Summer Daze part 3

Can I just say I'm making Serious progress this weekend? I mean, clearly not on the dishes, laundry, vacuuming, mopping, or cleaning up anything at all... But we can't keep ALL the balls in the air, right?

JULY!!!

There was so much shenanigans in July that it really deserves two posts, but we'll see how far we get. On with the show!

My alarm clocks.... every day this summer.

Some days its cute!

Some days its scary!! 

Like when I got shot by a weirdo wearing a Steak n Shake hat with this growling t-rex machine gun until I got up to make Eggos. Yay Summer. 

Some days there are boogers. 

Parenting Facts

Fact #1 If you can't find the kid plates and bowls, check under the couch. When you say "Dishes to kitchen" that is where they go. 

Fact #2 The Grape Jelly in your fridge might have expired.. 11 months ago. The backup Jelly in the cupboard is only expired by 4 months, use that one instead. *update shopping list

Fact #3 If you try to organize the craft area everyone will immediately need to do (complicated) crafts with all items. *misplace glitter

Fact #4 If you have kids with toys corresponding to any kids show, they will need to be present for every viewing of said show. 

Fact #5 A six year old will change his birthday plans approximately every other day beginning one month before said birthday while 4yr old sister argues his current age the yells at him for whining.

Any day we stay below orange is a good day

Going old school

Logan just got mad at Kendal while talking on their cup phones (cups with string) so he slammed it down to hang up on her. awesome.

Chandler is over here and can't understand how something so cool exists. Funny. Kendal is also following him around swooning at his feet

Villainous Sibling Rivalry 

Kendal: Mwahahhaaa

Logan: Kendal!! Stop laughing at me.

Kendal: bwahahahaaaaaa

Logan: Moooom, she's MEAN to me

Me: I think she's just laughing because she's happy

Logan: No she's not. She's laughing at me. SHE'S LAUGHING LIKE AN EVIL BANDIT!!!

They grow up so fast

This evening Logan was throwing a fit because he was told to help his sister clean the play room. It turned into screaming and throwing things so he was put into his room to calm down. Where he stood and yelled "I hate you" at the door. Then he turned on his drums turned up the amp and wrote a short metal song about how he hates his parents. Loopy said "when did we get a teenager?" I agree, wtf?

Go the #@&% to sleep

11:45 comes out of his room... 

Logan: GUESS what!? in Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing, Fudge EATS Peter's pet turtle and he has to go to the emergency room and get x-rays and then he has to drink prune juice and then when he goes BACK to the hospital to get x-rays later the turtle isn't there in his stomach. So Peter gets a dog and names him Turtle, in memory of the turtle that Fudge ate. And now I'm done with that book. I have to pee.

12:20 comes out of his room... 

Logan: Hey, how come you guys never come in to check on me anymore?

Me: I'm sorry, is that why you aren't sleeping? do you want me to come tuck you in or check on you before I got to bed?

Logan: Tuck me in, please

Me: ok.. so what's really keeping you awake? 

Logan: When I get married am I still going to be able to see you? 

Me: Of coarse! Me and Dad are married and still get to see our parents.

Logan: What if you die? 

Me: You getting married and my dying are not related. I am not going anywhere soon. Are you planning to get married soon? 

Logan: YES actually. You already know who I'm going to marry. 

Me: oook, well please go to sleep.

Visit from some of our favorite people!!

Luci and Mark came over from Palm Coast to hang out. Since very few of our PC friends have made it out this way and we have still met like no one here in town we were super excited. Mark plays guitar, too.. so there was a cookout and pool in the back yard, night swimming at the big pool, and a band set up in the living room. Good Times!! 

Boys and toys

Kids and toys

Loving our backyard!

Life is good

Throwing the ball for Kendal
she was a dog

Music and Grillin'

night swim pics are too dark

Reading Luci a bedtime story

Watching Neverending Story

Memories in a box

Loopy's best friend from high school (formerly known as Stumpy) They keep in touch and are like old souls together. Right before we moved to Lake Mary, Loopy found an old keychain photo of them their first roller coaster probably taken during senior skip day in high school. I recently got this message from Jason's wife...

Jason and Loopy at Six Flags - the treasures Jason brings home from his parents' 

Wise words

This was an article posted online by a fellow Survivor. I shared it on Facebook, but since I know my wall and blog are still being watched from time to time, I thought it was worth sharing here as well. 

What this ultimately means is that coding is about more than just coding. It’s about people. It’s about understanding who those people are and what they can contribute and what they need, whether they’re in the majority or the minority. “If you focus on people, good things happen, Software is written by humans. If you’re not taking care of the humans, you lose something.”

~Melody Meckfessel head software engineer at Google

If you or someone you know works in the software industry (or runs a company, I'M LOOKING AT YOU) I suggest you check out the whole article here and take notes.

Every. time.

Logan is sick. I am pretty sure that is strictly because I had talked about hanging out with Kari this week. Our kids have something against us getting together more than once every other month or so. At best. This also means Logan does get signed up for Karate (again) this week.

Good to know

Logan: Hey Mom, If you get on Wipeout you can drink the muddy looking water. Its made of purified water, cookie dough, and modeling clay.

Parenting rule #3345 

When you have one sick kid, the siblings will suddenly become BFF's and love on each other ALL day to make sure adequate germs are passed.

Sometimes its best to just let them be... sometimes

Chandler comes over and knocks on the door, politely asks if Logan can play. I say "of coarse!" he runs BURSTING though the door and yells "Logan!! We have to make booby traps! I JUST watched Home Alone 3 and we need your stairs to pull this off." They spent a half hour booby trapping Kendal. Chandler had some good chain reaction ideas. Logan suggested that Chandler's mom buy them a chainsaw so they can cut a hole in the floor upstairs and Kendal will fall though...
Meanwhile Kendal is doing anything C tells her to. and following him like a puppy dog. I don't think I did that to my brothers friends until Jr. High..

Super girl

Loopy: Kendal's super power is cuteness. She can take a man down with her voice alone.

Relax? Right....

I like when Loopy says "can you drive? I'm tired" I laugh to myself and enjoy the relaxation of driving while he gets increasingly grumpy at his new duties of 'passenger'

Click to enlarge

Pets

We now have 4 hermit crabs. The newbies are Foxy and Turbo. It's risky naming crabs after their shell design. Turbo has already hopped to something more boring and Foxy is shell shopping right now.

Mr. Crabs burrowing

New setup

Foxy and Turbo both moved to new shells

Princess Crabs in her hut, with a fitting sign

Reality Check

Sarah, my SIL: After dealing with the super highs and exasperating lows of my kids' behavior today, I think I should join you in nighttime drinking, dear sister-in-law of mine  Today they made me glad that I get to go back to work in three weeks.

Cheers, Sarah! 

(she blogs too. HERE)

Mom confession #637 

I have been replacing half of Kendal's daily chicken nugget intake with veggie nuggets for 3 days and she hasn't noticed... I think. (There is always a few left when she's done, they might all be veggie ones left this time.)

*side note, that only lasted a couple weeks and she started to pick out the veggie ones. She skipped 3 dinners in a row that were just vegan nuggets. Fail. 

Why I love my friends #754

Tonight at dinner...

Logan: STOP talking!! You're going to make my ears turn green. 

Me: Don't interrupt me and dad, its rude. Wait, what? 

Logan: Remember what Carol A told me!? If you I listen to grown up conversations my years will turn green. It starts in the ear lobe and goes right up to the top. THEN, if I keep listening in, they will get pointy. Like an elf or something. Please, just stop. 

Kendal: I LOVE THAT GUY!!!

Guess we'll discuss that subject at a later time then...

Phone dump

Random phone pics... I'm a huge fan of the auto photoshop selfie option  c'mon, you know you tried it too.

Kendal loves lip gloss

Look, no wrinkles on my forehead
or bags under my eyes.  HA!!
Best. Phone Feature. Ever.

That's a little more accurate.. 

The good news is the kids don't care
HOW wrinkly or un-makeup-ed my face is.

I think she's beautiful, too. 

Finally got those curtains up
without throwing them through the window

Siblings getting along.
QUICK TAKE A PIC

Her mega blocks have names: Domino and Three 

Kissing fish at the Sushi place

Our stove died,
that mean we got a new BOX!!

Kendal in the club house.
WE LOVE BOXES

"Look mom, a giant wine stopper!"

Fuck you Gyro Bowl

I just love this. 

Mouse Trap is complicated

Random picture of  Kendal's perfect hair

Cuong Nhu

I had never heard of this before until quite recently. There are hundreds of different types of martial arts. And endless combinations thereof.  After sitting in and participating in 2 or 3 'chain' type karate places we decided it was best to stick with a local dojo that doesn't charge hundreds of dollars to yell at our kid. I found Hero Academy online and gave Sensei Michael a call. Then I called back a week later to bitch that no one returned my call. He politely said "yes I did, you were going to come in to a class...." 

Oops *must keep better notes

Anyway. That is where we decided to stay. Logan freakin' LOVES it. He is a different person in class. He is focused and WANTS to learn to do things right. Here's hoping that we finally found his niche. 

I'll never learn

Enjoying this moment of silence while the kids play quietly by themselves upstairs

Never mind, its over. I turned off the tv because no one was watching it.. They came downstairs because it was "weird and quiet"

Logan's B-day

Logan's birthday is right smack dab in the middle of summer (July 19). For the last couple years we haven't really had a traditional party. (Last year was epic!) This year it was because we didn't have anyone we knew in town well enough to invite to a party and he didn't really make friends with kids at the new school. This year he didn't talk much about his birthday except what presents he wanted. His plans changed daily. So me an Loopy decided to surprise him with a trip to LEGO Land. 

At the hotel

My kids are SUPER giddy to go on vacations. They honestly thought we were going to a hotel and that was it. And they were ok with that. Our friends Scott and Lauren live 10min from there so they came to hang out. We've tried and tried to tell them to be grateful for what they have an not expect more. (even though every sign on every wall was an advertisement for Lego Land) Maybe it's finally sinking in. OR they really like hotels which is WAY more likely.

Plus this place gave out free Legos at check in!

Scott got them both good and riled up before bedtime. Thanks.

The kids finally passed out so we did some decorating. 

Wait, there's more? 

We gave him a birthday card with the park tickets inside. It took a while for it to sink in then they were both pretty stoked. 

SO. MUCH. LEGO.

  

 Real live Lego guy!! His name was Buddy

Water Park

This place also has a water park. We could have spent the whole day there, cause it was so FUCKING hot but it started raining and thundering. cause its Florida. in summer.

Back to the rides

There is this driving school that the kids can attend. The little kid version was pretty much mini power wheels. You can tell which kids have power wheels or have driven before. Mine clearly did not. Kendal took a curb, hit the attendant, and couldn't steer and use the gas at the same time. . 

She got a licence anyway. Logan thought that was a terrible idea. 

The bigger kids' driving school was a little more involved. He got to use the police car cause it was his birthday. 

Some people told me that it wasn't the best place to go and there isn't enough stuff to keep everyone happy all day. I think that we missed 1/2 the park because we had to stop and look at everything. I would seriously consider annual passes next year cause my kids are serious Lego Junkies. 

More Legos

When we got home we gave Logan the other half his birthday presents. They are called Mindstorm and our friend Jon gave them to us right after Logan was born. They are old school programmable robot Legos. I think the box says 13 and up or something but the boys got it figured out and built a little rover that can map a room.. sorta like a roomba without the vacuum. Give it time, I'll find a way to make it clean the house.

Respect the classics, man.

Logan's reactions watching Wizard of Oz for the first time (that he remembers) are hilarious. 

We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz, because because because becaaause *Logan: BECAUSE WHY?!"* Because of the wonderful things he does... 

and he points out all the weird stuff, like a random log cabin when they find the witch.

"oh wow! There really is a lion in the woods! Oh wait, that is just a crazy guy dressed in a lion suit. Seriously, what is wrong with that guy and he's really hairy"

Kendal not sleeping at midnight

She has a lot to say when there isn't a brother there to interrupt and correct everything she says wrong.

Truth.

Some days....

Time for a mommy time out!

St. Maarten and his fruity friends are takin' over!

Things you never want to hear as a parent #523 

Mom, I have a butt issue. Can you please help me out here?

Sibling Conversations... 

Logan: OW my balls! My robot hit me in the balls

Kendal: Ow! MY balls!

Logan: You don't have balls, you are a girl.

Kendal: Where did they go though? I had em right here

Logan: No. you didn't.

Kendal: But the robot hit me in the balls! Oh, my balls.

Logan: moooom, Kendal thinks she has balls.

Seriously, this isn't funny.

"Fred" Might be the worse character ever created and put out into the public. I hate this movie so freakin' much. I wish there was a block option on instant watch Netflix.

Spoke too soon

Kendal playing with LEGOS: can you please take this stud off that one? Thank you. 

Me: you are very polite, I appreciate. Remember not to pick your nose when you talk. 

Kendal: okay. FINE!! UGH.. (then she spit in my face.) Is that polite? 

Ummm, no...wtf

Unnatural disasters

This one time Tehgan came over and the house was trashed, the front door was wide open and we were in the back yard. She was pretty sure we had been robbed and were missing.

A week late...

Logan finally got his cake!

Career choices

Logan has been watching the weather channel for an hour. if he doesn't make it to astronaut he'll be a meteorologist.. then again he had me record the series "Dangerous space weather" Right up his alley.

Disney-isms

Yesterday we were waiting for the boat at Disney and a parent said "Look, here comes the ferry boat!" her kid said "a Fairy!? you mean like Uncle Mike?" made me giggle. I love kid key words.

There are no longer trash cans allowed on the fairy boat or at the monorail station platform because it would be easy to stash bombs in there. The captain was telling us about it yesterday. His name was Jean Marc. Kendal asked if he knows Jean-Michel Cousteau because they have the same name.

She considers herself a Disney expert now and gives advice to strangers on rides and wait times when she is in line.

Because this is probably frowned upon...

....Respect 101

Logan was incredibly rude to a friend of mine and her kids. She stopped to visit and bring some clothes over for Kendal. It didn't end well for him. 

Favorite butt?

Logan: ow, my butttttt
Kendal: is that your favorite butt in the world?
Logan: yeah
Kendal: eeeew, that might be grosssss
Logan: want me to use it on you?
Kendal: I don't think so
Logan: pbbbbblllttttt
Loopy: You two stop talking.

Go with what works!

The Beatles for Babies cd is officially worn out. It has been played EVERY night ALL night for 7 years (unless we were out of town, even then it may have been left on repeat) Loopy had to make a new copy and put that right back in the cd player on repeat. 

Worth Every Damn Penny. Thanks Tim!!!!
*I had to edit this, Loopy told me TIM gave us that CD, not Caitlyn. In my defense we have quite a few CD's around here from her and her ex.

Not that I'm counting down or anything, but...

When my kids aren't fighting, I really love listening to them talk. 11 days until school starts!!

Shenanigans around town

Growing up we had things like Merry go rounds, and teeter tawters, and REALLY tall metal slides with
no railings or guardrails, giant metal climbing structures with too big gaps to fall through. We had this thing at school called the big M. I fell off and pretty sure I cracked a rib. We didn't die, we had survival skills.  Then we found this playground. I think this is the last known merry go round in existence. My kids don't know to stop and get a feel for the spinning toy of doom before grabbing on. Logan was nearly decapitated... But I let him do it cause we survived it. Getting on playground equipment should be a skill all kids have, even if they have to lose a limb to learn.

This seemed like an innocent climbing thing.. until I took a picture from the front and got a mad case of the giggles. It all went downhill from there...

Sometimes we are like 12 yr old stuck in grown up bodies and we can't help ourselves.

I was going to put something after this, but really.. I'm out of stuff to post and its 2:30am. Besides, it makes me smile to leave you all with that mental image...

Goodnight kids!