Yes, We Are Still Alive!

Wow, it has been a long time since the last post. I wish I could use the excuse that I was on some grand exotic vacation....or any kind of vacation for that matter. But the sad truth is simply that I can't keep up! I can barely keep up with all the real activities going on around here at the end of the school year, much less the virtual activites in cyberspace. Perhaps some quick recapping through pictures will be appropriate here:

Thomas has been a VERY busy little baby. He enjoys plasma car racing with the rest of the kids, playing in the water table on the deck, and continues climbing and sliding on his climber. Though still not walking, he is very adept at climbing up and down stairs and other things. He climbed up both flights of stairs the other day when someone left the baby gate unlocked! When not busy practicing his newfound gross motor skills, he continues to be constantly seen with hockey stick in hand. When outside, he is in his glory to find the stash of full sized sticks and hockey net in the driveway. Hockey heaven for Tubby! He is also expanding his vocabulary as he now can say "Laura" (RAH-RAH) and "Jonny" (NAH-NEE). But for the past 8 days, poor Tubby has been sick and croupy, whiney and bugary, leaving Mommy not much time to do anything but cuddle the poor tike.

Laura has done a complete turnaround with her swimming lessons. She is now so excited to go each time. She gets ready quickly, and if she could, she would be skipping all the way to the pool. She eagerly tries anything her teacher asks her, and even got her face wet today! She has been very proud of herself, and I think she has felt very happy to have an activity of her own to talk about. It helps that her big brother and sister are jealous of her lessons! She has also been getting creative with her Webkinz play.....when not online, she is playing with her stuffed animals, and they have been doing all kinds of things. The best have been the pictures and "letters" she has been writing. Funny how most of the letters include signing up for swimming lessons!

Christopher, Christopher.........naughty little boy was caught in a lie the other day. We have a zero lie tolerance in this house. We had no other choice than to turn him over to the authorities.

The cop gave him a good talking to, and then deposited him at the school yard. Good thing Crispy is so cute, otherwise I am sure he would have been thrown straight into solitary for his offense.


In other news, Crispy has been learning to ride his big boy bike without training wheels. He really has the ability to do it, but his nervousness keeps him from being entirely successful. Like me hitting a golf ball. Crispy has been enjoying some extra free time at school, walking to the park, practicing for the school Olympics next week, visiting the library, playing Pokemon in the basement and putting on puppet shows. He played his last 2 soccer games in the rain and cold (Community Ed will not cancel any more games since 5 of the first 8 were cancelled due to bad weather and only 1 could feasibly be made up). He missed the make up game on Tuesday because he suddenly became ill. I am hoping it was due to eating way too many mushrooms....I seriously would not be able to handle a GI bug going through my house right now!

Melissa has had some great things happen to her lately. Her Brownie troop went to Libby Lu for a special treat to celebrate all the cookies they had sold. The girls had their nails done, makeup applied, and got to pick a cool up-do for their hair. I was not able to attend this event as it was one of the nights we were quadruple booked. The girls had a great time, and her hair stayed in place overnight so that she was able to wear it to school the next morning.....which just happened to be her birthday! Perfect! We met Melissa at school for lunch. Later in the afternoon, I went back to her school for an "Author's Tea". The kids shared readings they had written in the past few weeks. Melissa read a short story, a poem, and a play. The play was most impressive with the array of characters and a storyline that was followable. The alphasmart tool (like a typewriter) has really helped her to get all of her thoughts down onto paper as they stream from her mind.

We had spaghetti (Melissa's favorite) for dinner on the deck (her favorite place to eat) followed by opening of presents and the eating of the Webkinz magic "W" cake. The big gift this year was a puppet theater with puppets. The kids entertained us with a few puppet shows later in the evening. I can't believe she is eight already! Being the first girl, remembering her babyhood is a bit easier than remembering all the boys. All the pink, all the frills, all her curly princess hair! Such a girlie girl!

Since it was such a beautiful evening, I talked her into postponing our stay at the local hotel so that we could play outside and with her new toys. Good that she agreed, because the next day was rainy, cold and miserable. After 3 soccer games in the lousy rain, I was more than ready to head one mile around the corner for some fun R & R. The kids were pysched. We had watched the new AmericInn go up from day one....it literally is just around the bend on the main road to our house, so we passed by it nearly everyday. Being the only adult with the 5 youngest kids, I put them all in lifejackets, and the baby in an inflatable boat, and we had a great time in the very clean pool.....and nobody drowned! While we enjoyed the time at the hotel, Bob was at home preparing for our Mother's Day BBQ....cleaning, cooking, the works! That was Mother's Day present enough, not to have to worry about party preparations. We had a wonderful Mother's Day gathering after church. And the unexpected sunshine was a wonderful touch. The kids were not thwarted by the wind (afterall, it is typically windy on our point), so they spent much of the day playing outside. The rest of us lounged around indoors, sipping mimosas and stuffing our faces with REALLY GOOD food. Thanks, Bob and Dad!