Hanging out in Iowa

So, we spent a week in Iowa with my brother and his family. SO fantastic! I got to relax and not be in charge of anything. I got to check out Kristy's awesome selection of books and I was disappointed I didn't have more time to read them all. The kids had a marvelous time too.

Delaney is waiting for dinner. Did I mention the good eats we had there? Yumminess!

Callie and Marian would have stayed outside all day if they could. Unfortunately, it was stinking hot and the hear index was 125 one afternoon! yikes! Here, Joshua,Marian and Callie are hanging out with the dog, helping to move the sheep around.

There are the sheep! Aren't they cute?

Delaney was all tuckered out after a long day of fun.

When she wasn't busy strong-arming him, Rylee played very well with cousin Camden.

Check out the awesome eye reflection on this gigantic spider! I think it was a wolf spider, but it was ginormous! Jonathan came to the rescue and stomped it. My hero!

Family Fun!

Aunt Miranda and Camden came back on Sunday. We like them a lot!

Aunt Miranda was the instigator here. She got Marian to fill up the water gun and give it to Rylee. Rylee would squirt the gun and laugh and laugh. Much fun was had by all. And after I took this picture, Marian shot ME with the water gun!

On Tuesday, Miranda caravanned up to IA with me and the kids. Mom came too and alternated between cars. It was a lengthy drive, but the kids were pretty good and we arrived safely at Jonathan's house.

Marian immediately became acquainted with the trees. The kids loved running around out in the yard. The trees, the toys, the kittens.... so much to do!

Callie was thrilled to get to hold the cat. It is a very sweet, passive kitty cat. Callie is in love.

Hanging out with the cousins is so fun for everyone! We are having a good time. The kids love playing with the animals and each other. I love spending time with family!

I would have put up more pictures, but the internet is SO exceedingly slow. If you are lucky, there will be more later, but don't expect very many.

The Lake

Today we went to the Lake. It was a last minute thing. My friend Gerry called and invited us. We hadn't been yet, and I thought we ought to go sometime before we left. The water level is still really really high. This means there is no beach. It means the grass is now the beach and it makes a nasty, muddy, grassy, gross beach indeed. the water is also pretty gross and muddy and walking into it triggers my gag reflex. Despite that, we went and had fun!

Callie had a blast paddling around. She didn't care what was under her feet. She just wanted to swim!

Rylee got in with me and was content to be held, and was happy for a bit in her frog-floaty. When I got her out, she was also quite content to sit here.

Here's me! I know, not the most flattering shot, but if I didn't take 'em and actually use them, you'd never know I existed. So, here I am at Norfork Dam.

Delaney swapped out floatation devices again, and wasn't convinced she liked the life vest.

Marian was a fish. She swam and dived and did flips. The water was muddy enough I was concerned a few times, because if she was underwater, sometimes I could not see her.

This is the rooster Tanya brought with her. Today we got a tutorial on how to make him dinner. Marian was interested in the process, but I don't think it was quite what she expected. She may not eat chicken again....

Too busy to blog

We've been having a good week. Mostly.

My marvelous friend Wendy has an above ground pool in her back yard and we went over to play at her house. The kids were in heaven!

Delaney was required to have a floatie, since she couldn't touch the bottom. She regularly changed which floatation device she used, and she got in and out 300 times, but she had a blast.

Callie couldn't quite touch the bottom, and was so proud of herself when she discovered she could still get around really well. She was like a fish, darting all over the place.

Wendy graciously provided popsicles after the swim, and the morning was a success in every way!

Rylee came with me to check on our little rental house. Our tenants bailed and left a mess. Sigh. Painting and cleaning and all that fun.

Marian and Callie were sick. 102 degree fevers and pretty lethargic. We declared it to be movie day and they watched a lot of movies that day. Joshua and Delaney felt fine, they just wanted in on the movie action.

A good friend of my mom, Tanya, came to visit and she brought us some chickens! She brought 6 full grown ones, and this cute little guy. Rylee was excited to see it.

Marian was adorably bossy as she explained the proper way to hold it to Callie.

And Callie was so pleased to finally get to hold a cute little chicken!

Full Disclosure

We have had a lot of fun this week. It has been a lot of fun with our cousins. We got to go to a friend's house where the kids got to see their animals and ride their horses.

The alpacas were adorable, but not excited about being fawned over.

The girls had a blast in the barn playing on all the nifty toys.

Marian loved the kitty cat, and Aaron was successful in his chicken chasing. The meet and greet between cat and chicken was not a giant success. The cat was excited, but the chicken was not.

Joshua though there was some cool stuff in the barn. There was.

Marian was thrilled, but cautious about getting on the horse.

Callie was beyond delighted ti finally, finally get up on the horse.

I got on with Delaney and Rylee, but for some reason, my eyes are closed in every picture! Oops. The girls loved it, but I'll tell you, that saddle was not meant for 2 bums.

Even Joshua got up to ride. I know, I was a little surprised, myself.

Rylee was having bottle-envy. She was worried that Charlotte might have something better in her bottle. Silly Rylee.

We went to the Library's magic show for the kids. Joshua wasn't impressed, so he said. It was cute and the kids did have fun and enjoyed it.

Rylee was the only one who didn't sit quietly for it all. She made a goldfishy mess. But she did share with her sister!

The guy was super-nice and let the kids pet the bunny afterwards.

Then we hung out in the kids room for a bit. Rylee loves the puzzles. Her sisters actually like to put them together too, so it works well. Rylee gets the puzzles out and her sisters help her put them together.

Marian has been marvelous about finding books to read. I am so happy that she is more enthusiastic about reading.

And yes, we had to do fireworks! The menfolk went out and purchased a ton of fireworks and I was surprised how fun they were. I'm not a big fan, but they picked out some really good ones.

Here is the audience. They were very impressed and quite well behaved.

Grandpa got to hold Rylee while I took pictures. When the big bangs came out, I took Rylee inside to watch where the sound wasn't so bad.

So, sure, we have had a lot of fun this week. In the interest of full disclosure though, I do want to tell you that it has not all been skittles and rainbows. I have not slept well since we arrived. The combination of new bed, hot room, and sharing with kids has cut my sleep quality waaay down. Add to that Rylee's new habit of hollering for a "Ba!" at 3am every morning (and then I have to get up and get her a bottle so she will go back to sleep.), and I'm not as well rested as I would like. I'd sleep in, but one child (and that varies between Rylee and Callie) is always up before 6am. So not cool.

There have been the inevitable meltdowns and I had 4 out of 5 children crying or mad all at the same time one day. On the plus side, they have been tired enough that they pretty much fall asleep within 5 minutes of going to bed. But wow, the drama and crying has been tough to take some afternoons.

In addition to that, we've passed around a little something. A little bit of fever, a little bit of vomiting, a little spewing from the other end, and to spice it all up, Miranda got strep throat. There really have been a few rough patches. Andy and Kera might say there were more rough patches, considering they had more sickies and pukers than any one else. Plus, they were up all night with a very sad and fevery baby that fussed all night last night. Me, I like to focus on the positive. I don't want you to think life is always fantastic. I'll admit right here that I shouted at my children this week. So no, I'm not perfect and while we are having a great time, it does require some flexibility and willingness to go with the flow. I don't want you to think I'm hiding the non-rosy parts. I just prefer to remember the good stuff and let go of the not so fun stuff, especially since the good far outweighs the not-so-good!