but as long as she acts like a puppy a little bit, I am hopeful for a few more years.  So Happy Birthday dear sweet puppy dog, I hope that when I'm 91 (her dog years), I look and act as healthy and happy as you!

70 & 69

Today was a special day for two very special people in my life, my step father and my father-in- law. Today was my Stepfather's 69th Birthday and the day that my Father in Law (aka Granfer) celebrated his 70th birthday. (His Birthday was last week).

I have known my stepfather for almost 25 years now. It is hard to imagine my life before he was a part of it. Of course we have had our ups and downs, but the thing I truly love about him is that he loves me for me. He knows I'm crazy and sometimes messy and disorganized, he knows that I have a bad temper, but he never judges me. It is hard to find someone who can love you for yourself, the good and the bad. It is amazing that it happens to be my stepfather. So rather than wish him a happy birthday, I think I'll wish him "Happy Birthdays!" I hope to spend another 25 years with him as a part of my life.

My father in law is special because he is the father of Honey, but I know I'd like him even if I wasn't related. He is has so many interests and talents that you can always have a good conversation with him. Also, He truly loves his family and both my mother -in-law and he make family a priority. This devotion and love to their family is a character trait that I hope that my children learn from them. Happy Birthday Granfer!. May you have many more!

Every family needs good examples to follow and I am very blessed to have these two great men in my life.

The two photos are from Granfer's party.

Next year I'll have to be with my Stepfather for his big 7-0!

Happy Birthday Young Man!

It was Honey's Dad's 70th birthday today. We will be celebrating in two weeks with a family party. Since we were not seeing him today, the kids wanted to call and tell their Granfer Happy Birthday. They were all so sweet, but Rolo's soft voiced rendition of "Happy Birthday to You" was especially sweet. He wanted to sing to Granfer and he did a great job. His voice was filled with love and emotion. It stole my heart, as he usually does. Too bad I didn't have a video camera with me. I sure do love my kids. It's the little moments of sweetness and joy like this that make motherhood's hardships vanish. It helps me remember to enjoy every day with them. I see so many grandmothers in stores that remind me to enjoy the kids because time will pass by fast and I will want it all back. I know they are right, so I am hoping to savor every moment I have now.

Hannah Montana

For Elizabeth's Birthday party, she wanted to take her friends to see the new Hannah Montana Movie.  I thought it sounded easy for me, no house to clean, no cake to bake, no activities to run.  All I had to do was buy tickets and endure the 15 minutes of getting drinks and food for the movie for each girl (by far the worst part).  The only problem was that we had to wait for the movie to come out, so Elizabeth had her party a month late.  The movie was surprisingly good.  It was filled with music and a teen love story.   I like country music anyway, so I enjoyed the music.  Since the movie really was a G rated movie and not one trying to remain a G rating when it truly is not. I was impressed by how Disney kept the movie very simple and appropriate.  It is not often that we see that done with movies.  The girls all had a good time and I was grateful to have that checked off my to do list.  Elizabeth enjoyed seeing all her friends.

Elizabeth's Lacrosse

Even though it was Keener's 2nd Birthday, We still had sports to get to.  Elizabeth had her first official game of the lacrosse season, she had a scrimmage last week and eventually, I will get those pictures on here if I can ever figure out how to get flicker on the blog!.  She loves playing middie and she seems to really enjoy the sport.  I am so glad that we signed her up last year.  It is nice to see her enjoy a sport. Here is a picture of my fantastic lacrosse player with Uncle B.  Sorry for the photo quality, it's definitely user error,  too many moving parts for me.

Final Four

Today was Keener's 2nd Birthday.  How did my baby get so BIG!  She is talking up a storm, the funniest is when she tells her "knock knock" jokes.  It just makes you laugh because a baby is telling you a joke!  She is such a little spitfire and boy is she fast.  She can run and climb so fast it is amazing.  Much faster than the other kids, but I guess that's what happens when you want to keep up with the big kids.

   To celebrate, my dear friends Uncle B (Christopher's Godfather) and Aunt A came over with their own littlest baby (who's now 15!) and their grandson R- (he's 3).    R- gets along so nicely with Rolo that it is always a pleasure to have him come over.  He loves being around all the big kids and they are so good with him.  I barely notice that there is another kid around except it REDUCES the bickering to have him around!  Needless to say I wish they would come over ALL the time!  We had beautiful weather and Uncle B grilled dinner and we ate cake.  It was a wonderful day for me because I got to have an adult conversation, a glass of wine, and dinner with friends and my sweet kids.  What a wonderful day!  The only thing missing was Honey.

Ready 

Set

Blow!