I want it but I don’t

Question:  Do you put up with cold ice cream just so you can eat the yummy chocolate outside of a ice cream sandwich?

Answer:  No

Fence work

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

 

All I have to say is that we have some great friends.  Eric ripped the fence down by himself on day 1 and then our friends joined us for day 2 and 3.  Day 2 (Saturday) was ridiculously hot and humid.  The guys started at 8:30 and went right through 4:30 digging the holes for the posts and setting some of the posts.  There are so many big trees around our house that they kept running into roots, hence why it took so long to dig the holes.  It rained that night so day 3 was super muddy.  We were all just sinking into the mud.  Kenny’s shoes were the worst by far.  I had a lot of fun cleaning them today. 

Things took a lot longer than we thought they would.  We were hoping to get the whole thing done this past weekend, which was definitely not realistic.  I’m sure you’ll be seeing posts on day 4, 5, 6, 7 … (depending on the weather) some time soon.  I cannot wait for this fence to be done and the mess to be cleaned up. 

Thank you Seth, John, A.J., Hudson, Billy, Amanda and Adam!  And Ann for bringing brownies over.

I’ve got it covered

Eric and I were watching The Wedding Date last night.  There is this gorgeous British house towards the end of the movie that just makes you want to move to England.

Me:  “I think you should quit your job so we can move there and live in that house.”

Eric:  “I don’t think bobbies get paid enough to afford that house.”

Me:  “We’ve got it covered.  You forget that Mr. Urge is leaving me his money.”

I have a feeling that that’s not going to get old any time soon;)

Last t-ball game of the summer

Best friends

Getting ready in the dugout

Warming up

Up to bat

Running to 1st

Good game

The kids have one last practice on Tuesday night.  They’ll get their medals then.  T-ball has been fun but most weeks they had 2 games and 1 practice, which seemed like a lot for 5 year olds. 

Next up, soccer in the fall.

Deliveries

Our fence supplies are now ready and waiting for Saturday. 

Does anyone actually fall for this?

Great news, Mr. Urge wants to give me his money.  Really, it’s not a scam or anything, because random people give me control of their money all the time.  (And yes, I am rolling my eyes as I type this.) 

Greetings,

My name is Mr vincent urge,I am a deteriorating and dying
man who had decided to donate what I have to the Charities. I am fifty
years old and was diagnosed for cancer about two years ago, immediately
after the death of my wife.I have been touched by God to donate from
what I have inherited from my late woman for the good work of God, rather
than allow his relatives to use my wife hard earned funds ungodly.
 
As I lay on my sick bed, I want you to help me in carrying out my last
wish on earth which will be very profitable to you. i want to WILL a
total sum of $5,600,000 (Five Million six Hundred Thousand Dollars) to you
which I want you to distribute part of it to any charity home for me.

Please for further information contact my Attorney
ASAP.(attorney_jefferyscott@live.co.uk )

Regards,
Mr Vincent urge.

Gone

As of Friday, this will be gone.

Eric and some friends are going to put up our new fence on Saturday.  Hopefully the cement for the posts will dry fast and they can get it done in a day or two. 

If anyone else wants to help put up a fence, give us a call.  Don’t everyone volunteer at once:)

W.O.F.

We went out to Worlds of Fun last Thursday.  My brothers, Billy and Mike, went out a few hours before us so they could spend time on strictly adult rides and then we (and my mom) drove out and met them around 4.  Kenny now measures in at 46 inches so he was able to go on some more of the bigger rides.  It took him a little bit to warm up to the rides but after he went on the taxis, he was much better.  He got to ride the Fury of the Nile for the first (and second) time.  I think he would have stayed on it for the entire time if we had let him.  Luke was fearless, as usual.  He was able to go on most of the rides in the kid section.  We were laughing because he was saying, “whee” the entire time on the kiddie roller coaster. 

We decided we’re definitely going to make this a yearly event.

I had to put this one in.  Eric and Mike, you’re welcome:)

There was a roller coaster for everyone…

Our 4th

We started off our 4th by going to Village Fest.  We watched Funky Mama play, made crafts, saw the animals, police cars and trains, and went through the giant Chinook helicopter.  We love Village Fest. 

We went to my parents that afternoon to spend the evening with Mike since he was leaving for New York the next day.  We played croquet and ate a really good dinner (including the cake that I made).  Billy was at the lake with his friends, so he was the only one who wasn’t there.

We found the best spot for fireworks 2 years ago.  You can back your car up and watch the show from your tailgate.  It sprinkled a little bit while we were waiting but it didn’t last very long.  We waited longer than we thought we would for it to start but it was worth it.  Luke loved the fireworks (you always wonder how they’ll do) but he didn’t like being out in the dark much.  He kept saying, “spooky out.”  I’m not sure where he came up with the word spooky but I’m guessing that it came from Kenny.  The first firework caught him a little off guard but after that he sat in the back of my parents’ car and looked for all the blue fireworks with my dad.  I was sitting on a chair in front of them and all I heard was his laughing and “bew one” every few seconds. 

Happy 4th!

I saw this idea on J&K+8 last year.  You just bake a yellow cake, top with frosting or Cool Whip (I used the fat free kind) and make the flag design with blueberries and strawberries.

Happy 4th of July!

That kid looks familiar

Remember this?  Margot emailed me the final copy.   

If that doesn’t make you want to swim for them, I don’t know what would:)

Do-able and domestic

We’re not going anywhere until September so I love reading about everyone else’s vacations.  Here’s my list of places that I want to go to.  There are a ton of other places on my wish list but these are do-able and domestic:

1.  Minneapolis – they have a new Water Park of America near the Mall of America.  It sounds like The Great Wolf Lodge, where the water park is in a hotel.  We could spend a day or so at the water park and the MOA and then visit my relatives.  Or they could meet us there.

2.  New York – My brother Mike is moving there in 4 days.  I’m trying to talk everyone into going there for the 4th of July 2010 (although, hopefully I’ll make it up there before then).  It might be fun to see what the firework displays are like around the Statue of Liberty. 

3.  The Wisconsin Dells – I haven’t been there since I was a little girl.  Karen just got back from there and if I remember right, Nicole went there last year.  It looks like it has really expanded. 

Is anyone else going anywhere fun this summer?

Backpack, backpack

I had to rename this post because the Dora song got stuck in my head.  It’s in yours now, isn’t it?

Wow, backpacks have really changed.

Kenny needs a *non-rolling backpack for kindergarten.  Pottery Barn Kids is having a sale on them right now (plus free shipping) so we went over there last week to look at them.  He didn’t see one at the store that he wanted but he did find an orange one on-line that he liked.  It came today and we were looking at all the stuff it includes.  Keep in mind that he has absolutely no use for any of these features:  a cell phone holder, a holder for an MP3 with holes for the headphones to go through, and the inside compartment is made to hold a computer.  

I guess I haven’t had a backpack since I graduated college in 2000 but they were definitely not this fun back then. 

*We found a rolling backpack at PB Kids (on sale) back in May.  I thought we were set until I looked at Kenny’s list of school supplies and it specifically says that rolling backpacks are not allowed.  I’m hoping he can use it in first grade b/c I let him roll it around the Plaza after we bought it and there’s no way I can take it back.  Crap.

Revelation

Besides t-ball practice tomorrow night, we really don’t have much going on this week.  Today I’m going to catch up on some stuff and then I think we’re going to venture over to Missouri to buy some fireworks.  Nothing big, just some sparklers and on the ground stuff. 

I’ve been listening to this CD for the past few months and I’m still loving it.

MJ

Yes, it’s sad that MJ passed away on Thursday.  But seriously news channels, there are other things going on in the world.

Eric and I went on our first date, 11 years ago.  Happy anniversary honey.

It’s so hot that…

- Kenny’s t-ball practice was cancelled on Tuesday. 

- Kenny’s t-ball game was NOT cancelled last night so we were all pretty much melting. 

- We’ve seen more movies in the past 2 weeks at movie theatres than I think we have in the past year.  We saw Up last week and then Night at the Museum 2 today.  Both were really good.  I’m still waiting for a fungus to start growing on Luke’s tongue after he ate popcorn off the theatre floor this morning.  I don’t know if that or the fact that he picked up goose poop yesterday and smeared it all over his swimsuit yesterday is worse. 

- We’ll be missing the Lenexa BBQ tonight.  Eric has to work tonight so I probably would have skipped it this year anyway (watching 2 kids up there by yourself isn’t that fun) but the heat sealed the deal for me.

I do like being hot but this humidity is driving the heat index into the 100’s and that is just too hot.

Session 1 swim lessons = done

Kenny finished the first session of swim lessons today.  We’re skipping the second session because it’s during vacation bible school but we’ll be back for the third.  He’ll still be in the 2nd wave.  He did really well.  He has to work on breathing to the side while doing the front crawl 15 yards, swimming backstroke and elementary backstroke 15 yards and doing a kneeling dive.  Good job baby!

This little light of mine

Luke loves to sing 3 songs – This Little Light of Mine, the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song and Happy Birthday.  Here are 2 out of 3.

#1 This Little Light of Mine (aka Shine or uh-uh Hine)

Besides my singing, how stinkin’ cute is that? 

#2 Happy Birthday

Kenny and Billy’s birthdays are so close together that Luke had a lot of practice with this one.

Summer swimming lessons

Kenny starts his second week of swimming lessons today.  His first week started off pretty rocky.  It was storming out on the first day so they split the day into a half safety and half swimming day.  I had a hard time getting Kenny to go with his instructor for the safety part and then he wouldn’t get in the water for the swimming part.  I tried everything.  Everything.  I was so frustrated because Kenny is so comfortable in the water.  I finally told him that if he didn’t get in, he would lose his Legos for the day.  I gave him minute updates and he tried to get in with 20 seconds left of lessons, which meant that his Legos were gone.  Yes, I’m mean, but that was enough to get him in the water the entire time the second day (and ever since). 

He’s in the 2nd wave and I think he’ll probably be in the same level for the next session too.  Most kids don’t even start the 1st wave until they’re 5 so he’s already ahead.   

Luke and I have been spending a lot of time in the baby pool area during Kenny’s lessons.  I’ll get pictures of that some time this week.

Grandma and Grandpa’s new pool

After our Father’s Day dinner at my parents’, the boys went swimming in the new little pool they bought.