Brett's Surprise Slumber Party

So, since Brett's birthday is close, we were going over to some friend's house for dinner. I got some balloons over there and some streamers, too. I only got them there about ten minutes before Brett got there. Brett would have been there sooner, but I kept him on the phone. He called me as I was walking out of the grocery store, and his computer was already shut down and he was ready to walk out. I kept him talking because he was just going to go to our friend's house.

I didn't let him leave work until I had dropped off the party stuff.

We did dinner, and had stacks, and more snacks, and more stacks. We did birthday cake, and we had more snacks.

All of the children fell asleep on the couches, and the grown-ups stayed up and played game. Brett won our game of Settlers of Catan, and did a victory lap.

After the game we just sat at the table and talked. It was 4:00 a.m. and the grown-up boys went down to watch Monte Python, and we were conviced to spend the night. I went up and fell asleep in the master bedroom, all four of my children were asleep on the couches on the maid floor, and then the grown-up boys were all down on the couch.

In the morning, we finally got out of the house about 11:30 for breakfast. When we finally got home we all took naps - we were tired.

A Five Year-Old Boy

Our visitor has the pallet of a 5 year-old boy. Yesterday we had fish for lunch, and I asked him if he liked fish. He said that he might. Well, the fish was bad - it was cod, and we are not really cod fans. It was rubbery and dry. My family, who normally eat fish, complained about it. Emily and Claire did eat their fish, however, they did have an inch of ketchup on top of it. Our visitor took one bite of fish and then passed it to Claire. After a little while, he said, "I have eaten more fish tonight than I have in the whole seven years of marriage."

We started asking him what type of things he liked. Earlier we talked about it and he told us he had the pallet of a 5 year-old. We asked him about bread, whether he was a wheat bread or a white bread eater. I looked at him, he didn't say anything, but the look on his face said that he is a definitely a white bread eater. I said that and Brett was shocked.

We made omelets for dinner and we called his wife to ask her what was a slight stretch and something that we might be able to push on him but not push him over the edge. She wants him to eat onions.

O.K. for the omelets, we had little bowls with different things in it, onions, peppers, cheddar & pepper jack cheese, and sausage. Our friend just wanted sausage and cheese. Brett & I sauteed some onions & peppers and then we made our omelets. I let our friend have a bite after the onions were cooked and sweet. He didn't really taste them.

He is making dinner tonight for us. We will be having chili - without onions.

A Visitor

We have a vistor staying with us until his house is ready to move into. He will be moving into his house in October. His wife is not here, she is at home waiting until the house is ready.

I took these pictures when we came home from church. He went up to "grandma's room" and called his family. He is on the phone with his son who is eating a very big burrito. Yummy.

We can't wait to meet his family.

This post is for his son. Your daddy loves you!

First Day of School

The first day of school always brings with it some nerves.

Caleb was a little nervous that he would have older students (high school students) on the bus with him, and that they would break his cello. Well, he did end up having high school students on his bus, but his cello survived. He had a great first day. Many new adventures as he walked the halls of the middle school. More freedoms as he was able to walk by himself to his classes. More responsibility as he has to keep track of his own schedule. All in all he had a good day! Emily started a new school, also. After she got dressed I asked her if she was going to wear new clothes, and she told me that she wanted to wear her princess shirt. I guess sometimes we need to be reminded that we are princesses (and princes), and her first day at the elementary school was one of them. When I asked her how her day was, she replied, "BORING!" She did fall down and scrape her knee.
Eli was excited to go to school. He wasn't going to a new school, it was just the same thing as last year. In fact, his class is right across the hall from the one he was in last year. He was excited to see that he didn't have to share his locker with anyone, but he did say that he hoped his class didn't get any new students (he knew which locker they would be assigned to). Eli walked out with old clothes in his hand, and when I asked him if he was going to wear new clothes, his eyes lit up and he ran back into his room to get them.
I was excited to send them off to school. The experiences they will have and the growth they will experience will be fun to watch.

Short Video Clip

Here is Caleb's duet that he did with a girl for competition. Enjoy it!

Summer School Shopping

The children had to read and do school related things this summer to earn money for school clothes. We also told the children that they wouldn't get the same rate. If we were to pay Caleb 5 cents per minute, he would have nearly $300 to spend. It was a lot of fun watching him figure out what he needed and how best to spend his money. He bought the regular things - pants, shoes, and shirts. Then he bought some extra things - a light weight jacket and a pair of "dressy" shoes. He checked the price on everything he tried on, and he would determine it it was worth it. He and Eli would be in the store trying to figure out the best plan - a pair of pants was $19.50 for one, or you could get two for $25. The boys decide to both get the same item and then split the cost. They did this a couple of times. Caleb bought clothes that were a little more dressy, and then yesterday he got all dressed up in his new clothes. It is fun watching him grow up.

Eli on the other hand didn't really have a plan. He just looked at something, and if he thought he liked it, he would get it. Price didn't seem to matter to him. He got some of the same type of clothes that Caleb got, but he also got more "casual" type of clothes. He didn't read quite as much (not by a long shot). When we figured out how much he spent, he told me that if he got 5 cents a minute, he was over spent by about $20. I told him that would would probably pay him 7 cents per minute.

Emily was a big time price checker. The first thing she would do would be to look at the tag. She had a hard time if it wasn't rounded to the nearest dollar. I had to really convince her that it was O.K. to spend money, but every store she went into, she would check every tag before she would decide if she liked the item. She was worse than Caleb.

Claire was pretty carefree. She really has no concept of money, so she shopped with Emily. She wanted the same things that Emily was getting. At the first store, the girls bought the same pair of pants and two shirts. At the next store we went to, Claire found the exact dress that Emily was wearing, so we got her one. Claire changed in the next store so they could be twins.

We went to the Mall of America to do the shopping, and we got to do some rides. I am learning that I am a chicken, and I am not excited for many of the rides. I was also a little afraid for my children. They wanted to do some crazy rides, and I was a little afraid for them. We enjoyed looking at the pictures of everyone after the rides.

WE HAD A GREAT DAY!

FAIR = Fun + Food + Friends + Family

We went to the fair, and again we ate our way through. At our fair there are animals, rides, tractor pulls, food vendors, and a whole bunch of people. We ended up going on a Friday night, and we had a lot of fun. The boys did some summer reading at the library, and they got coupons from the vendors at the fair for free and discounted food. We decided to go and see the animals first, and then we washed up and went to get the food.

We didn't see all of the animals. We did go in the cow barn and the pig barn. There were some very crazy pigs. One of them was a little scary. As we were walking by, a pig was making some awful noises while it had it's front feet on the rail as if it were trying to break out. We hurried right on past that one. We also went into the cow barn and got our picture (thank you Ashley for the pictures) taken in front of the dairy cows, or actually behind the dairy cows.

We also got to go to the petting area. There were pigs, ducks, chicks, horses, lambs, and some other animals there. It was fun watching my children with our friends' little boy and with all of the animals.

Here are some pictures of our family. Our friend took pictures and she thinks that we all make faces for the camera. HMMM...

Claire eating cotton candy.

Emily eating cotton candy.

Eli wearing his dinner on his face.

Caleb in a truly candid moment.

Brett thinking about the crazy pig.

Me... after a long week at home and a night at the fair.

Locks of Love

So, after not being able to get their hair cut on Saturday night during the Relay for Life, I set up appointments for the girls to go to a hairdresser and have it done. Emily wanted to get up first thing Monday morning and get hers cut, and Claire didn't really care. I told Em that she would have to wait until Tuesday afternoon, after swimming lessons. She told me that was too long to wait.

When we finally go to the salon, Claire went first. She got in the chair, and they cut her hair. It didn't phase her. The only thing she was worried about was that people would call her a different name. She was afraid that people wouldn't recognize her with her hair cut.

While Claire was in the chair, Emily started to get nervous. She wasn't sure she wanted to get her hair cut anymore. She even had a couple of little tears trickle down her cheek. However, when it was her turn to get her hair cut, she jumped right up in the chair, and she was a little trooper.

I love the new hair cuts. I am sorry though, because the both look older. My little girls are growing up.

Dangerous Jobs?

I guess Emily thought she was going to run into some complications while she was cleaning the toilet. I know it really needed to be cleaned, however, I really didn't think it was this bad.

Relay for Life

Our family participated in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. It is featured in the Austin Daily Herald. It was a great experience. My children and I went to some friends and neighbors and asked for donations (we raised over $1000 in money and free food coupons - it is nice to know people who sell grocery products at Hormel). Thank you to all who donated.

On Saturday, about 3:00 p.m., we put on our shirts and went down for our group picture. After the group picture there was food, cotton candy, drinks, games, a silent auction, and a live auction. Our team leader was one of the honorary chairs of the event, and she gave a speech at sunset. Before she was able to give her speech, she had to be bailed out of jail (one of the members of our team put her in jail for $10 and she had to raise $100 from inside jail to be able to get out - the normal bail was $10 - she raised $100 in jail, but got fined $20 for taking off her jumpsuit, so she had to go up on stage and ask for money). Caleb and Eli got put in jail. After a little while, Eli came running back to our group shouting, "I'm out!" He had collect $10 from the people walking by. Caleb still had $8 left to collect. Then one of the young men in our ward wanted to see if Eli could get out again before Caleb got out. Eli was back in jail. After a while, our team captain bailed them both out, but Eli got the money first and came running over to our group yelling, "I beat him again!"We took a couple of laps around the pond, and then a little after 12:00 midnight we started packing up the children to take them home. We finally made it home a little before 1:00 a.m. and went to bed. I set my alarm for 4:20 a.m. and then got up and went back for a couple more laps and the closing ceremony. When I returned home about 7:30, the children were all still asleep, and Brett was at church meetings. Several people were very tired at church.
Emily and Claire were very excited to donate their hair. They have been looking forward to it since we signed up for this event, and the people who were going to come and cut hair cancelled. Emily was very dissapointed and cried a lot. The girls will be getting it cut on Tuesday.

All in all - it was a great event.