Birthday Bonanza

5 10 16...where did my babies go?

I cannot believe that my babies are now so huge! Katie turned 5 Anna 10 and Kia 16. Crazy! Katie was very excited to be five and now she can go to kindergarten! I guess what she didn't understand was that meant next year. She went to baby school on her Birthday and told them all she was leaving, that today was her last day. She packed up her cubby, took down her decorations and said goodbye. When Darren went to get her the director was unsure of why she was abruptly leaving and Darren was a little confused, she's not he said. Well Katie had a different plan. She was going to kindergarten tomorrow, now that she was 5. She wailed to whole way home when she discovered the sad truth. It was apparently a very long bus ride for everyone. She cheered up after cake and presents. AHHHH to b a kid.
I'm not sure who did her hair, her or her dad, it could be either. Looks good!
We had a party for her at Red Robin, she clearly did not mind standing on the chair with balloons around her ears. Such a shy girl.
Anna's birthday party. Four family friends, two grandparents, one sister and a stray kid. The party was a hit. 

The official end of summer.

Dirty sticky face, tangled hair, unwashed for days. Camping ROCKS.
The Girls love Salamander City, the real name, I don't know. We went to Detroit lake as the last trip of the summer and there is this waterfall and for some reason hundreds of Salamanders live in that area. So we always go and anchor the boat so the kids can swim, play and torture small animals with hugs and kisses and all sorts of games. You can see Katie's enthusiasm oozing out of her and ow much restraint she has to use to not squeeze it's guts out. 
Darren as usual is a daredevil on the tube. He gets better and better at hanging on. It's kills me that he didn't get pitched like a rag doll here. I almost feel bad going dangerously fast and making insane turns to launch him off and skip the surface like a stone. 
I know it's a little blurry. The kids love to camp and I have begun to think it's because there is nothing to do but just hang. Darren's hair was styled by Anna, super cute, although he did take it out before venturing out of our site. Darren spends much of his time complaining about how much he hates Count Olaf the stupid cat dog. I have once again caught him clearly torturing this poor animal. No matter how much I talk to him about not being so cruel he is unable to resist. A few days ago I found him in the living room with Olaf cradled in his arms like a baby rocking him while rubbing his tummy. The hate is so pure and intense with those two.
Anna hates the boat, hates swimming. Clearly. She is my shiny star and I am so crazy about her. What a fun kid. She is my soul sister, set out to torment and tease Darren as much as possible. What a good little minion.  

Grape Eating Contest

I as a general rule I try to not post unflattering pictures.......of myself that is. My husband always feels like it is unfair so here is a wonderful picture of all of us having a grape stuffing contest. I will have you know I won. 28 grapes baby. Darren says I cheated because I couldn't close my mouth, but whatever, It was never discussed prior. My friend at work said he should be impressed with my oral skills. OH he is. 

Table for Six please....

I loved to cover my canopy bed with blankets and pretend that I was in a train car traveling the world with my troupe of children (cabbage patch dolls). I wanted thirteen kids, I remember watching sitcoms and would pretend to give birth. Shoving a doll up my shirt, screaming a bit and then woosh out the bottom of my shirt would pop a kid. Then I had two kids and wanted to cut out my insides and never have another kid. Then along came Katie. The whole time I was pregnant with her I talked about having my tubes tied and Darren's junk snipped. He even went and saw a hundred year old urologist to have his junk snipped. For some unknown reason he didn't do it. Then out came Katie and Wow she rocked our world! I love it love it love it. 

I would tease Darren about another and he said when hell freezes over. 

Well apparently hell has frozen over. 

For some reason we thought it was a good idea to take out the IUD. Then I misjudged the window of opportunity. The window was larger than I though. Large enough for one diligent sperm to get by and well the rest is history. 

Tale's of my Fourth Grade something...

I loved Judy Blum. 

My bright shiny star totes he books around and laughs and snickers late into the night. Now I have to go take her flashlight as it is back to school for her.

4th grade is a whole different game. No more sweet cute teachers with morning hugs. Now we have a boy teacher and I am not sure what I think. 

He doesn't need  any help in the classroom. FINE. 

I'll find other ways to lurk around and hang with her at school. 

I am so proud of her and cannot believe how quick time flies. A FOURTH grader. I remember her small and cuddly. Now she rolls her eyes and begs to have friends round all the time. 

She turned 10!! Ten years and I am still over the moon for her. How lucky am I to get to be her momma?  

Labor Day weekend.

For the first time in years I took labor day off and decided to venture the mass and go camping. We were planning to go on Thursday and I was super excited. But the ass hat, aka Darren, did not get Thursday and Friday off. Great. That meant that I had to tow the boat over the mountain and put it and out of the lake! The problem with that is the whole prospect of reverse. I am not the master of reverse with a trailer. It is damn difficult. Very Very Difficult. It's even harder when everyone who's already got their boat in is laughing at you driving up and back trying to get the boat launched in an impossibly narrow boat ramp. Fat skimpily clad men who are balding laughing and laughing. I hate them. The humiliation culminates with one them walking over offering to help after 8 or so tries. How nice.  

I am however thrilled to report that I rocked reverse and managed to get the boat in the first try! Every time. And despite the fact that trailer lights were not working my mad driving skills prevented me from getting a ticket. 

The kids were really good and helpful with getting the campsite set up by ourselves. I wasn't sure if it would work going camping without Darren but in the end it was really fine. Who would've known? I must admit I was happy to turn over the duties to D when he arrived. 

The weather was wonderful the first two days, warm and sunny. On Sunday it was FREEZING and we spent the day playing at the playground, reading books and sitting super close to the fire. How relaxing. 

 The first family pic in months.


Darren's hair is long enough for a nice french braid. How pretty.
My sunshine.

Calling the Tooth Fairy

It blows my mind how big my little girl is. For a few weeks now she's had a loose tooth with the new one peeking out behind. So today she put Darren's finger in her mouth to show him how loose it was and out it popped. She was thrilled and wondered if the tooth fairy would find her out camping. Yep. Despite the fact that the tooth fairy had to go out in her underpants in 30 degree weather. 
This little girl cracks me up. What do you think she was thinking?

Strike a pose baby.