Update from Aurora

Rhi,

Just wanted to let you know your boys are doing quite well at earning fair rides.  We have implemented a contest where they can earn them.  They have to earn 15 points at a meal in order to earn one ride.  They can earn points by sitting up to the table with both legs hanging down, not shoving their mouths full, not talking with their mouth full (Patton usually earns a point - then has to tell me - with his mouth full, asking for something with a please, saying thank you, picking up the dishes, waiting for everyone to be finished before asking to be excused.  They are quite pleased when they earn the fair ride!  I have decided that Patton will lose points when sucking his thumb.  He lost 6 points already this morning.  15 will lose a ride.  We'll see how many he loses.  So far Ike hasn't earned a ride.  He keeps talking with his mouth full, has a problem sitting up, and never says thank you or picks up his dishes.  You've got a lot of work to do with that one!

 
 

Things are going well - no one has been bloody - just muddy.  I had to rinse one set of jerseys 3 times before the water in the washing machine wasn't black.  Sorry, but the socks didn't recover.  Grandpa has done better planning and only takes them to the field with big ridges.  They can't mess them up too bad.  At least he didn't have to rebuild them yesterday.

 
 

Have a good day - so far we are.

 
 

Love you,

Kelly

What a week!!

I am hoping that with this post my luck will change.

Friday morning, I decided I had too much to do in order to leave on Monday, so I let the student I am working with know that I wouldn't be in until 9:30. I get a lot of work done, then realize that my new student will be coming at 9:30 to meet me at the Ambassador. So we rush in the car and rush out of town. I realize 1/2 way to Lincoln that Kenner didn't have his seat belt on (this would be a good time to note we have the ice cream machine in our van). I nicely stated, "Get your seat belt on." no response. I repeated a bit more sternly, "Kenner get your seat belt on." Now VERY frustrated, I say, "GET YOUR SEATBELT ON." No response. So the typical reaction of any good mother...I tapped the brake. ONLY to send Kenner flying into the ice cream machine. He pops up SCREAMING with blood gushing all over. GREAT I think to myself. I stopped on the side Hwy 77. The only thing to stop the blood was Ike's favorite blanket. No thinking... I just put it on his head and put his seat belt on for him and off we go to Sarah's house. I kept talking to Kenner to check for alertness and praying to God that my foolish move didn't cause damage to my son. We get to Sarah's and she met us with an ice pack and new washcloth. She took the two little boys and cleaned the favorite blanket. Kenner and I were off to the dr's office to assess the damage.

"What do I tell the dr?" "Do I tell the truth?" Oh no, the boys are going to Aurora in two days.... "WHAT IS GRANDPA DENNIS GOING TO THINK?" I was reminded by Kenner as we were walking into the dr's office, "Grandpa Dennis doesn't move the car until everyone gets their seatbelts on" he sniffled. I replied, "Yes I know...that Grandpa Dennis is a smart man. Mommy needs to be like Grandpa."

We go the trauma room and they look at the gash on his head. As he is lying on the table in a white room, I got light headed and felt sick to my stomach as it brought back all these memories of 3 years ago with the ventilator. Ugh! I began to cry as I felt so much guilt and emotions from the trauma ensued with the ventilator. I felt better when the nurse finished my sentence as I was retelling the story, "you tapped the brakes." She said they hear it all the time and that Kenner was lucky that this was the only thing that happened to him.

I didn't have much time, as my student was waiting for me at work. So I brought Kenner to work only to enter a whole different difficulty situation that turned a 2 hour work day into a 7 hour one w/ Kenner by my side. I will the spare the story of being SOO SOO mad, but a positive was that Kenner was very good and patient at work.

So Friday ends with a WIN at our softball game. I made a play that reminded me 100% of my mom which was kind of weird but good in all the same...as my mom was a good softball player.

Saturday begins with A TON OF THINGS TO DO (mind you this a guard drill weekend...so only mom at home). A few things on the to do list included: arranging 14 lasagnas, making spaghetti squash and sweet potato baby food, 7 loads of laundry, cleaning the house (as I can't leave an inch untouched thanks to an inherited trait from my mom), weed/feed my garden, pick up and deliver ice cream to the base, and last but not least spend some quality time with my boys before I leave for a week and spend time with Casey as he will be gone for 3 weeks to save a town in Alaska from disappearing in the ocean.

Saturday ends, Sunday begins. We were getting ready to go to church, then to Aurora when Casey calls from the base at 10:00 asking us to take him to the airport in Omaha. Off we go in a hurry as his plane leaves at 1:00. I was just going to get in the van and then come back and pack up the car, because I can't pack the boys things in the van for a week in 2 minutes. I take Ike out to the van only to find Kenner opening the back of the van up and loading up the car. It melted my heart! So I helped him with the rest of the things for Grandma's house and we were set to get Daddy then off to Aurora. We dropped Daddy off in Omaha, then headed to Aurora. We arrived in Aurora just in time to hit a storm. I still had to mow and weed eat, so I headed out quickly to beat the rain to Sprague. All my worries are over or so I thought...

When arriving home, I rushed to beging to mow the lawn. When I came out, I noticed that my brights on my van wouldn't shut off. I tried a few things, but no luck. No time to waist, I just started to mow. The mower was almost out of gas and 8 empty gas cans. Darn...I thought, "I will just mow until the mower runs out of gas." Remember I was attempting to beat the rain. It was POURING rain when I left Aurora and I saw the storm coming so I didn't have much time. I ran out of gas, then ran out to our friend's house for gas. I thought that maybe my lights would turn off after starting and running it for a bit. When I came back, I parked my van in front of my neighbor's house (which I NEVER DO). The lights didn't shut off, but still racing against the clock so I let them be. I mowed and my neighbor, Von, came to turn them off...no luck. I kept mowing. Von's wife came outside and reminded my that my light were on. I told her that I couldn't get them to shut off and asked her to tell me what lights were on and which ones were off. I turned everything on and then off. Then I noticed a little smoke coming out of the hood. "Do you see that smoke?" I asked Sam. She didn't see any, but I opened the hood anyway.

A FIRE in the electrical box. First it was a few sparks, so I ran for a glove. Then when I returned there was a small flame. Von came back out and got the fuse out with pliers. As he was pulling it out there was a flame. YIKES! No Casey so my back up was always Bob. Bob is pictured on the side bar as he is in Afghanistan. What do I do? So I called Casey's other friend Jay. He came over to look at it and said he thought it would be fine. So in frustration and needing to tell the whole world my foes...I posted on facebook. God is good! My friend Don has an Auto Repair shop and offered to look at it to make sure it was safe to drive. So so thankful!

I figured my back luck had ended with such a great ending to a rotten few days. I got up this morning, dropped the van off at H and H auto, Don drove me to the base to get Casey's saturn (which is new to us but not anywhere NEW NEW), go to McDonald's to pick up my friend Sian and head to Omaha. Get into the airport and 10 minutes before we load the plane I realize I left my phone in the car. NEAT! I have my computer at least...so I have email and skype for my kids.

Load the plane have a great flight to Detroit, have a great flight to Pittsburgh as we are descending the pilot announces that we have to go back up d/t a Stage 6 Thunderstorm. We will be circling for 30 minutes. Ok no problem. As we circle for 25 minutes, the pilot says the storm wasn't letting up so we were going to go to Akron, land, fuel up then go to Pittsburgh. Oh good. As we are descending to Akron, the pilot gets back on the intercom to tell us that we are now turning around and going to Pittsburgh, the storm had cleared. I prayed that we would just land somewhere safely and we did. AMEN!

Now some relaxing times in the hotel until the "Boot Camp" begins for being a Program Manager for EnduraCare. Anyone who has had a trouble free week and would like a few bumps in their week are welcomed to take this rain cloud hanging over my head. The only stipulation is to never return it! Have a great week!

an AWESOME end to a waaaay crazy day

Momma woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, had a crazy and unusual day at work, had a GREAT time at the water park with friends, ate Chinese with ALL my boys for one last time before Daddy leaves for 2 months, got to go grocery shopping ALL BY MYSELF and to top the night off...I came home to THIS!!!! ALL MY FREE THINGS for having a great month selling Pampered Chef.

As many of you know, I am not the most aggressive Pampered Chef sales women out there. Last month was one of the best months I have had in a year or two. JUST happened to be one of two months a year where Pampered Chef has a Sell-a-thon and they reward you for selling a certain amount of products and you get the new products for the Fall FREE!!! The big boys and I had a blast while on the phone with Kendra to share in the excitement. As promised, Kendra...here are the NEW products

Pantry items (which Kenner took the libery to open all and smell them) and two new cookbooks. One for the Manual Food processer which is my NEW love!!!

The new Stoneware color - Taupe

All 3 new stones, Deep Dish Pie Plate - Taupe, Ribbed stone (for grilling in the oven), and Mini baker Taupe

Bamboo Mixing bowls, new slicer, easy ready strainer, clear glass container w/ lid, glass cleaning brush (THESE are the ones I am MOST excited for)

so I mentioned that I am not the most aggressive salesman...here is my try: If see anything you can't live without or something else you want from Pampered Chef...let me know:) These go on sale in September.

GARDEN!

I am really not sure why our garden does as well as it does...must be full sun. I don't have any watering system on it or anything. As you can tell the tomatos are bigger than Kenner. We will be having TONS of tomatoes about the time that I am gone. I am not sure why I time it like this every year. This was a fun suprise this year...a pumpkin plant, or should I saw the pumpkins have taken over the garden!?!? I put our fancy pumpkins in the garden after Halloween last year and it turned out to be great seeds and they planted themselves. I am anxious to see which pumpkins come up...as we had some really cool ones from the Fangmeier Pumpkin Patch.

We always pick one fun thing to grow and see if it grows. This year it is canteloupe...and we have one growing. It will be interesting to watch it grow. The boys find it so much fun!

I moved the green peppers back to where they originally were planted two years ago and they have TAKEN off. I have and will have several green peppers again this year. I just used my last green peppers from two years ago in my freezer. yumm

Patton the inquirer. He is quite the question asker these days. I really need to video tape him versus just take still pictures...he is funny and non stop asking questions.

Random Fun

I wasn't so thrilled about how Casey put Ike on his shoulders...but of course I had to document it. Ike was smiling from ear to ear! So cute! The other morning, I wasn't sure where the boys were. I am very glad to live in Sprague, because I knew they couldn't be into too much trouble. I opened the front door to find this...It just made me laugh! Mind you this is at 7:45 in the morning. Never a dull moment.

The boys were SO excited to take their own lunch to daycare for a picnic. It is so nice to have such a great daycare!

Uh...Kenner feeding Ike. As you can tell, we couldn't wait for the bib. Ike was A MESS, but they both had fun eating and feeding.

Ike and Braxton catching up at Grandma's over the 4th.

Little Mr. Firecracker 2011

Well we had a bit of a problem this year with the Mr. Firecracker contest. Was it the costume? Nope. Was it the weather? Nope. Just the contestant. I was very THANKFUL that Patton was #13 out of 13. If he would have been first...he would NOT have gone up on stage. Not that I am competitive or anything...but there was a lot on the line. Kenner was Mr. Firecracker and Patton's outfit was SO much better. Enough about me:) ha ha.
Here is a little pep talk from Daddy and Big Bro. Kenner sharing all the knowledge learned from the previous pagent he was in. And....he....goes....on....STAGE! He was quite funny on stage w/ the questions he answered. Some of the highlights: Who is your best friend? Kenner (which brought tears to my eyes). What do you like to do at your Grandma's house? Go downstairs. What's downstairs? The basement, duh. Right, right the basement. What is in the basement? The Wii!

Mr. SERIOUS

Patton awaiting the results

And the winner is... #13!! WOOT WOOT! 2 for 2! It was all great UNTIL they brought out the crown. It was a BLOW to Patton and he started to cry. He got to ride in the parade in the special Mr. and Mrs. Firecracker float. Miss Firecracker was Halsey Heitmann.

4th of July

Well I had my camera in my bag the entire weekend, because Becca and Annie had their cameras out...so my pictures don't do the weekend justice. It was a great weekend.
Mr. Ike with Great Grandma Jackie nothing says 4th of July like a snow cone!

Ivy's first time swimming.

Ike loving his first time at the Hebron Pool. The boys went from swimming in the baby pool only to only SWIMMING in the big pool. Kenner even went down the slide by himself (w/ mom catching him).

All three babies ready for the pool. I could NOT imagine having triplets! YIKES

Our fire lover...Patton and his smores. Only to be cut short by the DUMB snake in the limestone rocks!!! UGH!

Annie and Ike! It was so much fun getting to meet Aunt Annie in person.

Fun at the Zoo

It was awesome to get to go to the Zoo with BOTH my sisters and their children. For the big day, I pulled out all the stops to make sure they knew who was the best...hence the shirt thanks to Target. HANDS up for Rylan

Look...we got the paddles to count the fish that Hugo and Thelma eat...COOL!

Ridin' on the train with all the boys

Aunt Kenny and Kenna on the train!

What a great day to have such fun with all the Kenner cousins and Kenna

Very BELATED Birthday to our 6 year old

This picture reminds me of all the old pictures that everyone took on their birthday about 20 years ago. Kenner loved having 3 parties this year...or so he called them parties. i called them a chance to hang out with different family and friends each time. We are so blessed! Kenner's cake was an (lame) attempt at making a tire for Cars 2. I really didn't have time to make a cake, so this is the most pitiful cake i have make for the poor child...he loved it. It makes me realize that spending a lot of time on something isn't worth it, when he was satisfied with some and a candle! All about perspective, which is my latest "a-ha" moment in parenting. No need to go to a movie and spend a ton of money on the movie, treats, etc. Instead DVR America's Got Talent, pop popcorn and my boys are in Heaven!!! I can't believe my first baby is 6 and will be going to Kindergarten in a month. YIKES! Love em' when they are young!
Another story in perspective...for some random reason, Red Robin is our restaurant of choice for all birthdays or celebrations. The boys thought I would like it to go to for Mother's Day. we did have my 30th birthday there as well as Patton's birthday...so I guess you can call it a tradition that I didn't know we had. That was until Kenner's REAL birthday. We had a party for Kenner on the Sunday before. We went to the Cars 2 movie with Lane, Josh, Brock, Luke, Jasa, Olivia, Atlie, and family. I thought, "done with birthday." On his birthday, of course, I kept telling him Happy birthday...as birthdays are a BIG deal:) He went to Bible school, then to Sarah's. I had asked him the night before what I could make for his birthday. Ravioli it was (the real kind...not from the can). I went to work and picked up the boys. Kendra and Sarah both informed me that we WERE going to Red Robin for supper. Hmmm...not in the plans, but Kenner was NOT budging. So at 4:30 on his REAL birthday, I, only ME, took the three boys to Red Robin. Kenner was so excited! It was fun and we were home and in bed by 8. Gotta love boys and their dream Birthdays!

Happy Birthday to my BIG guy!