Runchey Family

Precious

2012-02-13T12:41:00.001-06:00

The wait is over! Ellie finally got to bring home Precious from preschool for the week. Precious is the preschool pet, of sorts. Really, he’s the best kind of pet. He doesn’t need food, doesn’t poop, smell, or make any noise. He is a stuffed gorilla.

Each week a different preschool student gets to take home Precious for a whole week. The child is suppose to take Precious everywhere with them and take pictures and then record, in Precious’ diary, what they did on their week together.

Ellie was beyond excited to finally get her week with Precious! I like to think of him as the magical monkey. I am pretty sure I could have used him to get her to do amazing things. Like eat dinner.

The first thing Ellie did was to introduce Precious to Nala, Riley’s monkey. They were immediate friends!

The girls spent the whole afternoon playing with Precious. They even all got dressed up as Princesses. Precious was Sleeping Beauty.

Precious also ate almost every meal with Captain Crazy Hair. This made me a little nervous when we had waffles in the morning because I was concerned Precious would end up a sticky mess. He stayed in his booster seat like a good little monkey and we didn’t have any problems.

We also took Precious to the Mall of America to see Llama Llama Red Pajama. Which, to be honest, I thought was sort of lame, so we ditched the show and bought a ticket for some rides. Precious’ favorite ride was Diego’s Adventure Bus. His least favorite ride was Ghost Blasters. My judgment was off and it scared him very much!

On Thursday, Precious went to Ellie and Riley’s dance recital. He even got dressed in a tutu for the show! He was very impressed with their performance.

On Saturday, Precious had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Smith’s. My guess is that he stayed up too late and ate lots of yummy treats there!

Ellie thoroughly enjoyed her time with Precious and hopes to be reconnected with him again next year when Riley is lucky enough to have her turn for a week.

It’s gone!

2012-02-10T16:38:00.001-06:00

Austin finally lost a tooth. Quite literally. We have no idea where it is.

His two bottom teeth have been just the tiniest bit lose for at least 5 months. They never seemed to get any more loose. I started to get concerned when I saw his two permanent teeth coming up behind them…quite a ways behind them.

It really started to bother Austin’s eating because he would constantly get food stuck between the two rows of teeth. But we are finally half over with the problem! Yesterday morning he rushed through all his morning rituals so he could play his video game before school. He was downstairs playing and I was upstairs getting the girls ready and he yelled “Mom! I lost my tooth!” so I went downstairs eager to see his grin and this is what I got:

Doesn’t really look that different. So I requested a close up.

Still isn’t completely obvious because that other one has already grown in so much. Oh well….he lost it. He has no idea where it is. I said that it was probably lost down the drain when he was brushing his teeth. This really bummed him out because he really wanted to see it. Like a good Mama Bear I took apart the drain in search of the tooth. But, aside from some yucky pipes, I didn’t find anything. I assured him the tooth fairy would still come. He could just write a letter explaining his diligent brushing techniques. He forgot to write his letter….and the tooth fairy forgot to show up. We’ll try again tonight.

The Big Reveal!

2012-02-08T16:17:00.001-06:00

I’m a little embarrassed to show you before pictures of our mudroom. Now that the problem has been fixed, it’s odd to think we dealt with the “before” mess for as long as we did. And, the pictures don’t even touch on how truly messy it was because I didn’t think to take the pictures until I had already cleared out the majority of the coats and some of the shoes. But, without further delay, here was what our mudroom looked like:

Again…missing almost all the coats.

Below is a fairly representative sample of the shelf. Let’s see, I can pick out sunscreen, bug spray, winter accessories, a first aid kit, a computer game, a cowboy hat, and a few umbrellas….among other things.

And the shoes. They were everywhere. Who knew little kids (and big kids) required so much footwear! And that bench was useless. Typically you couldn’t even see it because there were coats hanging over it. And it was just a catchall for every thing so there was never any room to actually sit on it.

Rob and I have had grand visions for the mudroom for quite some time. Last spring he sketched up some plans for what he wanted to build and, during the summer, had even started to work out some basic framework. As tends to happen when he travels, I got antsy and decided I needed to move things along. I called my dad and asked him the best way to remove trim. That’s the above picture. But, I had such fun removing the trim that I also went ahead and removed that useless bench in the corner too. Probably my favorite part of the whole process was gutting that little corner right down to the studs. This picture was taken at the beginning of September.

The plan had always been that I would handle the tiling. Only, cement board is actually made out of cement….who knew? And being so, it is quite heavy. So, I believe Rob and my dad ripped up the current linoleum floor and then Rob and I spent a day (actually, it was our 11th anniversary) laying down the cement board.

The following weekend Rob took the kids to Iowa for the weekend and I stayed behind and tiled the floor:

That’s pre-grout, but apparently is the only picture I took of the tiling process.

From this point on I really had nothing to do. I helped pick out the paint color, even helped paint, but from here on out I was a cheer leader. And another set of muscles the numerous times Rob needed things moved around in his shop. Rob spent a lot of long nights in his shop/garage working on the built-ins but I have to say, seeing the finished product it was all well worth it!

Presenting our new, and highly improved, mudroom:

I can’t really offer many details on how it was all done. I know that the bench top is Cherry wood and the finish on it is as smooth as silk! Each kid has a locker to put their belongings in as well as a cubby above their locker to someday house other items (cellphones, schoolwork, who knows…).

The upper cupboards are pretty empty right now…but there’s no reason they couldn’t hide sunscreen, bug spray, first aid kits, computer games, cowboy hats, and umbrellas…

The bottom shoe area has been more than enough room, so far, for us and our apparent shoe obsession. The shelves in the shoe area are on slides so you can access the shoes in the back easily. The drawers have those “easy close” things on them so the kids cannot slam them.

Also, a whole new closet was added. This closet juts out into our garage (but doesn’t hinder the parking of either Rob’s car or my van in it’s spot). It’s the only part of the mudroom that isn’t completely finished. The idea is to build some sort of shelves in there where we can have a charging station for all our cellphones and gadgets. Also to house my dust buster!

It’s been done now for a few weeks and it’s working awesome! The kids are doing a great job of taking responsibility for their various articles of clothing and putting them where they belong. It’s nice to be able to walk in from the garage without tripping over anything. Plus, with the addition of the new closet to house my vacuum and mop I can actually offer my guests the front closet for their coats. I haven’t….but I could!

Anyway, to put it mildly, I’m ecstatic with the results and with what Rob can accomplish. Probably 50% of our neighborhood has the same mudroom and I bet they’d all benefit from a similar system but now that I know what he’s capable of, my list of projects for Rob has grown and he will be unavailable to help for the unforeseeable future!

It’s here, it’s here!!!

2012-01-30T14:57:00.001-06:00

We decided to get Austin a bunk bed back in August of 2011. It’s all part of our master plan to accommodate guests without needing to put them in our cold, dank basement. Stage 2 of the plan is to get a trundle bed in Riley’s room. Maybe in another 5 months that will happen too.

Anyway, Austin’s bunk bed has finally arrived and he was so excited that Rob and I tackled the top part (the fun part) last night before bedtime. The kids had to stay up an extra hour, but it was worth it!

He is SO excited about his new bed! I’m not sure if I’m excited or not about climbing up there to read to/with him each night.

The height certainly doesn’t make reading dinosaur names, like Piantnitzkysaurus, any easier. Can you see the concentration I have to exert at 9pm? It’s exhausting. And can you see Austin laughing at my attempts? It’s embarrassing.

He fell right asleep and I had to drag him out of bed this morning. When he groggily got down the stairs he said “Man, I just sleep so good in my new bed! I just wish I could stay home from school to sleep some more”. Nice try. But, he did eat his breakfast at record speed so he could go play on his new bed a bit more before the bus came.

(then the bus came and I realized he is “star of the week” and needs to bring special items to share with the class, not just toys, but actual special items. Then we couldn’t think of anything special so I told him I’d drive him to school to buy us more time. then the bus company called me to see if he was going to school, I said he was, they told me Judy (the bus driver) would swing by again and pick him up, and I said that was awfully sweet of her, but that I was awfully unorganized and would just drive him)

This bed has a desk on one side. I’m hoping it makes homework a magical time. I’ll keep you posted.

My Minor Heart Attack

2012-01-26T05:43:00.000-06:00

Everyday Austin gets on the bus at 8:30am and gets off the bus at 4:00pm like clockwork. I have been instructed to only come out to the bus stop on “special occasions”….which are just random days that he deems “special”. Given the recent temperatures, I have absolutely no issues with this system.

I only have an issue with it when, at 4pm, his bus comes, drops the kids off, goes, and Austin is no where in sight!

I yell frantically to the 5th grader across the street “Kenzie! Was Austin on the bus??!!!” and she calmly replies “No”. I search up and down the street and call to her again “Kenzie! Did you see him at all? Did you see him walk to the busses?” “Nope, never saw him.” (and it absolutely is not her job to watch for Austin). But now I at least know he wasn’t on the bus….PLEASE let him just be at school and not on the wrong bus.

I fumbled through the phone number for school and as calmly as possible explained that my first grader’s bus has come and gone and that my son was not on it. She nicely went through a list of programs he might have been part of after school. Probably only took 10 seconds for her to list them all but it was a long 10 seconds and I wouldn’t be paranoid about him not coming home if he was in an after school program…..would I?

Anyway, approximately 3 minutes later I squint and see what could be a red and grey jacket walking home from the bus stop down the street. The fact that he is walking slower than a turtle assures me it’s Austin (you have never seen a kid less eager to get home after getting off the bus….really makes a mom feel good). I yell “Austin?!?!” and he just gives me a small wave in response.

I spent the next 10 minutes stewing (yes, one block away… 10 minutes…he’s SLOW!) about how he needs to pay better attention and stop giving me anxiety attacks….and blah blah blah. He finally reached our front porch sidewalk and promptly fell on the ice. Tried to stand up, and fell again. Legs just completely kicked out from underneath him like a cartoon character. He didn’t even know I was watching him. Straight out of a Stooges movie - this kid could not stand to save his life. He fell at least 6 times. I was laughing so hard at him that I couldn’t even give him my lecture. But, I didn’t offer any help either.

Out with the Old, In with the New!

2012-01-25T06:11:00.000-06:00

We have only had our van since November of 2007, but in that time, the transmission has been replaced (twice), the driver’s seat had 2 large cracks in the leather, the dohicky under the hood malfunctioned, the knob that directs airflow stopped working, and there was a “whirring” noise coming from the engine on the passenger side. To boot, within the last 2 weeks the engine started “stuttering” like it did right before the transmission went out. We definitely got a lemon.

This past weekend Rob found just what he was looking for in a new (used) van and we are now the owners of a new van with more technical gadgets inside than I know what to do with. The engine doesn’t stutter, and it’s so quiet inside (or my kids have gotten louder).

Our little hoarder was sad to give up the old van. The conversation went a little like this:

Me: Austin….tomorrow we’re going to pick up a new van!

Austin: Fun! We’ll have 2 vans!

Me: No, we’ll give them this one and we’ll just have the new one.

Austin: *whimpering* But….I LOVE this van. I love the TV

Me: The new one has 2 TVs!

Austin: But I love that chair that folds down

Me: The new has the same chairs (without cracks in the leather!)

Austin: But I love the back…..the back is my favorite part!

Me: Let’s just take your picture with the van before we trade it in and then you can have that picture forever.

Austin: Okay.

So, here is Austin with his favorite van:

After I shot this picture he said “Okay, now one from the back!”……

After he was satisfied with the photos we went and picked up our new van. On the way home he watched actual TV on one of the TVs, and I think Riley watched a DVD on the other one. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t given the old van a second thought.

By the way, I could start a whole other blog revolving around things Austin wants to keep forever and I offer to instead take a picture of before I throw it away:

Christmas #3

2012-01-23T19:30:00.002-06:00

Last but not least….Christmas #3 took place the first weekend in January in the Runchey’s beautiful new house! For the first year we all were able to stay in the house and celebrate without the interruptions of one or more families leaving for the hotel! Each family has their own bedroom….though someday all the kids will probably just crash in the family room and us responsible adults will allow the Grandparents the privilege of taking care of them while we sleep in. It’s the least we can do. In the meantime….
It was a fun-filled weekend. Filled with much of the same as our other Christmases (read: eating).

If I counted right, that is all but 2 of the grandchildren. Grandma Runchey had no shortage of tasty treats for them at all times!
We also got to celebrate this little lady’s first birthday:

I took this picture early, but she did a number on that cake!
In the evenings we were treated to a couple impromptu performances. It was a bit of an amateur talent night. There were songs, informational monologues, and dances.

And, I know I’m biased, but I happen to think I have some of the cutest kids on Earth as nieces and nephews (both sides).

Just sayin’…..
It was a fantastic weekend breaking in their new home and a perfect end to our Christmas season.

(As an unrelated side note, my family recently berated my blogging frequency. Yes, I know I am behind. I definitely have things to write about….but Rob has been traveling every week and after 24/5 single parenting week after week, a good book will win out over blogging every time! Honestly, a good book would win out over blogging even if Rob were in town.)

Christmas #2

2012-01-07T11:27:00.000-06:00

Around noon on Christmas day we were all ready for another round of Christmas-ing! Well, most of us were ready. Austin was actually kind of sick. He had thrown up the night before, and although adrenaline pulled him through the morning, it was starting to wear off. Not his healthiest Christmas. But, he was a trooper, and once his idol (Jake) showed up his spirits perked up a bit.

Christmas at my parents was the usual controlled chaos. The kids run around like maniacs (or normal kids on Christmas day) and we all ignore them! You just have to speak a little louder to be heard. Before anyone got too crazy Kerry took our annual picture:

Then we ate some, opened stockings, opened presents, ate some more, played cards, ate, played Wii, relaxed, ate, etc.

I love watching all the cousins play together. They come up with such great games. And I always think “Poor Austin and Jake” as the younger girls all dance around like princesses. They don’t seem to mind though.

It was a great way to spend the rest of Christmas Day! Good food, great family!

Christmas #1

2012-01-05T19:38:00.001-06:00

After much anticipation, Christmas Eve was finally upon us! I think we could have put our kids to bed at 6:30 and they would have gone without complaint because Santa was coming as soon as they were asleep! Austin made a last ditch effort to ensure Santa knew he belonged on the nice list.

Dear Santa

I don’t know if the Polar Express is real. I did play with my sisters. I also want a Padme and Iron Man set.

Love, Austin

Unfortunately Santa had already packed his sleigh for the night and he received neither of his last minute requests. And, had Santa decided he would just stop at Target on the way to our house, he would find that every single Star Wars action figure was wiped out from the shelves that night.

Never fear, Austin reacted with great enthusiasm the next morning towards every gift he received. Expressions like “I’ve wanted one of these my whole life” were plentiful.

Ellie spent her down time between presents thinking about her next present.

Riley had the best reaction. You see, she asked Santa for a horse. This was no surprise to us because she loves horses right now. Santa was eager to please and gave her a cute brown stuffed horse.

Her reaction was as follows:

<Gasp!> It’s a horse!!!!……huh. It’s stuffed.

And then she pretty much tossed it aside. Luckily, Santa and I were on the same page. I’m not sure we have the room for the real thing. She has since decided that her horse isn’t too bad after all and has named it “Whippy”.

The kids had fun shopping for Rob this year. Guess who picked out this shirt?

Once all the presents were opened we went straight into cussing out the toy packaging companies, and then playing with said toys.

Like aggressively putting on make-up from new little make-up sets.

And having all the ocean creatures migrate across our kitchen floor.

We really enjoyed our Christmas morning! Plenty of time to play and relax and enjoy each other’s company!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T05:43:00.000-06:00

Our 2011 (and first) Christmas letter:

Austin is currently in first grade and loving it. He continues to pursue his dream of becoming the world’s greatest toy collector. His collection of Clone Troopers is unparalleled. He also continues to love anything to do with nature. If you ever get a chance be sure to ask him why you shouldn’t underestimate the American badger despite its unusual waddle.

Ellie started pre-school this year and is enjoying it. Of the three kids she is the most sure of herself and it definitely comes out during school. She has no problem answering questions, singing the loudest or trying to make new friends. She is also our resident comedian, at least in her own mind. She seems to think if you add the word “banana” to anything it makes it hilarious.

Then there is little Riley who is the most stubborn of the group. She has no problem staring me down. In her eyes I can see what she is thinking, “I am so cute you aren’t going to do anything”. She is also attending imaginary baby school in her head. The kids there aren’t always the nicest, the other day one of them called her puke.

Tracy continues to work for Cargill part time and also picked up teaching swimming lessons at the YMCA. She also somehow keeps our three kids moving in the right direction despite their attempts to stray.

I am in my second year with the Mosaic internal audit group and really enjoy it. In my spare time I try to figure out how my wife stays sane.

Merry Christmas Bananas!

Just waiting….

2011-12-23T05:18:00.000-06:00

Austin and Ellie were officially done with school starting Thursday. They’re busy making a list of things they want to do on our winter break.

Austin’s List

Lion’s Tap
McDonald’s
Together fun
Play animals
Play princesses being captured (his attempt to appease his sister’s with a princess game)

Ellie’s List

Crafts

Riley was sleeping while the others were composing their lists (a trend I hope she continues for winter break).

In the meantime, this is a common sight in our house:

The corners of presents are starting to tear so they are trying very hard not to touch the presents which isn’t that fun….or easy. Just a couple more days!

A Shiny Nose

2011-12-22T09:10:00.001-06:00

Yesterday when I came home from work I was welcomed by a newcomer to the family!

I’m not sure where Ellie was, but Rudolph was at my house!

She remained in character almost all day and this morning she asked me to paint her nose red again because “it was so adorable, right?”.

I’m not much of a makeup girl….hopefully Crayola’s washable markers are as washable as they claim.

A Visit with the Big Guy

2011-12-19T12:29:00.002-06:00

We were able to check one more item off the “Christmas To-D0” list this weekend!
We still hadn’t visited with Santa yet. We made an attempt last weekend after church but when we got to the line, it looked ridiculously long. I decided I would just take the kids the following week during the weekday in hopes of it being a shorter wait. That week I checked online for various prices. Some of the malls used to let the parents take just one picture with their own camera and then the visit was free. I couldn’t find a mall this year that was allowing that and the cheapest package I could find was $23…..Bah Humbug!
Then I tossed around the idea of bringing the kids for their “free” visit but not buying a picture but I knew that someday when I go to line up all the pictures on the mantel, like my mom does, that I would kick myself for that year in 2011 when I was too cheap to purchase a picture.
My parents solved my whole dilemma for me! In their development, some houses are still being built and one of the builders was having an open house that would include free pictures with Santa, reindeer rides, face painting, coloring, and snacks! Sounded perfect. Only, I made my dad run down the street ahead of time to make sure that the Santa was legit. I didn’t want some scraggly construction worker with an uber-fake beard who was there because he drew the short straw. I know beggars can’t be choosers, but Austin has started to ask questions and I figure the more realistic the less I have to explain. So, my dad called back and confirmed he was a good Santa and we were on our way!
The kids had a blast. They were delighted that Santa also brought Mrs. Claus with him! They talked with him for quite awhile and he had a lot to say to them too….when he was able to get a word in edgewise.

The kids were eager to get home and color pictures for him, and write some letters! Hopefully some of the lots are still being developed next year so we can plan another visit!

Ellie’s Preschool Christmas Concert

2011-12-14T14:14:00.001-06:00

Ellie has had a very busy week in preschool this week. On Monday they celebrated her half birthday, since she won’t be in school for her real birthday. I was also able volunteer in her classroom this day. What a treat! As the birthday girl she was in charge of bringing a special treat (brownie bites!), she got to line up first when they left the classroom, she got to pick the prayer before snack time, and she also got to choose which type of friends they would say good-bye to at the end of the day (it’s a little song they sing…she picked “baby Jesus friends”). She had a LOT of fun being the birthday girl in school. And she is quick to remind everyone that she is now 4…and a HALF!

Today was her Preschool Christmas concert. Riley has a habit of playing with the lens on my camera when I’m not watching so the pictures are getting worse and worse (fingerprints!), and lately, taking pictures indoors always turn out really dark (even though the flash is on). The two things combined leave me with dark, mediocre pictures.

But, she filed in and saw me, Riley, and Grandma and Grandpa Smith right away and gave us lots of waves and her signature Ellie pose.

They sang about 10 songs but I’m sure every kids’ favorite was “Ring the Bell” (or click the sticks).

What kid doesn’t love pounding some sticks together loudly? Ellie “whispered” to me in between songs “Mom! Did you bring chocolate chip cookies?”. Don’t worry. I did. One little boy in her class, George, asked “Is this the last song yet?” about 3 times towards the end of the show. She has a young class of 4 year olds (meaning most are summer birthdays) and their attentions were waning towards the end!

She did a great job singing her heart out! Here’s a couple video snippets:

Jingle Bells

A Christmas Secret

Better Late Than Never–Gobble Gobble!

2011-12-12T15:09:00.001-06:00

It just dawned on me that with the chaos of the holidays, the Haefner’s moving, and me getting sick, I never touched on what a wonderful Thanksgiving we had! I don’t have any pictures to reference but it was a great weekend!

Bob, Patti, and Jon joined us on Thursday morning and based on our kids’ excitement, they couldn’t have gotten here soon enough! We had things underway as they arrived with intentions of eating at 1pm. And by “we”, I really mean “Rob”. He’s the head chef around here….I’m just a mere sous chef. Rob had planned our menu and had a timetable drawn up as to what would be started when.

Our meal was a fried turkey, crockpot stuffing (the best!), mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, corn, cranberries, bread, and pie. I handled the sweet potatoes, corn, bread, and pie. And the pie was purchased from Baker’s Square! Rob had everything else taken care of. And, he wasn’t too far off his goal of 1pm either! It was absolutely delicious!

Patti and I did go to Michaels around 5pm on Thursday for a really quick shopping trip, and the guys headed out on Friday for a quick trip to Bill’s Toggery (for dress shirts for Bob’s birthday and Father’s Day), but other than that, we didn’t partake in any Black Friday craziness. It was a really relaxing time. Well, for me. Patti was in high demand and perhaps it wasn’t quite as relaxing for her!

It was a quick trip and the crew left on Friday afternoon but we were very thankful they were able to join us for our feast!

Gnomeo and Juliet

2011-12-08T19:14:00.001-06:00

I sit here tonight, having a pizza party with the kids (Global Dominos Pizza Day – 50% off any pizza and Rob’s gone), watching “Gnomeo and Juliet” for the 50th time (probably not much of an exaggeration) and I have to say, this movie is pretty good. It’s the type of movie that is funny for kids, but that also has a lot of jokes that only adults would get. I guess the whole movie in itself is a parody of something that only adults would understand. I know I haven’t touched on Shakespearean classics with the kids yet, maybe I’m lagging behind.

But, my favorite part of watching this movie is watching my kids watch it. It revolves around two groups of garden gnomes. The Red Hats vs. the Blue Hats. There’s an ongoing battle over who keeps a better garden and that sort of thing. Anyway, so at one point, one of the blue guys says “Let’s go kick some grass!” and Austin dies laughing every time. This made me a little nervous until he said “Ha ha….that’s funny because usually people say ‘Let’s kick some butt!’.”

In another scene, one of the gnomes wants to order a new lawn mower online. They show the back of the computer and instead of an “apple” where it would be, there is a banana. Ellie giggled at the sight of the banana (for some reason Ellie thinks bananas are hilarious?!), and then Austin said “No Ellie! That’s funny because usually computers are sponsored by Applebee’s. That one must be sponsored by Bananabee’s!”

So, I guess a lot of the jokes are lost on my kids, but that’s okay with me. Makes it all the more entertaining for me when I sit down to watch it the 51st time.

The Time Has Come

2011-11-30T13:15:00.001-06:00

This is a sight we could do without.

This morning Austin stepped out of the house (before the big truck was here) and saw all the cars of the movers and said “Who are all these people?” I said “These are the guys that are going to move Mia”. He stopped dead in his tracks. Then he looked at me with teary eyes and said “Is it already December?” (Mia’s last day of school is officially December 2nd). I explained it wasn’t, but that she would be staying in a hotel the rest of the week.

I honestly don’t know what we’re going to do without Mia around here. She was at our house for 8 hours straight on Saturday. Which means all our kids were happily entertained for 8 hours straight! We ended it with a PJ Pizza Party.

The hardest part is seeing how sad Austin is and knowing that there is nothing I can do to make him feel better.

It’s going to be a sad couple of days around here followed by a big adjustment period.

We had their going away party on Sunday night.

We’re lucky in that we have more than one set of great neighbors, but it still won’t be the same without the Haefner’s! We wish them the best of luck in Texas!

Date with Riley

2011-11-22T13:52:00.001-06:00

Last week Riley and I had our first date. She was beyond excited! She has watched her brother and sister both go off on “dates” with me (and dad) but had yet to have her own turn. The only thing on her agenda was the Mall of America for rides. So, back I went again to MOA for more Nickelodeon Universe!

I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen her smile so much. It was non-stop! The whole way to the mall she chatted about the merry-go-round she was going to ride on and that is the first thing we did.

She knew exactly which horse she wanted and giggled the whole time. Next up we went on Blue Clue’s adventure (or something like that).

She still doesn’t quite understand this ride. There is a button she can push to raise Blue up in the air but Riley didn’t quite understand that and since she was big enough to ride this one alone, I couldn’t help her. She didn’t seem to mind though.

At this point I forced her to break for dinner. I also realized that we were out of “points” for the rides. I knew it was Toddler Tuesday, which means a huge discount on points passes but I thought the deal ended at 3pm….not true! We were still able to get the 25 point pass for $12 so we were in business for the rest of the night.

I FINALLY got one of the kids to go on the ferris wheel with me. She absolutely loved it too!

She screamed “I can see the whole world from up here!”.

After a couple more rides we went to the Disney store to pick out a new toy (2 little stuffed animals) and then I said she could get a treat (thinking candy) and she right away said she wanted an Icee.

I absolutely love these date nights with the kids. Riley sometimes has trouble getting a word in edge-wise with her brother and sister chatting so much and she was talking non-stop this whole night. What a treat!

I’ve been to the mall with each kid to ride rides now so I’m hoping to steer these dates towards something else but I need some ideas!

Fall Dance Recital 2011

2011-11-16T15:54:00.001-06:00

The girls have had SO much fun being in dance class together this fall! On Tuesdays, dance starts at 3:30. At approximately 9am Riley begs me to put her dance outfit on. She has to wait until after lunchtime before she’s allowed to wear it (or she’d be wearing her lunch to class). But the second she finishes her lunch she runs upstairs to grab it!

This fall’s focus was ballet. Ellie claims it is her favorite, though I’m not sure she really remembers the other styles. She strikes me as more of a tap or jazz girl.

After their dancing it was time for tumbling. They went back to learning somersaults this fall because there were so many new students in the class.

A lot of the girls were very hesitant on the somersaults but Riley flew through them. And they were suppose to tip-toe across the beam slowly in the background. The teacher had to keep telling Riley to slow down. Maybe gymnastics or track is going to be more her style!

Like Father like Daughter

2011-11-12T10:22:00.001-06:00

Rob has been logging some extra hours in his shop trying to catch up on his mudroom built-ins. He’s been traveling a lot and I think he feels behind on his projects. Luckily, today Riley has been in there with him offering her assistance!

She has been “fixing” this bench for Rob while he’s working on the bench top.

Her tools are way cuter than Robs. He’ll be caught up in know time with her on his team!

Heard around the House…

2011-11-04T06:23:00.000-05:00

Ellie has been getting a double dose of church this year. She attends Sunday School but then her preschool is also affiliated with a church so they incorporate a bit of religion into their lessons too. They pray at the start and end of each class as well as before snack time. Cute little prayers that rhyme. It’s not uncommon for her to sing a little ditty before we eat lunch:

“A..B..C..D..E..F..G.. Thank you God for feeding me”

That’s just one of them. There are several. She’s always been our little theologian.

But yesterday the girls were playing, looking through the latest Christmas toy catalog and picking out things they wanted for their birthdays (never mind Christmas) and Riley came up to me and said “Mom, when I have my next birthday, can I have Jesus come?” To which Ellie replied “Of course Riley! Jesus is always in our hearts! I don’t think he’ll bring a present though.”

A couple days later I explained to the kids that I was about to get on the phone. I was trying a new approach of prepping them before hand to not bug me since it’s inevitable that as soon as I pick up the phone everyone has a dire need of something. Each of them agreed to leave me alone. When I picked up the phone, all three kids were playing quietly. Three minutes into my conversation (with Chanhassen Dinner Theater) Ellie was doing somersaults in our family room, Riley came tearing around the corner butt naked and Austin marched through the house with Mia in tow. It was mass chaos. I asked Riley to put some pants on (which got a chuckle out of the lady on the other line) and got everyone else back outside. Riley went running outside with just underwear on and I yelled at her to stop. “Riley Beatrice! You have to put your clothes on!” and she stopped and looked at me, furrowed her brow and in her best mean voice said “Mommy Beatrice! I don’t want to!”

Halloween Festivities

2011-11-03T09:08:00.001-05:00

We started off a little early this year by attending a Halloween party at a friends house on Saturday. They have a party every year and we never go. Truth be told, Rob and I are both not really Halloween people. Or at least, not costume people. Something got into us this year and we finally decided to suck it up and participate. Well, I did. Rob threw on a shirt that said “Canada” and claimed he was a Canadian. Clever. I dug out my old Flag uniform from high school and went as a JHS Flag circa 1996.

Our kids were:

A baby dinosaur (wearing an 18 month size costume)
A unicorn (again)
A Jedi (again..but he claims he is not the same Jedi)

The party was great. The basement was full of activities for the kids and they even hired a magician. The Amazing Fritz I believe. He made balloon animals.

I’m not sure what Ellie got. Riley got a horse.

They all kind of looked the same, but not to the kids, they could tell the difference.

By the time actual Halloween rolled around we were kind of behind on things. We didn’t have pumpkins, let alone carved pumpkins. So, while the kids were at school on Monday morning Riley and I gutted the pumpkins to get them ready for carving.

She LOVED this! Our first kid who actually wanted to get into that pumpkin and feel all the sliminess it had to offer. She almost started crying when I told her it was time to throw the guts away. She was using them to “bake” something.

When Austin got off the bus he immediately wanted to go outside to play with Mia. I told him we needed to carve pumpkins. I set them all out, gave them each a marker and told them to draw what they wanted. Riley wanted a mean face, Ellie wanted a happy face, and Austin wanted a Jedi or Captain Rex. I told him neither was going to happen tonight and he settled for “a face that had fangs and a circle mouth”. Then they all ran outside and left me to carve all the pumpkins. Maybe next year we’ll just get one pumpkin….just so Riley has something to gut.

Waiting for Trick or Treating time was torture for the kids but we finally set out. I took them up and down one street with Mia’s mom, and then we came back and handed all 4 off to Rob to tackle the rest of the neighborhood. We have a ton of kids in our neighborhood so the doorbell was fairly constant from 6-8pm.

And I’ve trained my kids well, they all came home and gave me their Snickers.

Desk Discoveries

2011-10-24T15:28:00.001-05:00

I’m not sure what’s come over me, but I’ve spent the day organizing. I mean, I like organization and all, but it’s not typically how I would choose to spend a weekend day. May I’m subconsciously avoiding the Packers/Vikings game.

My main focus has been our desk in our loft area. It becomes the upstairs dumping ground for everything. Toys, clothes, papers, manuals, and various artifacts. Since my Cargill work has ramped up a bit, I find I need a place to actually put all my papers and just adding them to the piles on the desk has proved less than efficient, so I cleaned it out.

First I emptied all the drawers and went through everything…throwing more than half of it away. Some of my favorite findings are these:

It is a pair of Disney Park Hopper passes from 2004. I believe each pass has 2 days left on it. When we purchased them we were told they NEVER expire. I guess it’s a sign we should be heading to Disney World!

I also found that our life is very electronic:

I’m fairly certain we use most of these cords. But, I’m also fairly certain there is a better place for them in our house besides this desk.

While I was setting up our new filing system, I came across these:

A glimpse into my nerdy childhood. I was, and always have been, enamored with office supplies. When I was in 3rd grade I purchased my very own filing cabinet. A powder blue one. Apparently I craved organization then too. Only, instead of the boring tab titles our filing system currently has, apparently I needed to organize my “Tricks” and “Stories” among other things. Under “Money” I no doubt filed away the records of my siblings borrowing my money. I made them sign I.O.U’s and charged interest after a 5 day grace period. No joke.

Maybe I’ll find an old I.O.U with tons of interest owed. It can help pay for the rest of the trip to Disney.

Window Marker = Thumbs Up!

2011-10-19T13:48:00.001-05:00

It’s MEA week here so no one has school Wednesday-Friday. I spent Monday and Tuesday stock piling little activities for the kids and I to do while they are back home with me all day.

This morning I taught swimming lessons so they spent their morning at Kids Stuff (Riley was thrilled to have her siblings back in there with her!), but after lunch I busted out our new pack of Crayola Window Markers. I snatched them up at Menard’s of all places.

We got right down to business. The pack comes with 20 or so markers, stencils, and window clings to color and use. FYI, there are two different types of markers in our set and I’m not sure what the point of each is, but the markers with the grey label work far better than the markers with white labels.

Sticking my kids this close together and then giving them markers was a little bit of a crap shoot but I was pleasantly surprised. I only had to remind Riley of the rules (“only on the glass!”) a couple times.

No surprise that Ellie enjoyed this activity the most. She made full use of the stencils. Check out her concentration!

Austin enjoyed the stencil with animal tracks and added embellishments to his tracks like “claws”. I’m already thinking about how this might make writing words a bit more fun for him. Spelling tests on the window?….why not!

After an hour I had everyone stop for two reasons: 1) It was the “quit while we’re ahead” mentality as far as fighting goes and 2) my girls have skipped naps for almost a week straight and I’ll be damned if that is going to happen today! Rob’s been traveling and I want an hour to myself!

I can’t comment on their washability yet, but so far I give Crayola Window Markers a thumbs up!

Double Trouble

2011-10-18T21:26:00.001-05:00

The moment you’ve all been waiting for…..the return of dance class. Only this year, Riley joins Ellie in her quest to get her groove on. Except, this session is ballet, so maybe “groove” isn’t the right word.

I made the mistake of telling the girls at 8am that they had dance class today. Which means I spent the next seven and a half hours fielding the question “Is it time for dance yet?”. Riley was SO excited to be part of the class and Ellie was SO excited to show her the ropes.

We took some pictures before we left for class - mostly because the girls insisted on putting on dance outfits long before we needed to put them on and I needed to kill some time.

I asked Riley to show me her moves and she did this:

I asked Ellie to show me her moves and she did this:

Then she told me that it was an “arabesque”. I can neither confirm nor deny that. I don’t speak ballet.

I took one more picture before they went into the class.

Something tells me that if I had asked for another I would have been denied. When they got to the class Ellie was one of the more “senior” members. She proudly stood up and said “Everyone! This is my little sister Riley. She’s new here”.

And for the next 45 minutes I heard Ellie’s infectious laugh through the walls and can only imagine what she was doing in there. At the end of the class they came marching out of the classroom with huge smiles on their faces. I’m eagerly waiting for the recital in about a month!