The craziness continues

Today was another busy, busy day. It's Ben's birthday (he works here with Michael and the kids love him) so the kids made cards for him this morning and decorated our traditional big cookies. Then they waited for him to come do chores so they could take him his treats and sing to him. I had a presidency meeting this afternoon that I had to get ready for so I spent a few minutes writing a thought that went with the scriptures I found. We also talked to Michael, did laundry and got out of the house by 9:25, stopping to deliver cookies to Orville on our way to the pool. Since we had to leave early yesterday I let the kids stay and swim for 30 minutes after lessons then we headed back home. Maddi and Makenna stayed at the pool with some friends and then spent the day at their house. I stopped to get gas on the way home, had to change clothes because I got soaked at the pool, fed the kids lunch and got them changed and then we left again by 12:45 to go to Watertown. There, we went to the bank and Target. Then we went to the church so I could have my meeting. It got done at 4:30 (it was only supposed to go an hour but ended up going 2). While at the church, Olivia pooped through her diaper and Dillon had an accident. So going through wal-mart I had Dillon in Zeke's shorts with no underwear, Zeke in a diaper and no shorts, Olivia in an outfit with poo stains and screaming because she was tired. Zeke eventually had to be put in the cart because he would chase the other boys down the aisle and tackle them. Once in the cart, he cried the rest of the time. We made it out of Wal-mart, got something to eat on the way home and got home a little after 6pm. The girls came home about 8:30, we called Michael and I promptly put them to bed. Now all is quiet and I am loving it! Makenna was so tired she went to sleep with Olivia crying, Maddi talking to herself and the boys running around their room jumping off the beds and playing (really loudly). I think I could do the same if given the opportunity!

Another exciting day

This morning at swimming lessons, one of the lifeguards came over and told me that Zane was in the office bleeding with an ice pack on his chin. She didn't know exactly what he did, but she didn't think it was too bad. I went in and found him. He couldn't really tell us what happened except that he hit his chin on the edge of the pool. It was a little cut, but it was pretty deep and everytime he moved his chin it would pop open. They suggested I take him to see if it needed glued shut. I called the doctor on the way home from the pool and they told me to come right over. No one had clothes or shoes so here we come trudging in to the doctor's office with towels, wet heads and bare feet. I had to lay Zeke and Olivia down out in the lobby and put their regular diapers on them so then we had 2 in nothing but diapers and 4 in swimming suits. Our appointment was at 11:15 (yeah right). The doctor told us that since it was on his chin and kept popping open he would need stitches instead of glue. Well, quite a few tears, 6 suckers and 4 stitches later, we left. It was 12:40 when we got home. Unfortunately the girls had piano lessons at 1:00 so they had to run in, put shorts over their swim suits, grab thier books and get shoes on. I got them some cold pizza out of the fridge to eat on the way over. We dropped them off and the rest of us came home to eat lunch, then we went back to get them at 2:00. Luckily we don't have anything else to do except Tae Kwan Do tonight. I'm kind of tired and already looking forward to bed time. Hopefully tomorrow will be less eventful. We just have swimming in the morning and I have a presidency meeting in the afternoon. Then of course there is the dreaded grocery shopping afterwards. I will use Culvers as bribery though. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do! (Plus I will need the ice cream to calm my nerves!)

Gone Again

Michael left again this afternoon for his fourth Kentucky trip in five weeks. We were, of course, sad to see him go but he will get back sometime early Thursday morning. After this he won't have another trip until next month sometime and then another one in September or October. I'm glad it is slowing down now. So is he. Next week he will have to be in Minneapolis for the weekend for a horse sale. The kids and I will go and meet him there and go to the races. It is always fun to go to the races.

Princess Lala

The power of the hose

It's so nice when the littlest one gets the power of the hose. All the others are at his mercy. The things that they will do to get him to be their friend is crazy. Usually the older ones are the ones who get to boss everyone else around. It's nice when you're little to get the occassional chance to be in control. Every two year old needs that!

Learning to ride a bike

Now for those of you who can't remember, learning to ride a bike takes a lot of effort and inflicts a lot of pain. Zane has learned that this weekend. Although his problem was not riding the bike, it was stopping. Luckily he had a lot of props to help him stop - trees, trucks, Dillon, Zeke, and the ground. Starting was also a problem, trying to get the pedal in the proper position to start took a lot of effort and a lot of shins hitting the pedals. Speed is another issue. He could go really fast farely easily, but slowing down was another issue. Thank goodness he had soft grass that he could turn into to help him slow down before using one of his props to help him stop! After a few days he has really gotten the hang of it and does really well. We had to get him a smaller bike so he could reach the ground better and that helped. Once he learned to ride it lit a little fire under Maddi and she has also learned to ride without training wheels. Makenna is still trying. Anyways, enjoy the pictures and remember when.

Maddi's Performance

As I mentioned in the last entry, Maddi had to play the piano for the performing arts portion of the 4-H county fair. She did a really good job. She was the first one to go. After she played, she had to go talk to the judge and answer some questions. She also had to write a paragraph about what song she chose and why she chose it. She played 10 Little Indians. Next year Makenna will get to do it too.

Nashville Trip

Well, we made it through one long trip! It was fun, the kids did great travelling, but it's nice to be home. We left last Wednesday morning at 3:30 and drove until about 6:30 that evening. We stopped outside Indianapolis for the night. When we got to the hotel we grabbed a bite to eat, went swimming for a while and then went to bed. The next morning we didn't leave until about 9:30 and went to Lexington so Michael could drop off the truck and trailer and jump in the car with us. We got to Nashville around 6pm and met at my Grandpa's house. My parents and Sam and his family all came too. We visited there for a few minutes and then went to Cracker Barrel for supper. After that we went to the hotel and went to bed.

The next day we went to Lewisburg to visit my uncle. Mom and Sam and his family came too. We had a bbq and the kids played all over the farm. Uncle Kenneth sprayed them with water, then it started raining so they all played in the rain. After it stopped, he took them for a wagon ride with the tractor. They all had fun. Makenna did get motion sick and threw up but she still had fun. The kids were all flithy so we took them to the hotel and went swimming. They had a blast. Sam's kids were there. They have a girl that is between Maddi and Makenna. She and Makenna became very good friends. Then they have a boy that is just younger than Zane, one that is between Dillon and Zeke and one that is Olivia's age. So 10 little kids in the pool together - we ended up getting the pool all to ourselves! I wonder why.

Saturday we went to see my grandma in the nursing home. The reisdents loved having all the kids running around. I think they sat in everyone's lap. One lady sang for us, one was a school teacher, one had a sucker that the little kids really wanted a lick of. It was a lot of fun. After that we went to the big Cantrell reunion. My other brother Stephen and his family came to that along with the rest of us, so there were 13 little cousins running around together. They had a blast playing with the bubbles, balls and dirt. Maddi played ball with the big kids and did really well. She did get hit in the head with the ball. She was running to third base and someone from first base threw it and it hit her in the side of the head. Luckily hse had on a baseball cap and that provided some padding. She didn't cry and went right back out to play. We stayed there until dark, went back to the hotel and I took the 4 oldest swimming.

Sunday morning we went to church with my grandpa. We added 21 people to their congregation. Then we all ate lunch together and Michael and I loaded up the kids and headed back to kentucky. We drove until about 1:30 Monday morning and then stopped for the night. We left Monday morning around 8:30 and got home at 10:30 Monday night. We were tired and some of us were rather cranky.

The next morning we had swimming lessons. Olivia screamed everytime I put her in the car. Poor girl! It never seemed to slow down. We had swimming lessons every morning, Tae Kwan Do Tuesday evening, t-ball Thursday evening, Michael had mutual Wednesday eveing, and Maddi had to play the piano for the performing arts part of hte 4-H fair on Thursday afternoon. Plus Lorie has been in town and so Michael has been working late every evening. Today we get to stay home and I will be looking forward to that!

Another Kentucky trip

Well, Michael is on his way home from another Kentucky trip. It has been long but he made it there safely and is now on his way home. He'll get in sometime in the middle of the night tonight. The kids are excited. Zane wanted him to be home in time to see their closing program from Bible school but he won't make it. We'll take pictures though. They have loved Bible school again this summer. This year the theme is playing on God's team or something like that. For their program they get to wear baseball shirts and hats if they want to. Of course they want to! I love listening to the songs. They are great. Blessed be the Rock and I don't want to be a goat, nope, nope, nope, nope. They also collected old glasses for kids in the phillipines and money to buy more glasses. Their little group collected 20 glasses in 2 days. Not bad. The girls get really excited about that because they know they are helping other kids and since they both wear glasses it makes it even more relevant for them.

Don't look at my bum Lala

This morning I was changing Zeke's poopy diaper and Olivia was sitting on the floor next to us. She was just playing with a toy and then she stopped and kind of looked towards Zeke. Zeke stuck out his arm towards Lala and told her "don't look at my bum, Lala." I wish I didn't have to look at his bum when it is stinky like that!