Good Things Happen in Twos

What have we been up to since the last blog entry? Way too much, I guess! Hmmm....and I thought July was suppose to be our low-key summer month?!

Two more weeks of Swimming Lessons:

Crispy finally did it......he jumped off of the diving board! When asked how it was, he stated it wasn't even scary. Imagine that! He was not able to convince his sister to jump. She was so very close everyday, bouncing on the end of the board. I just wanted to run up behind her and tap her in. Oh well, perhaps next session. Swimming lessons has been so good for all of the kids, and it has been especially helpful for the girls. I think I will sign them up year round beginning this fall, to help increase their core muscle strength. That is some pretty good therapy for only about $5 per lesson.....beats $300 and a one hour drive!

Two Kids Baling Hay:

Jonny and Crispy won the prize and got to stay at Grandma ? and Lyle's farm for a weekend. They were so excited to stay at the farm, and have been looking forward to it for months. They earned their keep by helping bale hay in 90+ degree temps. Being the good boys that they are, they worked hard, without complaining, and even earned an invitation back to help again! I know I have asked this before, but if they are such hard workers, why can't they clean up their rooms? They had a blast and are already looking forward to going again sometime soon......and now that Grandma will be giving up her Waconia apartment at the end of August and moving full time down to the farm, there will be plenty of dates to choose from!

Two Summer Storms:

In all the years we have lived here, we have only gone down to our basement garage twice seeking shelter from severe weather, and both of those times were in the first summer. A few weeks ago, we were sent to our basement two times, just days apart!

The first storm hit us quickly, with 70 MPH winds and hail right after we had finished lunch. Alex was still sleeping, but we woke him from his slumber and hurried to the garage.....this was certainly not a drill. When we emerged, the neighborhood was littered with recyclables and garbage (or course it was garbage day that day), front yards to back. I spent 90 minutes picking up our cul-de-sac and marvelling at the extent things were thrown. Most of the lighter items on our porch were found in the neighbor's back yard, having been stopped by the tall weedy grass leading to the wetlands. I also found about 1/4 of the other neighbor's roof in our front and back yards. Our house and truck were speckled and covered with leaves and plant matter, like some new trendy style of paint. The hail still remained in piles at the end of my clean-up spree. Pretty much everyone in our neighborhood experienced some damage to their homes, and you can now see contractors signs in almost every yard. We will most likely be donning one of those in our yard too, as our cedar shake siding took quite a beating. Also, our deck stairs....funny, they just blew right off the house, and must of landed in the lake...there is no sign of steps anywhere! (haha)

The second storm occured the next evening, and while we experienced only a small burst of rain shower, the sirens went off this time. The clouds covering our house was so impressed....it was like in the movie Independence Day as they rolled overhead. The storm brewed as it went along, and did produce some tornadoes in other areas.

Two Extra Kids:

Answering the call of a friend of Jonny's, we found ourselves with two extra kids (boys ages 3 and 10) during our busiest week in July~during the week of Vacation Bible School. As their parents searched out a new job and home two states away, their boys blended easily into our family and took the chaos of each day in stride. Mornings were filled with appointments and therapies of one sort or another, and evenings of VBS began at 4:30pm with dinner at church for volunteers and their families. Of course, in my case, that also included 2 extra boys and one neighbor girl. I am pretty sure that I was getting the best meal bargain this week under the "family meal flat rate".......$30 to feed 9 of us for four days was a great deal indeed!

Two Days in the Water:

One perfect summer afternoon was spent with friends at their "Private Beach" spot on Lake Waconia. As the kids spent hours floating on noodles and inner tubes, splashing, and making sand creations, surrounded by docks, in safety from passing boaters, us moms sat back and did NOTHING. It was so great to watch them having such a good time, and even better that they are all old enough to entertain themselves for hours and hours on end.

One HOT day in the middle of our busy week (with the 2 extra boys), was spent with friends in the backyard, playing on the waterslide and slip and slide. Between Mary and I, we had 13 kids running around in their little suits. My neighbor called and commented that it looked like a carnival in our backyard with all those little kids running around......and I suppose it did! To Mary and I, it felt so easy, as they all just played and played together. We could have sat out there all day just gabbing and watching the kids. Even lunch had gone without a hitch....feeding 4-6 kids at a time, everyone was happy, had a place to sit, and had their fill of food and drink. After the kid meals of chicken fries and fresh berries, Mary and I enjoyed a more gourmet meal of pesto linguine made from fresh basil...yum! We had to cut our visit short, as we had an exciting evening of VBS to get to.

Two Nights of Hockey:

All I can say is Wahoo! It had been too long, and I was so happy to skate again. We skated another co-ed game....this time at Level 1-2, which landed us smack in the middle of the mix. Even though I got a 5 inch bruise on my thigh (my own doing from climbing over the boards onto the bench), and "head injury" when I fell backwards, catching myself with the back of my head (good golly, that hurts so much more than you think it will with a helmet on), we had the most fun hockey night to date. We can't wait to play again!

The following night, we attended a clinic that we thought was the appropriate level for us. Instead, we struggled through drills that all the other women who had been skating league for four years were flying through. Ugh....when are we going to get this right? We are definitely switching to a lower level clinic next week!

Two More Milestones:

Tubby is now a professional walker. He insists on walking at all times, and is even beginning to experiment with running. It is so funny to see him walk because he is so short....he looks too miniature to be upright! But upright he remains, and if he falls, he immediately gets back up again, no matter where he is. This has also greatly improved his hockey and golf swings! He is verging on dangerous as he swings those things around with both hands.

Tubby is also eating with silverware. It is as though his sixteen month birthday last week just pushed him straight out of babyhood. Good for him, but sad for me. He does best with a fork, and is quite good at stabbing his food and bringing it to his mouth. It all makes sense, since he is so good with sticks and targets of any size.

Two Tantrums at VBS:

Ok, these things were not so good. VBS was fantastic.....the kids had a great time, and it was really nice that were we able to share this excitement with extra kids and friends at our house. Laura has had great difficulty separating from Crispy and myself all month, so I was unsure how VBS would go for her. The first night, she made it through with her 4-year old class, nervous, but having 2-1/2 hours of fun while I was downstairs helping run crafts, and Alex outside helping with games. The second night, Laura began a screaming/crying fit, that was louder than the rest of the 700-800 kids combined in the sanctuary. Even shuttling her into the childcare room with Tubby and Grandma ? provided no solace to little Miss Stubborn. I finally had to grab her and keep her in my room where we were making slime...so at least she had something fun to play with.

The next night, she PROMISED to be good if I left her in the childcare room with our 3 year old guest. She PROMISED! She immediately began her tantrum as we walked into the room. Naughty, naughty. This time, I called Daddy to pick her up, as I was not willing to let her think she was getting rewarded in any way by staying with me again. She was forced to sleep alone in her own bed that night and miss out on the massive slumber party (did I mention that in addition to the extra 2 boys, the neighbor girl was staying with us too?)....I hope she learned a lesson.

My dilemna for the last night was solved by Tubby coming down with a fever of 103 degrees overnight. Bob had to work late, so I had to stay home with the baby and miss the last night of VBS. The kids were so excited when they came home....in four days, they had collected more than $6000 for Feed My Starving Children. How awesome is that?! I kept Laura and the 3 year old at home with me, and we spent a few hours at the park and had a picnic while everyone else was gone. You know what Laura did when Grandma left with all the others? She dared to have a mini tantrum, claiming she would be good at VBS! Really?!? Does she really think we are all that gullible?!?

Two Awesome Riding Sessions:

Melissa is getting so strong on her horse! She now is riding completely independently, with and without other riders in the arena. She looks so happy and confident on her horse....it is so great to see. Unfortunately, we had to miss the charity Polo event this past Saturday. It sounds like it was perfect, and an experience in a different world, as bidders were spending up to $8000 individually during the auction portion. What a great fundraiser for an incredible group of people at Freedom Farm.

Today, Melissa got to ride her horse outside again, and even give him a bath with a spray hose at the end of her session. She was also excited to show off her knowledge to her good friend who accompanied us today.....I am not certain, but I think that the neighbor girl may just be living with us permanently. It is interesting that the two girls, while so different in so many ways, also have such similar interests, that they almost seem lost without each other

Two Very Long Drives:

Michael went away to his first hockey camp for one week. He had a great time, playing hockey for 6-7 hours everyday. He called us every night to check in and tell us good-night. He also REALLY wanted us both to be there for his final game to show us what he had learned. So, being the good parents that we are, we drove 2-1/2 hours to Winona, and 2-1/2 hours back on Saturday to watch him play. Good thing, too, because he scored the first goal of the game! I missed it as I bought treats for my hungry baby, but Daddy saw the whole thing, which was apparently a pretty cool goal. It was nice to see how much the kids had improved, and how much stronger they had become. Now we have to figure out how to keep up this conditioning until tryouts in September! It was nice to pick up Michael (and his friend)and bring him home.....we all had missed him. Tubby finally has a name for him.....it sounds something like "Glub-glub". Kinda cute!

Two Dates....That's Right, TWO DATES with My Husband!

We never get the chance to go out. But this weekend, we managed to escape not once, but twice! Saturday night, we went to dinner and a comedy show with our friends next door. The food was REALLY good, and the show was hysterical! I was laughing so hard, that I was crying through half of the headliner's show. We must be at the perfect age for this performer....we was our contemporary, also with a teenager at home, and similar views on life situations. Some of the younger crowd had blank faces for part of the show, but our corner of the room was ready to throw up (in a good way) from all the belly laughs after a full meal.

Between dinner and the show, we had a bit of excitement in the ladies' room. As we waited in the ever present restroom line, the woman behind me complained of not feeling well, and wanting to throw up (in a bad way). Several seconds later, she fainted against her friend, with what looked like a little seizure upon her recovery, and Bob was called to the scene. We learned she was 14 weeks pregnant, and kept her calm as friends called family members and we waited for the ambulance. Poor Bob....between that event and getting paged from the hospital 3 times, I wonder if he even felt like he was getting a night off?

Sunday, we had the pleasure of playing golf with our great friends Chris and Alison. It was so much fun to get to see them for the first time since they have moved back to the cities. We look forward to more dates like this! Though it was so wonderful to spend time with them, I am not yet convinced about golf being a "fun" sport. It is hard to have fun when you keep missing the ball, and 98% of your shots are totally crappy. Throw in the blazing sun and thick humidity, and almost 5 hours wandering around, looking for golf balls, starving....now where is the fun in that? Hockey for a few hours.....that is a good time! HUGE thank you to Grandma ? and Lyle who helped to make this weekend possible.....they got mega doses of grandchildren this weekend, and even got a few extra today! This picture was taken by Alison and her new camera.....she takes amazing pictures!

Two Driving Lessons:

Alex has his permit! He has now had two chances practicing driving a real automobile. Daddy took him out for his first lesson last week, and I took him out for a spin tonight. I was surprised that he was nervous but I was not....isn't it the teenager who is suppose to have the notion of being indestructible? We worked on turns and braking. I kept telling him to "drive faster"....probably the only time in his driving lifetime that I will be telling my son that! He was really getting it after a while. Being that it was late at night (10 pm), I told him to drive out of the middle school parking lot to give the real street and roundabout a try. Wouldn't you know, another car came up to the roundabout as we were driving through it, forcing my son to now drive with someone else on the road! He was SOO nervous! We made our way out of the roundabout, but the car followed us, headlights bright behind us. As I was suggesting Alex to pull over, the car (obviously manned by another teenager) whipped around us and beelined to our otherwise empty parking lot. Poor Alex! What a way to throw him into driving on the road! We continued to practice around a back lot until the teenagers drove away, giving us free reign once again of our quiet practice grounds. I think Alex is doing great, and will be a fine, conscientious driver someday!

Just for Fun:

The fire hydrant up the street was opened one day last week.....the kids took full advantage of playing in the lake in our cul-de-sac.