The Day at the Waterpark

May I share a secret? I really don't enjoy water parks or swimming or things of the like.  Especially when it's just you and a crowd of smallish children you are trying to keep an eye on. But when we lived in Florida I came to appreciate how tired swimming can make small children.  I would take the older boys swimming almost every single day for a bit over an hour before naptime. This promised me the chance to lay down and nap myself because those boys would just crash. Which is a pregnant mom's dream and I was pretty much always pregnant or toting around a newbie and in need of a nap.

We typically avoid the larger scale waterparks for many reasons.  They are way too expensive for one.  You can't easily keep an eye on all the kids for another.  Way too many people who seemed to have left half their swimming attire at home for a third. But ever since Grandpa and Grandma treated the family to a trip to Great Wolf Lodge a few years ago, the kids have had a love affair with the places. My compromise is a small local indoor waterpark that caters to the 12 and under crowd.  When I say small, it is possible to pick the right seat and be able to see just about all the action without moving.  It is truly small enough that I would be comfortable taking all of the kids just by myself without another adult. If you plan properly, you can get tickets as cheaply as $8 a day for 4 1/2 hours of swimming.  We missed those tickets by a week and paid just a tad more but I can't complain. The kids had a blast and slept well. In fact the house is still quiet this morning because half of them are still asleep.

I promise that Sean was with us but I apparently failed to get a picture of him that was both in focus and did not cut his head off. I'll have to do better next time.

Happy Birthday Bryan

Today Bryan turns 16.  Such a huge milestone it seems.  We let him know last night that he will actually be allowed to get a permit this year. We weren't quite sure on that for this year because, well, we live in the wonderful nanny state of NY where everything is way more expensive and complicated than it needs to be. So Bryan was a bit thrilled with that news and has been studying the DMV guidebook today.

We have been incredibly blessed with our oldest son.  Even when we ask a lot of him, he always steps up and helps us all out.  His younger siblings look up to him quite a bit.  He's incredibly responsible, helpful, and usually even cheerful.  He's making parenting teens a delightful experience.  Love you Bryan. I hope your day has been a good one.

The Gap-Toothed Smile

Someone got kicked in the face which caused the first tooth to fall out. The second one was apparently just waiting for the first one to fall out before it left.  Now look at that grin.

A Farm Tour

I don't think my kids were too terribly excited because they've been spending so much time there already, but our Frontier Girls troop took a field trip to our local family friendly family run farm type place.

It had been threatening to rain on and off all day so I wasn't sure if the trip was going to happen or not but in the end the rain held off on our end of town until right at the end of the meeting. So we got to see the hoop house and the fields and plant some veggies.

Everyone got a view of what small scale family run farming looks like and I think several of the moms left a wee bit inspired.  I know my trips out there last year usually left me feeling like we were just totally lazy and not doing enough with our own little plot of land because truthfully 5 acres really is enough for us to be fairly self sufficient if we planned and used the land properly.  I keep saying that next year we will do more and each next year rolls around and we aren't quite doing more. Yes, we suck.  Heck, we can't even figure out what is carrying off our chickens. WE started with 27 and seem to be down to 19. No bodies have been found but we think when the kids keep locking each other in the barn and the locked in kid crawls out through the chicken wire and "forgets" to fix it, something else gets in and steals a chicken or two.  Yes, it's annoying since we truly do need 24 birds if we want enough birds to sell the extra eggs to cover the cost of the feed. But the kids don't seem to understand that concept. Or understand that you don't climb fruit trees if you actually want fruit out of them. Or trample the asparagus patch or tromp in the garden killing the newly planted veggies. Or mess with the sheep pen so that the sheep can escape. Yup, it's been fun.

Crazy Busy Weekend

It's been a busy weekend.  We spent a good portion of yesterday out at the farm helping to get the fields ready for planting.  After about 2 and a half hours, I took the younger 4 home for naps since they were more getting in the way than helping. The rest of the crew stayed until 5:00.  A decent amount of work was done, a dead chicken was unearthed, and a few teens just might have snuck off for some computer time.  Maybe.

 The project for this afternoon was to put in our own small garden at home for the year.  The original plans called for using the raised bed planter already in the yard. But that just did not work. Seems the ground has sunk or something. So the guys had to start from scratch.

I'm realizing there are two kinds of fathers when it comes to projects and kids. There are the ones who do an awesome job at just about everything. Perfectionism is a character trait for them it seems. If a job is going to be done, it will be done perfectly.  Which means the children may not help or get involved because they will get in the way.  These guys often can't figure out why it is when their own children have grown that they have not absorbed any of the hands-on skills they possess.

Then there are the dads who have figured out how to work with their kids. That even though it does indeed take

twice as long at first to do any project with small hands involved, the dividends are something amazing.  I promise you their projects won't look perfect. Folks will perhaps point out where they went wrong or a line that's not straight. But those people are rude and failed to look behind the picture to see the joy in the kid's face who got to help Dad and learned something useful. Kids know the difference between busy work and useful work.  They want to be useful. They want to help.  And with some kids, you are much better off directing their use of the screw driver.  Trust me. (And maybe one day ask me about the time Liam met his Dad at the front door with his hands full of screws. Or why Liam is never allowed to watch the Enterprise episode where Tripp talks about taking all the screws out of his parents' dining room table. )

Yup, my kids are lucky.  They've got a Dad who figured out it's much better to do it the hard way and let everyone chip in.  The rewards are truly amazing.

Gabe's First Karate Class

Gabe had his first karate class today. He was very excited. Very wired. Very much bouncing off the walls. Literally.  Then a wave master landed on his foot and Sensei did not take his complaints seriously when he said he got hurt and, well, that kind of ruined the day. (Have I mentioned I have a few slight issues with this Sensei? Like his blatant favoritism and inability to relate to small children while also constantly complaining to his older classes about his younger students?)

Anyway, by the end of class Gabe seemed to be a bit happier and was again excited when we were home so I'm hoping next week will go better. Here's hoping. And for those counting, this makes 7 kids in karate class.  And, yes, that was my two-year-old doing karate in the middle of Mass last weekend.  Trust me, it's cuter at home when the venue is more appropriate.

Last Night's Adventure

Because we just don't have enough going on in our life, we volunteered to provide a home for the sheep for our food co-op group. So we will be housing 6 sheep until it is time to slaughter them for food. Yes, some folks will find that sad but we must be realistic about where our food is coming from and if you want the better quality, better treated organic meat, you can either pay crazy grocery store prices, better farmer direct prices (like we do for our beef and pork), or you can raise it yourself.  This year we will tackle the sheep, then next year we will likely be able to handle meat birds.  (I'm honestly not quite ready to have two batches of chicks going at once. I'm rather afraid we would accidentally butcher our eggs layers instead.)

before adding the smelly animals

Last night Alan went to pick up the animals.  He was expecting young animals but we were not told that they had not been weaned yet and had not been outside yet.  This was just a small snag.  We had been planning on keeping the animals in an outside pen.  We did not have a pen ready for them for inside.  We also had been planning on them eating grass. We did not have the necessary food for them. We also did not have any nails left to build an inside pen.  And it was raining. And it was after 7:30 by the time the animals had been loaded into the van.  I was in charge of the Boy Scout run so I was wandering around Target waiting for the meeting to be over when Alan calls me to inform me of the latest snags.  So I wander the aisles in search of nails so that Alan can avoid taking a van loaded with sheep and children to the hardware store. Not really successful. So we decide that the animals can stay in the dog kennels overnight. Maybe.

after adding the poor smelly animals

I make a run to Home Depot with the 3 older boys after their meeting. Arrive home after 9:00 to discover that the other families have come over to help fix the situation since none of us were expecting animals quite this young.  So the pen is built. The sheep are happy.  Except the one who escaped. And ran all over creation. Almost up the neighbor's porch (the nice neighbor, thankfully, but then again our grumpy neighbor raised draft horses and chickens and assorted animals so he at least would understand).  The animal was enjoying it's freedom until it decided to cross the creek. In the deepest part (have I mentioned the rain).  Alan said the look on the animal's face was something along the lines of "Oh crud. What on earth have I done now." The poor animal has had a rough day.  And now does not know what to do. Alan jumps in the creek after it. Water up to his waist. Alan and the animal go under water and wrestle a bit. Animal is caught and brought out of the water and carried back across two yards and returned to the pen in the barn.  As if the rain were not enough, let's just say Alan is soaked and not happy.  But such is life.

The van now smells like a petting zoo. Not my favorite smell.  Hopefully we'll fix that situation soon.  Hopefully.  Because the air conditioning in the van is broken so heat plus smells are just not a good mix if you don't want folks getting sick. Which I don't.  So we now venture into this large animal thing.  And we just might have volunteered to provide a home for a friend's sheep dog because she is moving and can't take it with her. Fun times, I tell you.  Fun times.

The Girls' Book Club

The first Thursday of the month means the American Girl book club is meeting at the local library.  I put off taking the girls to this event for quite some time. But they each received American Girl dolls as gifts fairly recently and have started reading the books so I succumbed and started taking them.

The ladies who run this group usually do a great job of coming up with activities and even dressing up as the title characters in the books.  Sometimes they get more girls than expected and it's hard to keep everyone involved but the girls have enjoyed attending for the most part.  I think they look forward to a little girl time away from all of their brothers.

This month the book covered was Happy Birthday Felicity and each of the girls received a hand knit gift from the Chili Senior Center Chain Gang club for their dolls.  Katie and Abby each ended up with pink blankets, just the right size for their dolls.  I have to say I saw quite a few happy girls leaving the book club this month.

The Beauty that is my Yard

Driving away to take the middle kids to karate this afternoon, all I could think was goodness, that is a beautiful tree. What I tend to think every year about this time.  Seriously beautiful.

 Half of the front row of choke cherry trees lining the yard.

And the crazy chickens who are refusing to stay in their run and are hanging out in the garage for some reason today.

Umbert the Unborn - A Womb With a View

If you read many of the popular Catholic newspapers and magazines, you have probably stumbled upon a little comic strip by Gary Cangemi.  This comic showcases the life of Umbert, an adorable little babe still residing in the best digs ever: his mother's womb.  I've enjoyed reading the comic when I've seen it so I was happy to see that a collection was available in book form.

Inside this book, you find not only a wonderful selection of comics but also on every page you'll find little snippets of random pregnancy related facts.  Some explain fetal development, others are concerning abortion facts, and some are just interesting pregnancy related quotes from various sources (I saw one from Mel Gibson and one relating to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey"). Although certainly politically relevant, the overall tone of these comics is light-hearted and enjoyable.

What is the best thing I can say about this book? Shortly after it arrived, it went missing in the house.  After days of looking, I still could not find it. It eventually surfaced in the basement bedroom where the teen boys had taken it to read.  I don't know about your kids, but finding anything in the basement bedroom often requires an excavation team so I'm not surprised I couldn't find it.  And I was thrilled that the boys liked the book enough to claim it as their own.

Umbert the Unborn passes muster as a family friendly delightful book for some light hearted enjoyment and occasional fact pondering.  Just maybe we should start a campaign to leave these books behind in places where folks congregate who need to rethink their stance on all things in the realm of the unborn child.  I truly believe a book of this nature has the power to change at least a few hearts.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Umbert the Unborn - A Womb with a View. The Catholic Company is the best resource for all your seasonal needs such as First Communion gifts as well as ideas and gifts for the special papal Year of Faith.