Pardon my dust...

I wanted to apologize for my disappearance act this summer. My summer has consisted of refereeing fights between the older 2, cleaning the never ending messes of the younger 2, and constantly feeding, changing and entertaining the baby. Any free time I have is usually spent sitting in the corner babbling like a madwoman.

The Highlights of my summer thus far include:

1. Lovely 4 yr old Katie deciding to walk home by herself from gymnastics and making it 2 blocks before being picked up by a passing bicyclist who took her back to the community center in time to chew out Steve for being a deadbeat dad.

2. Having enough of Levi and Rhyan's fighting and locking them outside in 100 degree weather while I showered in peace. (Peace being a relative word as I showered with the baby screaming in her Bumbo seat and Katie and Isabelle tearing up my house, but at least there wasn't a continual stream of tattling parading through the bathroom during said shower).

3. Kenna getting her first 2 teeth. Enough said.

4. Far, far too many hours spent in the car with family. (At least 3 so far).

5. Practicing to be a grumpy librarian, hoping this time they might actually be quiet and Kenna might actually sleep for longer than a half hour.

School starts in 19 days. It's not like I'm counting or anything.

Further studies prove

As further evidence in my study on the correlation between simians and boys, I give this example.  This weekend at the Father's Day dinner with my parents and my brothers and their families, my father asked my brother Joseph if he wanted water or punch.  Joseph said "punch" and so my other brother James leaned over and punched him.

I'm just saying...

We have been visiting my parents for the past week...girls only (while the boys stay at home working and schooling in the hot, hot heat, hahahahhaha).  Today, my daughter was playing with her cousins in the basement.  She suddently had an ephiphany about how much she missed her daddy and started to cry.  My niece, not wanting to miss out on the fun of a pity party, quickly thought about how much she missed her friends from school and she too began to cry.  My nephew confused and not wanting to join this paticular party, came upstairs and proceeded to wrestle with anyone who stood still long enough.  Girls are weird but boys are monkeys.

Heavy Metal

For the past 2 years, Levi has been a part of Culley Elementary School's Steel Drum Band. They only play 2 concerts and both are at the end of the year within a few weeks of each other. So, for those who have wanted to catch his concert and were unable, I thought I would post a few clips for you. The first clip is really short because the battery died. The second clip Steve got from our photo camera and he forgot that you can't rotate video like you can a photograph.

A Very Inadequate Thank You

What I wish I could say...

Today is National Birth Mother's Day. It falls every year on the Saturday before Mother's Day. It's hard to find words to express our feelings about the women who helped to make us parents. No matter what their circumstances are and were they loved their children enough to make a difficult decision. They loved their children.