Weekend

Good Morning!! We're looking forward to a bright and sunny, warm day today. We had some special guests arrive yesterday.....Grandma Sue and Grandpa Phil!! We're looking forward to some fun times with them the next few days.

In the meantime, most of the weekend was all about getting ready for our guests. I didn't think you would enjoy pictures of Anna and I shopping for Grandma's new bedding or the loads of laudry getting done, or watching Ben scrub the bathroom floor by hand and then making him re-do it because he missed a few spots....well, maybe I should have photographed that...I would have enjoyed it!!

But, here is something that happened.....a doggie bath....outside...with COLD well water...brrrrr.
Grandma has been enjoying my laptop.... yes, Grandpa is here too...just didn't get a picture yet.
Grandma made the most wonderful cake and brought it up......Banana Cake....yum!! Too bad Ben can't enjoy it...he went to a Jr. High retreat to Great America on Sunday afternoon--he'll be back on Tuesday night.
We ended the weekend with a beautiful sunset......I'm lovin' the pinks!!!! Jill

The Secret

The secret to getting Anna to sit patiently through her brothers ballgames almost each and every night is...




THE SNACK SHACK............gotta love the blue teeth!!!! Happy Weekend to you!! Jill

Just another summer day

It's been a fun summer so far...just wanted to show you what a typical day is like at our house.
There's lots of letting the dog outside...she must really have to go--she has her collar in her mouth...maybe she's just excited to chase the birds and squirrels out of our yard...
There has been lots of swimming going on.....with wonderful neighbor kids...
One of the neighbor boys, a 200 lb. freshman, likes to do these tricks in our pool....interesting.
and we usually end our day at the ballfield....in town or out of town....here's a look at Mr. Ben pitching last night...
and what I didn't take a picture of was... me doing lots of laundry, taking them to summer school, making the kids do their chores and grocery shopping at least twice a week now.....piggies!!!

Stay to tuned tomorrow when I share my secret to keeping Anna content and happy while going to her brothers games every night.....you're gonna like it.... Stay cool today!! Jill

Wordless Wednesday-- Oh, the things we do......

What was it???

WHAT ON EARTH MADE THIS GUY LOOK LIKE THIS??? ALL SWEATY AND DIRTY????
Do you remember this??????
Did you guess right?? What is this project that my hubby was working on?? Is it a putting green??? Nope. Check it out!
It's a new Pool!!! I wanted one last year but waited too long...they were all sold out at the store! So, this year, I bought one in May, when it was still cold out!!

Yesterday, the boys decided that they couldn't wait any longer to get in....so they did....and by the look on Luke's face, IT WAS COLD!
But, they didn't care much....they played anyway....

Final note:: yes, the water is a greenish color. We filled up the pool with water from our hose, which took 2 days by the way, and the water has a lot of iron in it. Contrast the red in the water and the blue color on the bottom of the pool and we got green. Shouldn't it be purple?? you know, red and blue make purple???? Well, we have green. It will get better as the filter takes out the iron........ I don't think you will find me in the pool anytime soon....too cold and too many mosquitoes!!! Jill

Baseball and more baseball

Oh, what a beautiful weekend!! It's a good thing because we spent A LOT of time outside! Luke's "select" U9 baseball team had it's first tournament this weekend and we played twice on Saturday and once on Sunday. The boys did a great job....did a lot of learning... they were allowed to steal bases, which they had never practiced, but had fun with it!! Our town had never had a "select" 9 year old team before this year and people at the tournament were impressed with our little country team....especially with the quality of the pitching and the number of pitchers that we have. Needless to say, we didn't win the tournament but we had a great time playing, being outside, talking with friends and gaining experience. Check out Luke- top row on the far left. He played pitcher, 1st base, short stop and third base this weekend!! Go Luker!!

Even though we were busy with baseball, we still had time to make pancakes for breakfast on Sunday...and I had a helper......
OOOOPS!!! We need a little more practice on the "flipping" part.
and we still had time to have a friend over.......the boys had some play dates too!! Jill

Surprise Saturday Post

Just had to share more photos from this week... Here's Luke pitching...
and here's Luke winning the "game ball" for hitting an inside the park homerun this week. It's a real blessing because about a month ago he got hit in the ribs at practice and has been frightened to even stand in the batters box...Way to go, Luker!!
Here's Anna Grace.....at the dog park up north....she was lovin' the fact that daisies were growing in the field....she only picked a few....for Dad... it was Father's day, ya know....
Here's a shot of Mr. Ben, riding as my passenger......a good guy!
One last photo of someone who has saved up enough money to buy his OWN desktop computer... he was SO excited!!!!
Well, hope you enjoyed the randomness of these photos....it's off to an 8am game this morning for us..... Jill

ZOO

On Tuesday, a bunch of my MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers) friends had planned to go to the zoo--so I thought it would be fun to join them!!! Although I don't exactly have preschoolers and babies, I was quite sure that my kids would want to help other Moms by helping to keep track of their kids...and I was right. Here's a picture of the four of them at the Zoo entrance!!!
Yes, in typical Ben style, he is posing so lovely, isn't he???? Anyway, we saw lots of animals including this guy, who just walks around the zoo grounds...isn't he beautiful???
It was a super day. The weather was beautiful....about 68 degrees and sunny. No one complained or got hurt...what could be better??? It was an especially good day for Anna Banana. She was reunited with a friend that she hasn't seen for awhile....
and let's not forget the fabulous pony ride on Chocolate or Clarance or Charlie or Cocoa....we couldn't read his name tag very well...... We had fun!
Check back tomorrow for a few more random pictures from our week...... TGIF!! Jill

Chalet Adventures 3

Just around the corner from our Chalet, a new dog park has just been built. Being that Bella just turned 1 in March, believe me when I say that she still has a lot of puppy in her...and she needs to go to the dog park.

We took her on Friday night and I guess everyone had gone to a fish fry that night because it was a ghost town at the dog park....no doggies to play with for Bella. But, they did have a fabulous agility course for her to try. Ben was more than happy to "guide" her through the course.
The dog park actually had a sandy place for dogs to dig a little.... OK, I lied, they didn't bring in any sand...this is actually what the soil is like there. It's a good thing, with all of the flooding going on.....we don't have any problems with water coming in our Chalet.
We had a chance to use something that I bought from Target a few weeks ago. I thought it would come in handy someday......she was thirsty.....
Ok, now here's just a totally random photo thrown in...Well... just because it's cute and I know the grandparents would like it..... Jill

Wordless Wednesday- Brothers & Baseball

Chalet Adventures 2

As our Friday night was winding down, we went to bed, knowing that we were on vacation and we didn't have to be anywhere at any certain time in the morning, so we could "sleep in." Ahhhhhh.

We were rudely awakened the next morning at 6 am with the sounds of the loudest bird I've ever heard....Oooops, we had forgotten to put the "bird clock" under a pillow so it wouldn't chirp when daylight arrived.

Bella (our dog) had a few belly problems earlier in the week (throwing up) and we thought she might have eaten something from our recycling bin, and we were hoping it wasn't lodged somewhere in her intestines. The vet at home was pretty sure that Bella would be fine, but wanted us to call back if she started throwing up again. Well, we had discovered up north that she had not gone to the bathroom (#2) for 4 days and she was now throwing up again too. That signaled me to call a vet for fear that something was clogging up her system...we needed an x-ray to determine that... So, off we went to the "up north" vet.
We pulled up to the "vet clinic"...OK, it was a run down shack and the vet was there to meet us at the reception area....or maybe he was the receptionist too. Hmmmm, I didn't have a very good feeling about this vet. Cobwebs were everywhere, dust too and Lordy, you should have seen the clutter and bottles of medicine sitting everywhere. Not the most hygienic place in the world. John and I had decided even BEFORE we walked in that we didn't want our sweet pup to have any kind of procedure done here (ie surgery).

The vet was nice enough, didn't say much but checked her over pretty good, gave her a shot of something without even asking or telling us what it was... Like a good Mommy, I started getting a little panicky, asking lots of questions like...."What was that?--that you just injected into my dog???? Holy Cow, this guy was old school... He kept his dog thermomenter laying by the sink and did actually rinse it off with water after using it on Bella.....ewwwww. The vet never did give her an x-ray, but felt that she just needed some canned pumpkin (fiber) and a few days of antibiotics. We could not WAIT to get out of there!!!! I paid the bill..... an exam, a shot of Penicillin and 5 days worth of antibiotics......it came to $38 dollars....I guess I didn't mind that this guy was Old School on pricing!!!! So, off we went to buy pumpkin and head back to the Chalet...

We played a little Bocce Ball, also bringing Bella with us because, well, dogs Like to watch a good game of bocce ball.
I totally rocked at boccie ball....in fact, I sent Andrew a text message, back at home, that I , in fact, did ROCK at boccie ball.

For some reason the bugs were really bad at the boccie ball court. We saw all kinds of dead June bugs/beetles and these beautiful caterpillars were crawling all over the court and picnic tables....John thought they might be Gypsy Moths. You can imagine Anna's reaction to all of the bugs......but the boys enjoyed petting the caterpillars!!!!

We finished the afternoon at the pool again and still tried to get Bella to go potty.......
To be continued....... on Thursday. Jill

Chalet Adventures

Well, welcome to our house up north..."The Chalet" as we call it!! It was great to arrive on Friday in the early afternoon and have time to get in a dip at the pool!!! The friends that we had invited to come with us couldn't make it (bummer) but we managed to have a great time anyway.
Andrew had to work back at home all weekend so we left him there to hold down the fort. It's hard for a mama to leave one of her "babies" at home all by his lonesome.....
So, anyway.... here are a few pictures of our Friday. The kids enjoyed the pool...even if they forgot to pack THEIR goggles and Dad had to buy 3 cheap pair( and leaky too) at Pamida.
We had our FAVORITE broasted chicken from a bar and grill just a few minutes away...and enjoyed it out on the deck....well some of us did...Luke wanted to eat inside to be closer to the huge bowl of watermelon.
and last, but not least, I just had to show you a picture of our bedroom and tell you a little story.
Check out the walleye hanging on the wall. It was caught in a lake about a mile away....by one of the other families that share the Chalet with us. Every time we get up to our chalet, my husband takes the fish off of the wall and rests it in the corner of our room...EVERY TIME. I asked him about his reasoning for doing this, and he said "Those eyes just creep me out! " Too funny!!!! So, while our family is at the Chalet, the "walleye" has a little time out in the corner.....Hmmmm.
Hope you enjoyed seeing part of our Chalet adventures.....more tomorrow.... including an unexpected vet trip and bocce ball and BUGS! Jill

It's been raining again....

I can't believe how much rain we've had the last week...especially last weekend and last night. If we go 2 weeks without rain, that'll be a good thing. When it's rainy outside and the kids are home for the summer, there are a few things that they LOVE to do.

1. Play the computer... their favorite games as of late are "World of Warcraft", "Guild Wars", Linerider.com, addicting games.com and for Anna, it's Webkinz.com, and Groovygirls.com
2. Board Games..... Oh how they LOVE board games.... their favorites are Life, Risk, Stratego, Apples to Apples, Scattergories, Outburst and Chess/checkers !!!!

Then, of course, when it's raining outside, you can do gymnastic moves in the kitchen and be VERY silly....that works too.

Have a good weekend.... Jill

Summer's 1st week....

Welcome to our first week of summer....for Ben Luke and Anna. My Mom has reminded me that this particular week in the year is usually a doosy for me. It usually includes things like assigning daily chores, new bedtimes, redefining the rules around the computer/Wii, discussing issues of hygiene (ewww) and enforcing those rules (the hardest part). So far, I think we are doing pretty well.

The issue that confuses me is How do you get kids to sleep in??? Many days this week, all of the boys were up by 7:15 am. Sorry folks, but that makes for one long day for this Mommy when they don't go to bed until 10 pm. Do you have any suggestions??? Please leave them in my comments section.....

As for yesterday, Ben and Luke were up by 7 am, so I got smart and set out a 100 piece puzzle for them to complete after they had eaten breakfast. Wow, they were excited to take on a challenge and had it completed by 7:30 am. So much for giving them something to do that would take up time......
Ya know, I should stop complaining about my early morning risers and just think about how well adjusted they will be when they're older and have to get up for work early..... it is then, when they'll want to sleep late..... Jill

Wordless Wednesday.... First Game for Andrew

Mr. Patient

My hubby and I went out on a "date" last week. It was a nice break from the kiddoes and it was a super yummy dinner. Get your drool rags ready because I'm going to show you what I had...
(Filet w/ steamed veggies)
John had this.....(Drunken Shrimp)
I guess you have to be patient when you go out for dinner with me....Even if you're hungry, you have to wait until Mama gets a decent picture of your food.....

Check out Mr. Patient.....isn't he handsome???? Jill

Wild Weather

We had some WILD weather here this weekend, which made for some interesting graduation parties and cook outs...and many of the baseball practices were canceled too.

Check out the weather map in our area on Saturday night....yes, tornado warnings!!
We seem to have quite a few weather watchers at our house...
Here's what the sky looked like last night....very scary.

Here's a new project that was started yesterday afternoon(before the storms) at our house...any guesses to what it is????? Jill