Birthday and Bozeman

I had a birthday.  My age has two 3's in it.  I'm not too happy about that, but what can I do?  I prefer when my age had two 2's in it, but it's better than two 4's, I guess.  The best part about it was I finally got that KitchenAid I've been wanting.  I can't wait to use it!  We had just gotten back from the swimming pool (because we finally had a warm enough day to go), and Ben had dinner ready, and a big box wrapped in princess wrapping paper.  It was a decoy.  He filled it with junk, and some Hawaiian chocolates.  I loved the chocolates, and then he made me close my eyes, and they brought up the real present.  I threw my arms up in triumph, and spent the rest of the evening reading the owner's manual.

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And today, we took our first little mini-trip.  We tagged along to Bozeman while Ben had a business meeting.  He dropped us off at the children's museum, which kept us busy for and hour and a half, and we could have stayed longer if we weren't all so hungry.  So we hiked it on down to Burger Bob's, one of the places Melissa and I ate on our Mom's Time Out weekend last year.  Joey took one bite of his burger, and proclaimed, "This burger is so good, I'm never letting go of it!"  It didn't take long for him to wolf it down.  Daddy joined us, and then we strolled downtown, hit the candy shop, and came back home.  And now I'm going to figure out what my innagural recipe in the KitchenAid will be...

Some Summer Pictures

The week before school got out, the Porters visited from Utah.  We took some pictures of new baby Tessa, and of all the kids separately and together.  I can't get the photo thing to work right now, but I'll post the group pictures soon.  Here are the rest:

I was just testing the light for Tessa's photo shoot, and Grace was my subject:

Baby Tessa, about 4 weeks old:

I think she totally looks like Andy in this picture:

We went up to Mission Ridge to take some pictures of the rest of the kids.  Here's Emma, Zach, and Brenlee:

And while the Porter kids looked at the duck pond, I got my kids updated on their photographs, too.  The sun was kind of bright, but they did great!

The Epitome of Summer

Sometimes when I go to practice my Symphony or Opera music, I find that Matt has destroyed, cooked, or rearranged something.  This time, apparently he was too tired to get into trouble.  The other kids didn't even bother to tell me that he was taking a nap on the stairs.  I came up to find them stepping over him, like it was a completely normal thing to do.  Or at least a "Matthew thing" to do.

For the record, I did pick him up and move him so that he didn't tumble all the way down upon his cessation of the nap.

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In other news today:

We changed, packed up, and went to the pool: it hadn't opened for the season yet.

We played in the backyard instead.

We went to the library.

We watched "The Good Samaritan" for FHE.

We had Klondike bars for our treat (yes, honey, I saved you one).

We survived another tornado.

Joey prayed 4 times that we would live through the night.

He is now sleeping in Andrew's bed.

Matt just looked out the window after it had passed and said, "I don't wike dat."

Grace wants me to wake her if things take a turn for the worse.

Haley started Driver's Ed, and I'm more scared of that than the tornado.

Floods, Graduation, and a Haircut

I've not been blogging enough lately.  That is for a few reasons: I've been bogged down with girl's camp junior leader stuff (and lots of it), Ben and I are trying to get our Trek family meetings organized, end of the school year fanfare, and I hurt my back last week and haven't actually been able to sit at the computer desk.  I can stand or kneel.  It's been great fun.

So here's my catch-up:

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Ben was driving last week, and part of the roads were covered in water.  It's like this all over:

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Gracie graduated from preschool!  She's going to be such a young kindergartener, but her teachers say she is very ready.  I think she is, too, but that doesn't stop me from worrying if we should just wait a year.  I guess we'll know soon enough.  She already made it through the toughest part: shots.  So I guess we might as well send her, with that out of the way!

She loved preschool, and will miss her teachers, Miss Kim and Miss Lee, so very much.  She had a lot of friends, especially Arianna.  But she's looking forward to being at the boys' school soon.  She just loves to be with those boys.

The Parade of Graduates (complete with their home-made caps)

Patiently waiting for the ceremony to begin

Gracie with Miss Kim (left) and Miss Lee

 Accepting her diploma, and a hug for Miss Lee                   

           
 

         And don't forget Miss Kim!

            There was cake...  Matt just had to try on that hat!

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And, summertime means all the boys get a haircut -- nice and short for more aerodymamics.  Matt has gotten pretty good at sitting still.  I just love those little toes poking out from underneath the cape!

Matt Turns 3! Joey Loses Another Tooth!

Matt turned 3 on Monday.  We had been warning him all week that as soon as he did, there would be no more diapers.  It's been a long, messy week.

The birthday party was very fun.  We made a chocolate cake, had the Cammons, all the Grandmas and Grandpas, Uncle Sam and Allison, and our neighbor Shan over for the party.  Matthew didn't really care about the presents -- all he wanted was that cake.  But when he actually saw what was in there, he was pretty happy with the gifts, as well.  He got a new scooter from the Manleys, some playground balls from the Kazmierskis, a bubble gun from the Cammons, new garbage trucks from his siblings, and a matching game from Ben and I.  It was a success!

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Also, Joey yanked out his other front tooth.  It took some prying, bleeding, and knuckling, but he got it with great effort.  That kid is tough.  And now he has quite the lisp.

Trek Stuff

This week, Matthew has re-attached himself to his garbage can.  That miniature container has tagged along with us everywhere we have gone.  I have found it in various places, also.  Some of his favorite parking spots are on the shoe shelf, pantry, and right next to the momma garbage can.  I thought it was so cute that he scoots it right up next to the big one for the night.

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 In addition to all my meetings for YW girl's camp (I'm a Jr. Leader Supervisor), Ben and I were asked to be "Ma and Pa" to a group for eight teenagers for this year's Trek in Wyoming.  At our first meeting, we found out who our family is, and what we will need to be preparing.  It's a lot, but I'm glad I get to do this one with Ben.

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To fund the Trek, we held a fundraiser at the church.  Ben had quite the atmosphere going.  He made a faux campfire, had a handcart wheeled in (in pieces, then reassembled, then disassembled, and reassembled again -- a lot of work for a piece of artwork), one of my saddles, chopped wood, one of our guitars, and my Grandpa Kirschenmann's banjo.  He also had The Lower Lights playing in the background.

It was quite the night, and ended with us rushing Joey home for some Benedryl and a few puffs of his inhaler.  He had gone to the allergist earlier that afternoon and had been pricked with egg and a control histamine.  Then he also accidentally ate a cookie with egg in it, then ran around endlessly to get it worked into his bloodstream really good.  I put all that together when he came to me, red in the face, sweating, and wheezing.  We made a b-line for the car, and got him all fixed up at home.  So is the story of our lives.

 

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In other news, Matthew turns 3 YEARS OLD on Monday.  It really is a miracle he's made it, considering his shenanigans.  I'm hoping his birthday wish is to make it to his 4th birthday alive and well.