Following in mama's footsteps!

Brandon is going to play the trumpet!! He started out wanting to do drums...he tried the trumpet today and says that is what he wants to do. According to his music teacher, he has the perfect lips. I recall in my first days in band, I also heard something similar about my lips. Imagine that! I am glad he didn't end up with the stinky ole trombone....people who play that instrument just don't turn out right.

Misc things...

Homeschooling is going great! Much better than I anticipated. I think Brandon is enjoying it too. He especially likes getting done with school before his sisters get home for the day. He works hard to accomplish that and brags about when he finished. He is also enjoying his Tang Soo Do (Martial Arts) and gets to do that 2 times a week. He will start beginning Band next week and wants to play the drums (yay me!). Logan and Austin enjoy having their big brother home all day with them. Brandon does his "recess" time with Logan.

Speaking of Logan, he is slowly getting better at potty training. Right away this morning I got him to sit on his potty and he went right away. He had a dry diaper so I am guessing he had a full bladder. He was excited when we clapped for him and he got his candy. Austin likes the attention he gets when he is sitting on the potty, so has started to sit on it and show more interest. He is not aware of the candy incentive though, which is a good thing.

Speaking of Austin, he doesn't much care for when people leave him to head outside or downstairs. He will yell and scream and eventually throw (actually gently set himself) on the floor and throw a mini-tantrum. He gets his little feelers hurt so easily and wants to be included in what everyone else is doing. He especially gets upset of the girls head downstairs and don't take him with. Autumn will occasionally take him with her so he at least feels included.

Speaking of Autumn, we went on a horse ride tonight with Sue. It was a lot of fun and both the horse I was riding and Sue was riding had foals with them. We had these 2 babies scampering through the woods with us and then they would slow down and eat and play and then shoot up past us again. I really like riding and wish I could do it more often. Kristen babysat the boys until Dave got home when we left.

Speaking of Kristen, she is excited about the school year and making new friends. Her guidance counselor at school says she cannot work on her other classes to graduate early until she finishes and passes her current classes. It kinda takes the pressure off so the earliest she would be done is this summer or next December. Either way she is excited to be able to finish early. So far her classes are all going good this year and she is meeting new people. I really hope and pray she meets some good quality people so her year is more enjoyable!! She got her permit a week ago and will hopefully test for her license in about 6 months, then she can drive and Dave and I won't have to transport her and Autumn to school.

Speaking of Dave, I haven't seen my husband since I have been home tonight cause he is upstairs....I suppose I should mosey on up and find him. Later dudes!

Homeschool

I am homeschooling Brandon this year. I am hoping it goes well. Yesterday was the first day and it was great. Brandon was all excited after we finished math and exclaimed, "I love homeschool!". Today is a little more....challenging. We had some leftover language arts to do because of our errands so we are doing that before we even get started with today's stuff. I am hoping we get more into a groove and get this stuff down. I have learned that it is NOT beneficial to run errands during school time. Its best to just do school and run errands later.

We shall see how it goes!

Austin potty success....yes I said Austin!

Well...maybe Austin will teach Logan how go potty like a big boy! Austin peed on the potty chair last night right after I put him on it. We all got excited and clapped. Austin didn't care, he just wanted to put his foot in it.

So far today Logan peed in his diaper before I could get him on the potty. I still let him sit there for a while just in case. Then I put him in underwear and not more than 5 minutes later, he peed in those. I again let him sit on the potty and he is now in a clean pair of undies. I am guessing the next episode will contain poop and I am NOT looking forward to that.

Potty training is so haaaard! (In the most annoying Fran Drescher voice possible)
ETA: Nope, not poop - more pee again!! Geez, it was just 6 minutes ago that he peed in the last underwear. Either this kid has a tiny bladder or he holds it for clean undies.
I wonder if it would be considered child abuse if I just had him sit on the toilet all day and fed him there?

Forgot to mention....

Logan is no longer nursing! I had been telling him in MN that when we get home he won't need "MaNa's" anymore and he will start to potty train too. Well the last time he nursed was August 6th, the night before we left MN for home. Its been 10 days now without nursing and he is doing great. He has asked for it on occasion, but no huge fits or anything.

A few days after we got home and he was asking to nurse I bribed him with a fish. So Logan is the new proud owner of a goldfish (#2 cause the 1st one fell asleep permanently!). He feeds his fish everyday. He doesn't tend to spend too much time other than feeding it though....I guess its just kinda boring when you can't hold it and feed it 12 times daily. Like I said, we are on fish #2. Our first fish feel asleep a day after the fishy warranty expired. Had I known it was sick and gonna die, I may have hastened its expiration in order to get it replaced for free. Instead I paid 10 cents for a feeder goldfish that most closely resembled the deceased one. Good thing Logan is only 2. I was able to do the switcheroo on him without him even noticing.

About the potty training....not going so well. He will sit on the toilet for what seems like hours, get off and get his underwear back on and then proceed to wet them or poop in them. He of course lets me know AFTER the fact. I have even tried bribing with candy and so far he hasn't earned any. I have to admit I am not all that consistent with it so far and have let him wear diapers 64% of the time. I am just hoping one of these days when we try again, it will be the magic day. Maybe I need to buy him his own kiddie toilet. Right now we just have the little padded kid seat we place over the regular toilet seat. If there is anyone out there with suggestions, please share. We have stickers and candy as well as fun underwear.

More MN pics

My uncle Chuck, cousin AJ and cousin Tom at

Grandma Ione's birthday bash.

Whole bunch of peeps...my mom is in black and

my auntie Carrie is in blue. (P.S. My mom just

told me that she is the oldest of this group.)

Dru (Leila's son) and Austin at the pool in Bemidji.
Aalydia (getting out of pool), Logan, Dru and Austin
Aalydia is older than Logan by 12 days and
Dru is older than Austin by about 7 weeks.

New driver in the house!

Kristen took her permit test yesterday and passed. She is now an official driver (with a licensed adult of course!). She never got the extensive experience I got on the backroads of Bemidji, so she is just starting out and is doing very well so far. She is fairly nervous here and there, but it won't be long and she will be an ole pro. Now I feel obligated to share the driving....I don't like to share, I like to drive myself. Oh well...I suppose I can share a little bit. It will teach me patience on the roads. Or it might give me increased road rage. We shall see.

And a few more....

Our canopy to stay out of the blazing hot sun

My brother Pat and his fiancee, Lindsey
My mom's cousin Faith
My uncle Chuck and his wife Gina from Texas

More pictures

Grandma Ione at her 74th birthday party with her brother Joe

The kids having fun with a pinata at Grandma's birthday party
My beautiful cousin Clarissa
A group of people trying to stay in the shade
Pat (my brother), Neil (my cousin) and Tim (my uncle - the midget)
We celebrated my Grandma Ione's 74th birthday on July 5th. We had a beautiful day and some great food and company. The kids had fun in the pools and playing games and swinging at the pinata. The adults caught up with whatever is going on with each others. It was nice to see so many gather with us to celebrate Grandma's birthday.

This is how they pull boats out of the water in Minnesota!

Austin in his swimwear at Lake Mille Lacs
Logan having fun at on the beach
Caught Ya! Brandon just got out of the lake.

Crap, I gotta share pics from my trip.....

I have them all loaded on the computer...I just have to get them posted here a little at a time. I will work on that ASAP....hopefully!

Endless things to do....

School here is fast approaching and the kids are very anxious to continue clothes shopping and get their school supplies. I have in my mind how I would like shopping to play out....I know in reality it will be much more chaotic. I have decided to do it in different trips. I will take Kristen and Autumn separately and then do a trip with just Brandon and hopefully I can leave Logan and Austin home on all trips. Austin likes to eat the supplies and Logan likes to pick out a massive supply of his own.

School starts here on Aug. 18th and I think all the kids are pretty excited for a new year. Brandon starts his Tang Soo Do? (martial arts) on Tuesday the 12th and hopefully that will go well. Autumn was interested in what Brandon was going to do for his PE credits, so I told her "he is doing martial arts." And she said, "I wanna do martial arts." And then I told her, "and he might do gymnastics too" and she promptly said, "I wanna do gymnastics" so then I told her, "And he is starting ballet." She said, "he is on his own with that one!" Dangit, I thought I could get her in a tutu!

So my next week will be a mess of running here and there for appointments and shopping. I cannot WAIT for it to all be over. Its always so much fun standing around a store watching a 9, 13 and 16 yr old pick out clothes. They seem to enjoy my agony and prolong it as long as they can. I don't always like their choices and hate having to critique every single outfit. Why are their so many choices!?

Wish me luck and sanity!

Looong arse flight, drunken ladies advice comes in handy, we are home....

We are home! I couldn't be happier to be home. Even though my house stunk like 5 1/2 week old food, I was so happy to be home. The flight was long as usual....maybe a bit longer this time actually. But I recalled some advice I once received from a drunken lady on a flight about 2 yrs ago. She was trying to tell me how she got her daycare kids to sleep and even offered to hold Logan and take him back to her seat so I could get a break. (I am not the type of person to just hand my little baby over to some strange drunk lady, EVEN if she says she runs a daycare!!) (OH and remind me to forever remember her face so I don't ever leave my kids in her care.) (Just kidding, I am sure she is a responsible daycare worker....she was on vacation for crying out loud!!) (Have I used enough of these yet?) (OK, just one more....for ole times sake.) Anyway, she was telling me she would rub downwards on their foreheads and it would put them right to sleep. This did not work with Logan ever, but I tried it on Austin on this last flight and it put him right to sleep. If I knew who that lady was I would send her a thank you! So, Thank You Drunk Lady on Flight from MSP to ANC!! Your advice came in handy!

I immediately started to clean and took out the garbage. I couldn't even use my own toilet until I properly sanitized it...it looked awful. This is what a true bachelor pad looks and smells like....at least my bachelors!

The boys are getting reacquainted with their toys so I have been free to get the kitchen cleaned, floors swept, bathroom cleaned, laundry started and miscellaneous garbage picked up. They really are like kids that just got new toys. They haven't seen them or played with them in over 5 weeks....its like Christmas.

K....Gotta run. I am back to the business to running to appts, the store, the everywhere.

Bachelor Life part 2

One of the many many things I appreciate about my wonderful loving wife is that after I come home from a long day at work, I don't usually have to worry about things like laundry. She is so good to me and I really really appreciate all she does for me and the kids. I love you honey! Can't wait till you are back home!

Lower Eklutna River Dam

On the way home from work I had to find someplace to try out my new wide angle lens. This is the lower Eklutna River. From this vantage point, I was sitting about 600 feet above the river sitting on the edge of a cliff. Going as close to the edge as I dared, I could not see my side of the cliff going down. Hoping for better weather to get better pictures!

Tired of eating alone!

Sure will be glad when my family comes back home!

My vacation? is almost over...

We are on our last week of time in Minnesota. The boys and I have been here for 4 1/2 weeks and we head home on the 7th of August. We haven't gotten to spend as much time with everyone as I would have liked, but that is ok for now. We will be back either for x-mas or next summer again. I think we will spend the final week hanging out with my brothers and spending time at a lake or 2. We may also get out to do some school clothes shopping before we head home.

Kristen got here on the 21st. She spent some time at Aveda yesterday and got her hair cut, her eyebrows waxed and a facial. She really enjoyed her time there and is more encouraged to go to school there when she can.

I am not feeling overly witty right now, so I will close and come back later when I can evoke some smiles or giggles out of whomever reads this.