Knott's Berry Farm!

Our cousins are here from Arizona! Of course, where do we take them? Knott's Berry Farm! For those that may know me that may come as a shock. I'm a big Disneyland fan and living so close, we have passes. Besides Dan and I both worked there. It is where we met! But we also worked at Knott's way back. But that isn't why we went. The kids love the roller coasters and the cousins are older like our big sis, so we went.

 

I braved it. Five kids, by myself, and it was 100 degrees today! Typical! But we had a blast. Tom and Jake are too little for just about everything, so they were pretty mad. They took it well though. They went on the train, the log ride, the stage coach, and the dragon swing. I finally got to ride the silver bullet. Loved it!

These kids were awesome! It was so fun to drag them around to all my favorite rides and they were so nice about it. The park was not busy at all and when it did start to pick up (crowds and heat) we came home. They were so nice about it that Uncle Kirk took them back for another round after dinner. My two littlest stayed home though. Honestly, they understood that there was really nothing else for them to ride. They don't know about Camp Snoopy. I'll save that for another time!

Uncle Ken & Aunt Julie

Uncle Ken and Aunt Julie arrived on Sunday for a week long visit from Belleville, Illinois! The kids are all so excited. The boys have never met them in person, but they hear lots about them and their cousin Natalie has come to stay with us in summers passed.

 
They all broke out the guitars on Sunday night for a small concert. Ken plays the Mandolin and Dad plays the guitar. Nikki has been taking self lessons and Tom and Jake play their pretend guitars. Jake got a Ukelele for his birthday last March and he loves to play with it. They sit there and play along with their Dad and Uncle.

 

Jake looks like he is sleeping, but really he is giving a serious solo concert for us. He doesn't play the guitar really but strums that broken electric guitar like he really knows what he is doing. He sang several songs for us including the theme from Star Wars, "In Heaven there is no beer", and the deer camp song, and ending with the National Anthem.

On Monday, Grandpa Larry and Grandma Rita came for a visit as well. That's Dad's Dad and Step-Mom.

Uncle Ken helped Dan out by fixing his Mom's toilet. He is a plumber and Ann loved to get him to help while he is out here. Tom stuck to him like glue and made sure he learned everything he could about plumbing during the project. It is really funny watching Tom right now. He is fascinated by just about everything his uncle does or says and is really soaking it all in. Ken is so patient with him too. Tom has found another hero!

Dad's On Vacation

What kind of fun do you think is going on in our backyard?

Well, today is Dad's first day of vacation and last night he bought a new high powered air rifle. I call it a bb gun! And they are all in the backyard doing target practice. The rifle is really for Dad because he wants to shoot rats when he sees them in the back yard. I told him he may want to be sure that he can kill it when he shoots it. Last time a trap didn't kill one completely, it was a twenty minute fiasco about how to kill it and who was going to do the killing. It was crazy!

I'm getting ready for his brothers to come and visit next week. It is the first time Ken has been here since we got married, so it should be an adventure. Also, his other brother Kirk is coming out later in the week with his two kids. That should be fun. We plan on having an "open house" on that Friday so that anyone that wants to come by and hang out with us can come any time. We are going to BBQ some burgers and dogs. 

 

Hopefully this week I can get upstairs with the paint and finish painting our bedroom! It has only been three or four months since I painted the walls. I would love to finish the ceiling and borders sometime before the color on the walls fades. HA! Painting is one of those things I just can't do with the kids hanging around by themselves. I can get started and then they are fighting or getting into something they shouldn't or they are hungry and want something to eat NOW! Kids. They always need something.

Anyway, I'm sure today will live on in infamy since the boys are having so much fun watch Dad shoot cans and avocados on the side of the house!

Some teachers! ...A Rant...

Nikki goes to public school because her mother wants her there. Every school year since she started Kindergarten, I keep everything the school sends home all year. I put it in my file cabinet and keep it until June. Then I sort through it all and keep the things I think express her at this age. I put it all in a book with her picture and signature and all that. I just got through doing this for her 6th grade year.

We always had a problem with her "core class" teacher. Otherwise known as home room. She is a real pain to us all. I tried emailing her to get specific instructions from her because I thought Nikki wasn't re-telling it right, or wasn't asking the right questions. And guess what? I can't figure out what it is that woman wants either! There was a time when she wouldn't grade her work because she hadn't brought in and used the right three-ring binder that was requested. We had already had a system of keeping work organized and neat and it was working perfectly, except that she couldn't get a good grade because she didn't have the binder. I know you are thinking that it is understandable. Maybe she had a special way of using these notebooks or something but that wasn't the case. I looked into it.

The other thing is that as I was going through the years work, all her papers from that teacher had either nothing at all on them or some nasty note like, "needs work!", "neater writing please!", or "use all the same color ink!". Never a "nice subject" or "creative idea" at all! You have to know Nikki's work to understand this. She may not be the cleanest writer, or the best at organizing or getting things in on time, but she IS brilliant. She is creative, intelligent, and mature in her writing. It is the one thing that I would say she excells in. Her essays and reports are researched and a lot of love and time has gone into them. They are interesting to read, too. Not your every day, "The battle of Gettysburg was in...." blah blah blah. Now I'm going to have to post some of her work here just so you understand what I am talking about.

I just don't think it is fair or a good thing, to have to suffer through a year of school and just "get through it" because a teacher has decided to ride their time out until they retire and bring down as many children as possible until they do!

Independence Day!

Our 4th of July begins with the annual lighting of snakes in the backyard.

They usually sacrifice one or two of their plastic army men that have been broken. Tan ones are bad guys, so if there are any of those around they get that first. Mind you, this is all directed and overseen by Dad, who is the only one with a lighter. One year we had a small tan army tank that was loaded up with snakes and lit. This was the same year that my small apple tree died. I say it was because they did it right underneath it and it was filled with smoke. He says the box say non-toxic, so it couldn't have been that. Anyway, moving on!

The stash of fireworks that Dad and the kids had bought earlier that afternoon. They were so excited to light them, they just couldn't stand it once the sun started to go down.

 

Tom still hates the sound of fireworks. Really, the idea that the next one might be loud bothers him, so he just keeps his hands over his ears just in case. 

 

He did take them off to get in on lighting a couple fireworks with Dad though.

Jake lights his first fireworks!

There was this one that looked pretty lame, like it was a dud, and then it exploded really loud. We all jumped. It was great!
 

This was the scene you would have seen if you drove by.

All in all, it was a great 4th. We didn't have anyone over this year. Dan and I spent the first half of the day cleaning the yard and garage. Then I went to the grocery store and bought provisions while the others went pyro shopping. When we all got home, we started the snakes and cap guns for awhile. We BBQ'd burgers and corn, of course. Then sat down to a great dinner. The kids got coke with their dinner! OOOh! And then we were off to light our fireworks. We have to travel to another city because they are illegal in ours. On the way there and back we got to see lots of the cool illegal ones from Mexico all over. I had long discussions with Tom about legal and illegal fireworks. He was very concerned that we were doing something wrong and that we would all be arrested. Not true, but it is hard for a 5 year old to understand laws are different for different cities. Then we came home and watched the 25 minute Disneyland display from our front yard while singing the National Anthem over and over again.

Just a quick run down of the day, for memories sake!

This morning, after doing a couple loads of laundry and cleaning up the kitchen, I made breakfast. Ann took Nikki to Boys and Girls Club by her mother's house. Nikki is with us Sunday morning until Wednesday morning. She is now at her mother's house. We headed to Target to shop. The boys love to sit in the cart and eat a bag of popcorn and an icee while I shop. Fun stuff! Next stop: Out to Great-Grandpa's house. We brought him a sleeping bag to use on his fishing trip this weekend. And we all went to McDonald's for lunch. We left there at 2pm so that we could be at the library by our house by 3pm for Teddy Bear Picnic Day. The boys had a great time playing games, picking books, and making a few crafts. The Anaheim Public Library does a magnificent job of entertaining the kids and getting them interested in reading. Lots of prizes and fun stuff to do. We came home at 5pm and had a snack. Dan got home and 6 all fired up about getting a air rifle from WalMart to shoot rats in our backyard. I'm married to a nut, seriously! So we were off and while we were out we had dinner at Chili's. At home at 8pm, baths and stories and all that bedtime stuff. They were asleep at 9:30 when the fireworks started. I continued to read a bit though because I'm reading the Chronicles of Narnia (the whole big huge book) and I love it!

A Peek Into Our Mornings

Good Morning, Everyone!

This is how our day begins. Three kids in their jammies watching each other play video games. This morning Jake was playing Indiana Jones. That kid really knows what he is doing! We have a cheat code that makes it so he can't die, but he knows how all the machines work, where to go and when. It is so crazy watching him. It looks, at first, like he is just running around aimlessly. But when you watch for awhile you will see that he is the master. Whenever anyone else is stuck they just ask Jake and he will tell you exactly what to do next.