Having lots of fun!

These pictures go back to last Wednesday, before Mom and Allen left for home.

We've been having a great time, but keeping very busy so I've not been able to get online very much. It takes such a long time to get all the pictures onto the computer, labeled, into albums, etc. that it really takes a long time to get a journal entry completed. Thought I'd try to get a quick one done today though since it's been several days.

Some of the highlights of our week....

Wednesday we toured the school Noah and Anna will attend next year.

Thursday Kindra had her last basketball game. They did great, and it turns out that her team was undefeated, so she was very proud of that! After the game we (me and Chris and the kids) stayed and played on the playground for awhile.

Friday Chris and I took Noah Kierra and Amaya to walk around the downtown area of Rhinelander. We stopped in a bakery and got some cookies, then sat in their courtyard and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Then Chris went over to the firehouse and asked if we could look at the trucks. One of the firemen gave us a tour of the entire place, which the kids loved. Friday afternoon, Dad and Margaret arrived. They brought their dog with them (Bear), so we've got quite a collection of pets here right now!!

Saturday we had a very busy day. In the morning we went to the Critter Fest at Pioneer Park in Rhinelander. We saw lots of bunnies, baby goats, chicks, dogs, etc. The kids enjoyed that. Afterwards, we headed up to Lake Superior. We hiked some trails to waterfalls, went to see some sights in the town (Ironwood), and went to the beach. The water in Lake Superior was so cold, that the air temperature dropped from 88 (in town) to 58 (on the beach). Amazing! That didn't stop the kids though, they played in the water, and Noah got soaked! We didn't get back to Minocqua until 7, and then stopped to have dinner at Paul Bunyan's. It was a great day.

Today we went to the beach at Hodag park to try out some kayaks and canoes. Mel's Trading Post has a day every year where you can try out lots of different kayaks and canoes on Boom Lake. Well this year we were prepared to finally buy some, so we took a couple of hours and tried out lots of them. We finally settled on one canoe and two kayaks. Very exciting! We should be able to pick them up later this week.

Gotta go, we're having a cook out tonight. Going to try some ribs on Pavan's grill/smoker.

Rebecca

Busy busy busy

I don't have time to write much, but thought I'd check in with everyone to let you know I haven't forgotten about you! We've been so busy this past week, there just hasn't been time to get online and write or share pictures.

Like I said before we went down to Merrill (an hour drive from our house) for dress rehearsal on Thursday. Mom and Allen also arrived in Rhinelander on Thursday. They left KC early that morning and got to our house while I was in Merrill with the girls. On Friday we headed down to Merrill after I picked the girls up from school, and then checked into a hotel for the weekend. We had dress rehearsal Friday night, which ran really late. Then we had 3 recitals on Saturday, and 2 on Sunday. Very busy, but it was a lot of fun. The girls did such a great job, and I don't know where they got all their energy. I was exhausted by the end of the weekend, and so happy to get back home!

Monday, my brother Chris and his daughter Kierra drove up. They didn't get here until around 1130 at night, so we all headed straight to bed once Chris unloaded their car. Today Kierra was up at 6 with Anna, and never did have a nap! I couldn't believe it, because she had bags under her eyes most of the day. I bet she'll sleep good tonight. As soon as Noah got up this morning, he and Kierra played together all day long. We spent most of the day outside, it was around 75 degrees and absolutely beautiful. We went to the pasty shop for lunch, to WalMart, and then Anna had gymnastics tonight. We didn't eat dinner until around 830, but nobody seemed to care. Once we got home from gymnastics, all the kids played outside again. It's light enough to be outside until around 930, so nobody felt like coming in yet since it was so beautiful out.

I could say so much more, but it's late and Amaya isn't even in bed yet. Getting her to sleep at night seems to get harder and harder. I think she's cutting some teeth, she's been up crying a lot at night. Bummer!

More later,

Rebecca

Things are about to get crazy!

Today is the quiet before the storm, so to speak. This afternoon Kindra has a basketball game at 330, but tomorrow all the craziness surrounding dance recital starts. I will be so relieved when this recital is over, I don't think either girl will end up doing dance next year. Anna has been thinking about doing ballet here in Rhinelander, but now that she's enjoying gymnastics so much, I think she'll prefer to stick with gymnastics and soccer from now on. In another couple of years, she'll be able to join the competitive soccer teams through the Rhinelander Soccer Club, and that will have her traveling to play other teams in the area.

Last night Anna had gymnastics class. First they all did some stretching and floor work. While they were doing that, I noticed the three instructors pointing at Anna and whispering amongst themselves. Then they divided the 10 children into three groups, and it appeared that they broke them into groups based on skill level. Well Anna was put in a group with 3 older girls who do a really good job in class. The three groups rotated through three stations, and at each station the instructors would mark on a paper for each child, making note of which skills each one had mastered. I hadn't watched Anna practice for a few weeks, and I was amazed at the things she was able to do! At the end of practice one of the instructors came up to me and said that Anna's skills are very strong, and that she's ready to move to the Level 3 class for the summer session. I was so surprised, since this was Anna's first time doing gymnastics, and since she seems to be one of the youngest in her Level 1 class. She is truly gifted athletically, and gymnastics seems to be a perfect fit for her. It's a strange and wonderful feeling watching your child excel at something, especially something I've never had a gift for doing. Of course people always have to ask, where did Anna get this athletic talent? I always have to answer, it's a gift from God, and that's the truth.

Well, I might not be able to write again until next week. Tomorrow we have dress rehearsal right after school until around 7PM, and Mom and Allen will be here tomorrow evening. Friday we are leaving for Merrill right after school, and staying in a hotel there until Sunday. Monday night Anna has her first soccer game, Tuesday night she has her last gymnastics class for this session. The next few weeks will be a transition from school year activities to summer activities. Both girls are signing up for swim lessons this summer, and they are thinking about doing some summer sports camps which are only 4 days long. They have one for Anna's age that's flag football, and there are volleyball and basketball ones for Kindra's age group.

We have put all our vacation plans on hold for this summer due to lack of money! With gas costing $3.04 here, and then looking at taking a trip to South Dakota...well we'd have to stay in a hotel room every night (two rooms probably), and then pay for 3 meals each day. The cost is just too prohibitive for us to do that this year. We might take some weekend trips, we live in a beautiful area of the country and there are a lot of places within a few hours of us that would be nice to visit. Our plan is to get some land sold, get the construction going as soon as possible. With the money we get for the land, we hope to pay down our mortgage and pay off our cars. In September we are going to spend a weekend in Minneapolis and attend a big RV show. By then we should have a better idea of what we can spend on an RV, and have some funds available to purchase one. Then next summer we can travel and not have to worry so much about hotel rooms!

More later!

Rebecca

weekend

Here are a few new pictures I took this morning. As busy as we were this weekend, somehow I didn't take any pictures. I guess I'm not used to having my digital camera back yet.

Friday afternoon I went to a Mother's Day tea party at Anna's school. It was really nice, and it was extra special because Pavan watched Noah and Amaya so I could devote some time just to Anna. It made me realize how precious little time I am able to spend one on one with each child, and made me understand the "middle child" phrase. Anyway, each child had drawn a picture of their mother, along with some descriptive words about her....and they were posted all over the room. We had to pick out which picture was ours, which was really funny. Thankfully, mine was relatively normal looking. Some of the drawings had the mother's hair all spiked out and strange, so of course I was looking around the room trying to figure out which mom inspired that drawing! The children sang several songs about mothers, most of them were songs we all know but the words had been changed. The most touching part was that each child had written a poem about their mom, and they each went in front of the class and read them out loud. They should have passed out kleenex before that part, it was so special. After that we all went to the gym and had treats, as well as lemonade, coffee, or hot tea. I had brought two tea cups with saucers, which Anna thought was fantastic! We were able to sign them out of school about 20 minutes early, and then we headed over to pick up Kindra from school.

Friday night was the carnival at Anna's school. Thankfully, Noah and Amaya had naps that afternoon so they were actually in a good mood for the carnival. We had a good time, and Pavan was able to come too. He met us there about 45 minutes after we got there. They had a moonwalk, which was the only thing Noah was interested in doing. So we waited in line for 30 minutes so he could jump around for 5 minutes! Eventually we talked him into taking a break to get some food to eat, and as the carnival wound down the line for the moonwalk was very short so he was able to do it several more times.

Kindra and Anna had a great time running around with their friends, and their favorite game was the cake walk. Unfortunately, they had great luck with the cake walk and we ended up with 7 pans of cakes, brownies and cupcakes. Thankfully, Kindra gave away a pan of brownies to a friend, but we still came home with a lot of goodies! Just what we all needed, I'm sure. I caught Pavan feeding cupcakes to Noah for breakfast, haha. Oh well, we all deserve a break from the routine sometimes!

Saturday Pavan took Noah and Kindra to run errands with him in the morning. They had to take the dogs to be groomed, and wash the dog kennels and beds. They also went out to breakfast, and goofed off for awhile. According to Noah, they went 4 wheeling in a muddy field beside the road. I learned this when we drove past the same field later in the day, and Noah announced - That's where Daddy went driving in the purple truck. He drove really fast through the mud and it splashed up all over his truck. Then we had to go to the carwash - It was so funny to see the look on Pavan's face when Noah ratted him out!!! What is it they say about boys and their toys??

Saturday afternoon Pavan took Noah, Kindra, Anna, and Anna's friend Lauren to the YMCA pool. I kept Amaya home for a nap, and I spent the time cooking for our special dinner to celebrate Pavan passing his oral boards. We had Indian food, which is always Pavan's favorite. It was all very delicious, and Amaya went crazy with the chicken. Pavan couldn't seem to get it on her plate fast enough. She's a lot different than Noah, and I am starting to think they will be the same size within a year!

On Sunday the girls made me breakfast in bed. They made cereal, toast and coffee. The funny thing is that they made it before I was awake, and then just set it beside the bed. So by the time I woke up, it was all cold and soggy, haha. I tried to eat the toast, but it turns out Kindra had sprinkled Splenda all over the toast, even though it had strawberry jelly on it. I love sweets, but that was a little over the top! She had put some strawberries on the plate with the toast, so I think she was trying to sweeten them. It was such a nice thought though, I was glad they weren't in the room when Pavan disposed of the food! The really strange thing is thatI had been dreaming about toast with strawberry jelly, and had decided I was going to have some for breakfast. See, she read my mind!

Sunday afternoon we made a trip to WalMart, and at 5 Anna had her first soccer practice. She's one division higher this year than last year, which is nice because it means she'll get to start expanding her skills. Unfortunately, it was 50 degrees, windy, and sprinkling for practice. It was a good thing that Pavan stayed back with the other children, because it was miserable at practice. After practice we all met at Pizza Hut for dinner. I love pizza, so that's where I chose for mother's day dinner. We splurged and got the cinnamon breadsticks for dessert, those are so good! Then we headed home to watch Charmed (Kindra's favorite show), Desperate Housewives, and Grey's Anatomy. Pavan put a little TV in our closet so the little ones could watch TV while we watched the adult shows. The picture above is from this morning, I caught Amaya sitting on top of the TV and then leaning over the front to watch Spongebob upside down. Of course, as soon as she saw the camera, she started saying Cheese and smiling!

Well it's raining again, or maybe I should say it's raining STILL. I can't remember the last day it didn't rain, I guess it's been raining for about 5 days. We do need the rain, but I'm ready for the sun!!

Better go, time for lunch and then naps! Kindra has basketball practice after school today so I don't have to pick her up until 4. That's nice, because I don't have to rush to get Amaya down for a nap.

More later in the week. We have a busy week ahead of us, gymnastics tomorrow night, Kindra's game Wednesday afternoon, dress rehearsal Thursday and Friday. Recitals Saturday and Sunday. Mom and Allen are going to be here sometime Thursday afternoon, and we are all staying at a hotel in Merrill on Friday and Saturday nights so we won't have to make the trip back and forth to Merrill all weekend long. At least their dance teacher was kind enough to excuse the girls from the Tuesday and Wednesday night rehearsals, or I don't knowwhat we would have done!  

Rebecca

Is it really May 11th??

He passed!!! That's the big news at our house today, Pavan found out at 8 this morning that he passed his oral board exam. We are all so excited, and you can see that a huge burden has been lifted from Pavan. He felt really good about the exam, but was afraid to get his hopes up until he saw it in writing that he had indeed passed. We celebrated this morning by going out to breakfast with Noah and Amaya. I had bought food for a cookout, but you can tell by the pictures that it's not exactly cookout weather up here. I am going to make a special dinner tomorrow night to celebrate.

The other big story today is the weather, which is unbelievable for May 11th. It started sleeting around 9 this morning, and has not stopped at all. First of all, I've never had it sleet and snow on May 11th. And second of all....it's been sleeting hard and steady for 12 hours. Unbelievable. On our way home from dance tonight some big fat snowflakes started mixing with the sleet, but I can still hear that it's mostly sleet on our skylights. There's a white layer covering everything. Thank goodness most of my flowers were in planters that could be brought inside. I was able to cover some of them with towels, but I'm not sure how much that's going to help considering the amount of sleet we've been getting. The temperature has been right around 34 all day though, so hopefully the flowers will hold up ok.

After breakfast we ran some errands, and then went to Schoeder's RV here in Rhinelander. They were the ones that ignored me last weekend when I went in there with the children, but they came right up and helped us when I went in there with Pavan. They weren't very busy today though, the weather probably kept most people from going out to look at RVs! The guy must have thought we were crazy for wanting to look at the RVs when it was sleeing so hard, so he just gave us the master key and told us where the trailers were located that had bunk houses in them. He did come out and walk around with us for awhile though, which I thought was pretty brave. That wind was so cold, and that sleet really hurt when it hit your face at 40 mph!! We found a couple of RVs that we really liked so now we are going to look around other places and see where we can geta good deal.

This afternoon Pavan stayed home with Noah and Amaya so I could go to Kindra's basketball game. Her team did really good, but Kindra got tripped and scraped both her knees. They only have a couple more games, but Kindra will have to miss the one next week because of dress rehearsal for dance recital. We found out tonight that she has to be there by 330 next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for dress rehearsal. I'm going to have to call Dorinda tomorrow and figure out how that's going to work, since the girls don't even get out of school until 245 and it takes an hour to drive down there. Next week is going to be very stressful, but once recital is over we are done with dance. At least done taking dance in a town an hour away!

Tonight Pavan wanted to stay home with Noah and Amaya while I took the girls to dance, because he wanted to take them swimming at the YMCA. Now that's brave! He said they had a great time though, and Noah ran over to tell me all about it the minute I walked in the door tonight.

I'd better get off here. Our power keeps flickering and every time it flickers I lose my wireless internet connection. Then Pavan has to run downstairs and fix it!

By the way, it's now been sleeting for more than 12 hours straight. With the wind blowing so hard, the noise is unbelievable with the sleet driving right into all the windows and skylights on the lake side of the house. Might have to sleep with the TV on just to drown out that noise a little bit! Welcome to May in the Northwoods! Gotta love a little adventure though, keeps life interesting!

More later

Rebecca

Pavan's home!

Pavan made it home safely around 1030 last night. His plane was delayed a little bit out of Minneapolis, but they made good time. It's only about a 45 minute flight from Minneapolis to Rhinelander. Noah went with me to the airport, but everyone else was asleep (in my room) so they stayed home. I kept the lights on in the car and kept asking Noah lots of questions to keep him awake, he was so tired! When we got to the airport we saw that the plane had just landed, so we ran inside to make sure we were there when Pavan got off the plane. When Noah saw Pavan, he ran through all the other passengers to give him a big hug. It was sweet. Noah fell asleep on the way back home, but of course we were up late watching TV....and Pavan insisted on unpacking last night. I guess he just wanted to forget he was gone for that long. He really missed all the children, and has been playing with Noah and Amaya all day. They are outside right now playing. I'm supposed to be taking a shower...but wanted to let everyone know he made it home ok.

More later,

Rebecca

How can you tell if your fish is a girl or a boy?

I know I said I would write after Pavan got back in town, but he doesn't get in until late tonight so I thought I'd write a little now while I have the time. Pavan was scheduled to do his oral boards at 7 this morning. I'm not sure how long they last, but I've been sending positive thoughts and prayers his way all morning. I tried to call him a few minutes ago, but his phone is turned off so he might still be testing. He had to check out of his hotel room by noon, so I guess he's just going to hang out at the airport until 9 tonight. That doesn't sound like a lot of fun, but at least it's the Minneapolis airport. There's a lot to do there, and knowing Pavan he'll find a good book to read or take a long nap. He can sleep anywhere! I think it's a skill learned in residency, when you catch a few minutes of sleep whenever you can.

Anyway....I now know how to determine in your fish is a girl or a boy. When you wake up and your fish tank is covered in hundreds of little eggs, it's a girl! My angelfish (named Lazarus....which isn't the most feminine name) laid eggs. Fortunately, she's the only fish in the tank so I know we won't end up with hundreds of baby angelfish. The eggs stayed there for a few days, but today they are gone. Apparently she ate them, from what I've been reading online. And to think, less than a year ago she was very very sick and nearly died. She floated on the surface of the tank for 3 days, had some horrible sickness that killed every other fish in the tank and ate away all her fins. And now she's big and beautiful and fertile. HaHa. Of course Kindra is begging me to buy a male angelfish (not that I could pick out a male if I needed to....) so the next time she lays eggs we can have baby fish. Good thing Kindra is planning to become a vet, she'll need the knowledge to take care of the hundred pets she's planning to have.

I'm still trying to decide what we are going to do tonight. Kindra's dance teacher really wants her to come to two extra classes tonight, but Anna has gymnastics tonight. And with Pavan not getting home until 1015, I can only be in one place tonight. Right now I'm leaning toward taking Kindra to Merrill. Like I said before, both of her dances are in a competition so all the other girls have been practicing afew times each week, while she's only been there once a week. She's been practicing a lot at home, but I can tell she's worried about not being prepared to the same level as the other girls. And they keep making changes to the dances during their extra practices, and then Kindra shows up and gets really frustrated. Since this is her last year in dance, I think we should make it as good as possible. Which reminds me, I need to make some hotel reservations today. I can't believe recital is only 11 days away!

I wanted to let everyone know that my digital camera is repaired and on it's way back to me. It's supposed to be delivered today! Yea! So I should have some pictures for you tomorrow.

Rebecca

Sunday

We haven't really done anything at all today, at least nothing out of the ordinary. I've been doing some laundry, cleaning up around the house, and watching the children play outside most of the day. It's around 68 degrees, and was very sunny earlier today but it clouding up now. I'm not sure if it's supposed to rain, but I won't complain if we get a nice downpour.

Yesterday evening, around 8, Kindra went running outside because she saw someone outside. Dave from across the street had driven his ATV over to our house, and was pulling Hailey and a friend of hers in a trailer he was pulling behind. It's a pretty cool trailer, reminds me of a wagon you'd take on a hayride. He asked if Kindra could go for a ride with them for a few minutes, and next thing I know Kindra was on the phone asking if she could stay at Hailey's for the night. I really didn't want her to, I feel more comfortable knowing she's here to help me out when Pavan is gone....but I let her stay. By then it was close to bedtime for the little ones anyway, and I told her to be home by 10 in the morning.

So today Dave asked if Kindra and Anna could go see a movie with them. They were all going to see RV, which Kindra has been wanting to see. So around 1230 they came by and picked up the girls to go to the movie. They had a really good time. I do wish we had a babysitter here in Rhinelander so we could go out and do things like that with the kids. Noah will finally sit through a movie, but now Amaya won't. I know eventually they will all be old enough to behave for something like that, but for now I feel like we're chained to the house because it's so difficult to take the little ones out. It was a lot easier when Amaya was a little baby because she would at least sit still, but now that she's running around everywhere....well it's just impossible!!

I have been looking through some brochures I picked up yesterday about travel trailers. I went by this place in Rhinelander that sells a lot of travel trailers, but after 30 minutes of walking around looking for someone to help me, I finally gave up and just went home. It was pretty frustrating. I've been looking online too but nobody will give you prices online, so I can't even get a feel for what the ones I like would cost. Hopefully we can get back to the place in Rhinelander, or the one in Minocqua or Eagle River, once Pavan gets back in town so we can at least know how much we're looking at needing to save.

Pavan gets back Tuesday night and then is off the rest of the week, I think. So we've been making all the appointments we needed to for when he's off work. Right now we need to get the dogs into a groomer, and get them to the vet for some bloodwork, and for some Frontline....to prevent any more problems from ticks. Also, Abby has a sore on her ankle area where she's been gnawing at her foot. I'm not sure if it's hurting her, or why she's chewing on herself like that...but I hope the vet can make her feel better. Once they get their baths, I'll try to keep them in the house a little more.

Nothing else going on around here. Right now I can hear a mourning dove outside, it sounds so pretty.

Have a good week. Will write more once Pavan gets back in town.

Rebecca

Worn out

I'm sure you all realize by now that Pavan made it safely to Minneapolis on Thursday afternoon. He had his first day of review yesterday from 8-6 and is in class again all day today. His last day of review will be tomorrow, with board exams on Monday and Tuesday. I will be so happy to have him home. Being here alone, with no friends or family to rely on in case something goes wrong, puts me on edge. I'm also exhausted from dealing with everything on my own.

Noah has been very difficult to deal with lately, and I am generally at wits end dealing with him within 30 minutes of getting up in the mornings. It's terrible to say, because I love him dearly, but I do not know what to do with him. I have read so many parenting books, have tried every discipline technique they contain, but nothing seems to help. I do not want to fail him as a parent, and the realization that he's already 3 1/2 years old has made me really wonder what we're going to do. We have to figure out some method of getting him to behave better before he starts school, or he will be labeled as a problem child and never get what he needs. I am thinking about calling a pediatric psychiatrist who practices here in Rhinelander, and take Noah to meet with him sometime soon. OBVIOUSLY I am not looking for drugs to dull him, I'm just looking for some support and some ideas on what I can do to make things better. At this point, I literally cannot leave the house with him for fear of how he will behave in public. People love to stare, people love to make rude comments, and I am just not the type of person who can deal with that sort of thing. I hate that people assume I am a terrible parent because of the way he acts....I just don't know what else to do!! And those of you who have spent any time with Noah know exactly what I mean! He's such a smart kid, and can be so funny and friendly. But when he's in a bad mood or irritated....WATCH OUT!! Normally I can deal with the bad moods, but lately the bad moods have been lasting from the time he gets up until the time he goes to bed. That makes for a very long 14 hours!!!

Anyway, enough of that. As you can see, all of that has really been wearing on me lately, so I'm obsessed with it right now. In other news....

I had to take Kindra to the doctor yesterday. She injured her finger at basketball practice on Monday, and still wasn't able to bend it by Thursday afternoon, so I took her in for some x-rays. They didn't show any fractures, so she must have just sprained her finger. Of course that is very painful, and can take awhile to heal. She has been wearing a finger splint, and the doctor recommended that she keep wearing it during basketball and gym class. It might take awhile to get the full range of motion back in that finger, but it should heal just fine.

Only one more week of dance class before dress rehearsal and recital. Kindra is in all 5 recitals (3 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday), and Anna is in 3 of them. Anna was only supposed to be in 2, but they added another show to her tap class this last week. We are getting 2 hotel rooms in Merrill and just staying there the entire weekend, since it's an hour drive each way from Rhinelander. The girls aren't taking dance class next year, Anna wants to focus on gymnastics and Kindra is going to be busy with all her activities in middle school. Kindra has decided she loves softball, and is interested in volleyball too...and of course she plays basketball. It's surprising to think Kindra might end up playing softball. Those of you who had the pleasure of watching her play t-ball know what I'm talking about! She was always the one in the outfield picking flowers, watching airplanes fly by, collecting rocks, etc. I'm thrilled to think she might play several sports though.

I'd better get going. Amaya is napping while the other 3 are outside playing. It's around 60 today, which is much nicer than the 40s we saw yesterday. We ran a few errands this morning, and are planning to go to WalMart this evening. The little ones just couldn't stand doing it all at one time, so we came home for a break. It's hard on the gas money to make several trips, but much easier on my sanity! And with Pavan out of town, I've got to preserve any sanity I can!

Oh, we've decided to spend Thanksgiving in Big Spring. I'll be taking the kids out of school that entire week, and we will be flying into Dallas, then renting a car to take us to Big Spring. That gives us plentyof time to save up for the airfare, hopefully we'll have some of our land sold by then.

Rebecca

New habits I could do without...

Isn't it funny how we never even notice the "good" habits that our children pick up along the way? At least we don't notice them immediately. But those "bad" habits...we notice them quickly. Unfortunately, a lot of times bad habits catch us off guard, and make us laugh. Laughing at a bad habit is not a good idea...take my word on that! Children love to make their parents laugh...and are certain to repeat anything that makes you laugh. So no matter what funny (naughty) word pops out of their mouth, no matter what body function they announce in public, no matter what gestures they repeat....don't laugh!!!!!

Noah and Amaya both picked up new habits this week. At first Amaya's doesn't seem "bad"....but stick with me here, and you will understand. Amaya is finally tall enough that she can get out of the bathtub on her own. Seems innocent enough I suppose, but I really wish she still needed help to get out, because she has devised a really fun game. Fun for her at least. Every night after supper, Amaya and Anna head to the bath together. That way they both get clean, and I can get the kitchen cleaned up with help from Kindra. The past few days I have been in the kitchen, wiping off the counters, loading the dishwasher, minding my own business...when all of a sudden I hear giggling and little feet running down the hallway. Then....flash....naked Amaya goes running by. Naked and WET Amaya goes running by. She leaps out of the tub and takes off, and she's fast!! Now commen sense tells me that I can run faster than Amaya, but reality has shown me that she's nearly impossible to catch. Maybe it's because she's down so much lower than me, maybe it's because I start laughing so hard when I hear her giggling. Or maybe it's like that contest where people try to catch the greased pig....but you have to wait until she loses her balance or trips before you can catch her. THEN try to get a diaper on her, it's almost impossible.

And that's just the first part of this new habit....or new skill. Today I learned about the flipside. Noah was in the living room watching Finding Nemo, and Amaya was in the bedroom watching Spongebob (of course), so I thought I'd sneak into the shower real quick. I turned on the water, and while it was getting warm I turned to the counter and was putting my ponytail holder, necklace, etc. away. About a minute later I walked over to the shower, pulled back the shower curtain, and SURPRISE!!! There was Amaya, in my shower, enjoying the nice hot water....fully clothed! Not only can she get out of the tub on her own...she can get into the tub on her own too! I learned that the opposite of catching the greased pig, is wrestling wet clothes off the pig.

Now on to Noah. Yesterday Noah was wearing underwear, and I knew he'd been using the potty because every time I saw him, his underwear was on a different way. Inside out, sideways, backward. He likes to do things on his own, so I didn't bother him about it. Well, eventually I had a minute so I decided to empty the two potty chairs. I was surprised to find they were both empty. So I checked my toilet, because sometimes he puts this little padded seat onto our toilet and uses it. Nope, it wasn't there. Suddenly it dawned on me that he must have been peeing somewhere else.....so I asked him to show me where he'd been going potty.

He led me behind the fireplace.....and I wasn't very happy when I saw what he'd been up to! He had peed on the train table, on the carpet, in the lid of the container holding his train tracks. I was shocked, and more than a little bit irritated. It took awhile to clean it all up and shampoo the carpet, but later that night I was laughing as I told Pavan about it. Little boys....I guess they all figure out how to "write in the snow" sooner or later. And to think, I was so proud of him for not having an accident all day long! Like I said, just when you think you have it all figured out, your children come up with something you'd never even considered.

Anna made her first cake over the weekend. It was a dump cake, and was very delicious. I think Kindra was a little jealous, or maybe she just has a sweet tooth...because tonight she made us some brownies. I'm not complaining, but if they keep this up, my pants won't fit before long!

We found out today that summer school starts June 12th, which messes up our thoughts of driving to TX in June. We're not sure what we're going to do now, still thinking about it all. Airplane tickets are so expensive right now, I guess because of the price of gas being so high. And multiply that by 6....it's outrageous. We looked into taking the train, but it's a 22 hour train ride from Wausau, WI to Dallas, TX....and we'd have to get 2 family sleeper rooms to fit the 6 of us, which would cost as much as plane tickets. Do you see a pattern here?? Traveling with a family of 6 is so difficult, everything is designed for a family of 4. Wish we had an RV!!

We received 2 phone calls today, one from Nativity Preschool and one from Nativity Catholic School, welcoming our family to their school. So I guess that confirms it all, Noah will be attending Nativity Preschool on Tuesday and Friday mornings starting in the fall. And Anna will start 2nd grade at Nativity Catholic School in the fall. It's all very exciting.

I'd better get to bed. I received an email today about my camera, I was able to pay for the repairs online so they should mail it back to me within a week, I've been missing it and I'm sure you have all been missing the pictures too.

More later,

Rebecca