SOCKS

Sometimes rugby socks stay wadded up in a wet ball in a backpack all week. And then on Saturday morning, two minutes before we are leaving for a tournament, a rugby player starts whining about gross socks. Sometimes an angry dad washes them really fast and, if said rugby player is really lucky, someone will help his socks dry on the way to the tournament.....

SUMMER!

Last day of Sissy's freshman year and Nick's first year of middle school! WAHOOO! These two are ready.for.summer. 9th grade and 6th grade are know to REALLY take it out of ya.;)

CLAW

This morning I took Kitty and Ben to the grocery store for donuts. Super great day!! Donuts for breakfast!! Then Ben found a quarter. And begged me for another one. I gave him one, not knowing he was headed straight for "the claw." My dad LOVES the claw. I am pretty sure he can't pass one up, and neither can Ben. I was checking out with the groceries and turned around when I heard my name.....

Good old Ben. Started off his day right, obviously. Conquered the claw. He quickly pointed out that "SOMEONE told me it was rigged.....";) Kate immediately started crying because she wanted the butterfly. Ben jumped to her rescue and I plunked out another four quarters.

No luck on the butterfly. But Ben was still happy. His new friend was promptly named Jacob. And I was informed that "Jacob has skillz. Skillz to pay the billz." Now If that's the case, Jacob can stick around as long as he would like. And maybe he has a few friends?! 

SISSIES

These two girls L.O.V.E. taking selfies together.....❤️

DEER

In the Pinery, we love our deer. Well, we love them as long as they aren't pooping in our yard. There are a ton of them and they are pretty used to people. So much so that they "watch" us through our windows. It makes the dog craaaaazy. We have neighbor's who feed them, but we have never. We just talk rudely about them and how they are nuts and endangering all of us. Then this happened the other day at our friends house. We became one of "those" people.....

SUNRISE

I love when Ben comes and grabs my phone first thing in the morning because it means he is loving the sunrise of the day. Here is the latest picture:

SNOW DAY

Tuesday was our THIRD snow day this year! Ben wore his pajamas inside out the night before and did something with a frozen spoon, hoping to seal the deal. When it worked, they were really excited. Chris had a "snow day" too so he and Liv skied for the day. The other kids played outside and I had a warm cozy day by the fire.

HILARIOUS

I completely love my children. They are so unbelievably funny! I just found a bunch of notes I had written of funny things I overheard them say. Here goes......

Nick: Mom, Ben's trying to bite me.
Ben: No. I'm not. I'm just tickling him with my teeth.




Ben: Nick is the WORST wiper EVER! I have poop in my pants.




When we first moved here, Chris and I desperately needed a little date. Without kids. So we took them to some random drop-in daycare. And they have never forgotten it. Probably two years later....

Ben: You dropping us off at the daycare or what?!
Nick: Olivia might find her true love at the daycare......he may be hovering around age five tho...
Olivia: YOU ARE TAKING ME TO DAYCARE????




Ben and I were teasing each other about our lunch choices and he said, "Mom, you are an awful woman."



Me: Ben, put that food in the sink.
Ben: It will clog it.
Me: Then put it in the garbage if you'd rather.
Ben: I would RATHER throw it at you......



Nick was bugging Olivia, and she told him to "GET OUT OF HERE!" He quickly responded
with, "I LIVE here......"



One of the cutest thing Ben says is "Wa-WA!" He means to say "Wa-La!" like a magician but never says it right.



The kids love "The Singing Cactus" restaurant, a Mexican place in town. It actually has a completely different name but they nicknamed it after the very entertaining singing cactus out front of the establishment. Why do they love it? "They have the BEST chicken nuggets and fries on earth!"



Ben copies a lot of commercials these days. Today he was asking, "Did anyone order a little kick butt?" from a Nickelodeon advertisement. The other day he was singing, "Nationwide is on your side....." all around the house.



While on a trash pick-up project for Cub Scouts, Ben came tearing out of the trees screaming, "Victory is MINE! I found a dollar bill!!" As he waved his hand widely, I noticed a zero. It was actually a $10! The big kids couldn't stand it.

And Ben could hardly stand to wait till the next day to spend it. When I asked him, "What are you going to buy? A game? A puzzle?" He responded with " A weapon."And a weapon it was, a big white noise-making gun that lights up and shakes. At first we couldn't find a price tag and Ben was chanting "Please my money, please my money" over and over. Then we saw it. Clearance price? $10. Ben let out a "Yes!" and a fist pump, and grabbed his new gun.



Ben: "MOM! MOM! Come quick! Get your phone! We gotta order this! Have you passed 18? Cuz you have to be 18 or older to order....."

KISS

Nick: I will let you go if you will give me a really, really really long kiss.

Kate: Then can we wrestle and you will not do this to me and my bunny?

Nick: Yes. But it has to be a really, really, really long kiss.

Kate: Let me think about it...........................................hmmm.......... No.

Nick: Then I will never let you go. 

(Torture begins.)

LOVE

This kid just walked in from a very long football practice. First thing he said was, "Do you know what I need from my mom? Do you know what I want? I want a delicious, warm grilled cheese sandwich made by my mom with the secret ingredient......love. Will you please? I also have that dead squirrel I can taunt you with........" (See squirrel post.)

Who could turn this face down?;)

CARDS

Ben and I just finished a wild game of PHASE 10. I was killing it. Until the end when he narrowly and viciously beat me. His comment? "Well played, playa. Well played."

TREK

Liv went on Trek last week. And absolutely loved it. She didn't know a single person in her family when they left, but came home with several new best friends. Kelsey and "Jackson with the chocolatey eyes" were two of them. When we asked her how it went she said," THAT was probably the most amazing thing I have ever done in my life." Mission accomplished, pioneer.;)

We made her apron!! A successful shopping trip to Goodwill provided the rest of her clothes.

SHOES

I should have known shoe shopping with Kate would be hilariously frustrating. Several pairs she wouldn't even consider trying on. They had to be sparkly. Significantly sparkly. I found a nice pair of Toms. And several pair of sturdy Nike running shoes. She found these......

It was heartbreaking for one of us when these shoes proved to be just a titch too big. We settled on a pair of navy and white glitter striped keds with star beads on the laces and a pair of cora patent leather ballet flats. We both wanted a pair of those!

LAUNDRY

This has been a bad week for laundry. I am sure part of it is my fault, but seriously.... Who stuffs their pockets (that is plural, as in MULTIPLE POCKETS) with Swedish fish, a wad of playdough AND  a black permanent marker without a tight fitting lid? Ben. And Nick. You are killin me, boys......

ZOO

The bank was one of the sponsors for the "Do At The Zoo" this year so Chris and I got dressed up and attended it. I hadn't been to the Denver Zoo before....It was fun! The animals were all out with their trainers, putting on tricks and thoroughly entertaining us. After such a fun night, we are considering rhino adoption......;)

DUCKY

Today the kids earned their first of three prizes for the library's summer reading program. Kate got this cute yellow rubber duck. Appropriately named Ducky.;) On the way home, she was squeaking Ducky about 15 times a second. I asked her if Ducky could please be quiet. She replied,"Let me ask him. (Pause.) He said no." Damn Ducky. Little did Ducky know, someone was waiting for him as soon as we got home. Maisey. She wanted him from the second she laid eyes on him.  Maisey went so far as to tackle Kate, bending her backwards into the couch to get it from her hand. Lots of squealing, giggling and barking went on, but somehow Kate came out on top. Later that evening tho, as things were settling down for the night, Maisey came and laid down by my chair. She was quietly and ever so thoroughly working over the cute Mr. Ducky. And this time, the dog won.

DAYTRIP

Last week the Herzogs and the Smiths headed downtown for a little day trip. We visited the Denver Firehouse Museum and took some cute pictures. Then we walked down to 16th street mall for lunch. And entertainment. Liv took a seat at the street piano and tickled the ivories for us while Ben talked to the random T-Rex wandering the street. The city is crazy! And we love it.

BACK TO SCHOOL

We have a new Third grader in the house! It all started yesterday.......

Yesterday we went and met his teacher, who was also Nick's third grade teacher and just an amazing, fantastic woman. (Ben's mother may or may not have written a small pile of letters to ensure he could get this teacher for third grade.;) As soon as she saw us, she said, "IS THIS BEN?!?!" And gave him a giant hug. He put away his school supplies, did a little project and then we were off to get his school picture taken. Then he was done for the day! 

Today, Ben was up at 7am on the dot and jumped in the shower. (He was forbidden to get out of bed before his alarm went off at 7am. He would have been up by 6am if we didn't have a sleep sheriff in the house!) He was fully dressed and ready to go by 7:15. The one thing this boy is NOT is a dawdler.;) He spent the morning playing with Maisey and building a fort with Kate until it was time to leave. (It IS kind of nice having the kids all leave at different times in the morning. The house seems rather quiet!) In the car on the way there, he said he was "mostly excited and wondering what they were going to do." He has a thing about telling jokes to his teachers so we talked about what would be a good back to school joke for Mrs. Reini. As soon as we pulled up to the curb, he hopped out and was gone. Just like that. And I miss him like crazy.

BACK TO SCHOOL

I cannot believe how fast this summer went! Totally ridiculous. We need another month to play!!

Today was Olivia's first day of highschool.  (Also totally ridiculous.) My girl is growing up and there is simply nothing I can do to stop it! We have had a weird fever/sore throat/ yucky bug going around our house this week and she woke up with it. Determined NOT to miss the first day of her Freahman year, she told me to "drug her up" and then she threw up in the kitchen garbage. She felt like a train wreck when she left but managed to make it through the day.

She rode home with a new friend today and was relieved to have friends in all of her classes. Happy but tired, she had a snack and quickly passed out with her favorite blanket.

And this guy started middle school today!  He was up on time today and ready to roll before everyone else. He requested a breakfast of French toast but only ate a little due to being nervous! 

He was SO EXCITED to get to wear his new school shoes and coordinating socks. Seriously, he is so big and handsome. I don't know what is happening to my little kiddies. 

He came home on top of the world. The first thing he said was "middle school is AWESOME! Today alone was better than all the days at Northeast (his elementary school.)" He has buddies in all his classes, a gym locker next to his BFF and is really looking forward to all the lunch menu options. ("Mom, there is this blue fruit juice that was calling my name today.....") 

Two down, two to go. Stay tuned!

LUNCH

Nick made "lunch" for he and Brady today.......complete with cold sodas and a little You Tube......