Somebody got a haircut

I didn't want to cut her hair. I wanted it to all grow out, but it kept falling in her eyes. Not to mention the fact that she now refuses to leave a barrette in her hair, so I simply had no choice. It had to be cut. So, on the spur of the moment, I decided to cut it. It definitely shows off her stylin' mullet a lot more. I think she's pretty cute...mullet and all.

BeforeDuring (Doesn't this picture just crack you up. Luke took it for me. Every time I see it I laugh.)
And after

Basketball superstar

Blake & the girl he loves a little

When asked by his parents if he loves Makenna, this little boys grudgingly always answers, "Yeah, a little bit."

Here's what Makenna decided to do when we first got into the doctor's office yesterday. Blake was not too impressed, especially when she drooled all over his forehead. I, on the other hand, was very impressed that he let her climb all over her without complaining. Yeah, he must love her "a little bit."

Makenna's bad hair

Today part one

Makenna had a doctor's appointment. I had given into peer pressure and taken my daughter to the doctor simply because she hasn't started walking yet. I've had quite a few people tell me that there could be something wrong with her feet or hips or who knows what. Anyways, it finally got to me on Friday, and I called and made an appointment. So I've been slightly worried about it all weekend. I mean, what if there was something wrong with her feet? Why didn't I take her before to get it check out? What if her funny crawl that she does is not really funny after all? What if she does that crawl because there was something wrong with her leg and not because of the hardwood floors? I'm telling you. Every thought imaginable was going through my head. I can honestly say that I prayed about it, and I was okay with whatever the outcome was gonna be, but come on....no one wants anything to be wrong with their kid. Know what I mean? Well, I combined this visit with her 15 month appointment (which, by the way, none of my other kids have ever gone to that appointment. I have always skipped that visit.).

Anyways, so we're there because Makenna is not walking. So, as I'm telling the doctor about everyone else's concerns that are becoming mine, and that little booger takes two steps. The doctor looked at me like I was crazy, and actually said, "Look, her first steps!" She is such a little stinker! It was almost like she was telling me, "Mom, I don't have to be here. I can do it just fine. I've been trying to tell you that. I just don't want to walk yet." She goes on to climb all over every chair and moved more around that little room like a little Tazmanian devil making me look like a super-paranoid, over-protective mom. Anyways, for all you concerned friends of mine, thanks for caring, but the doctor says she completely fine. Her feet point outward because of the way her hips are, and that's how they fit into her sockets. (I'm pretty sure she inherited that from her mama.) And since she's progressing fine in every other area like crawling, holding on and walking, pushing things around, and a couple steps here and there; she's fine. She's just holding out on us. I think she's purposefully waiting until after Niki's wedding, just so she can be pulled down the aisle in a wagon like a princess or something.

Today - part deaux

Next we met up with some friends at Sharonwoods. It was very last minute, planned last night at church....the joys of homeschooling. We had a picnic, playtime, and a nature walk. The boys were to find five leaves and five rocks. I'm pretty sure we got all the leaves, but not the rocks. Here's Jakeb with his little creation.
Here's Blake being a complete daredevil and following Kyle out as far as he could in the creek. I really thought he was gonna fall, and I was gonna get to send in the video that is to the left into America's Home Videos. But he did not. Stink! I was really looking forward to the $10,000. Anyway, the was the first creek/waterfall area that we went to.
We then moved on to the second waterfall area that wasn't quite stroller friendly. So, Wendy stayed at the top, and and I went down with the kids to keep an eye on them. See how gross the water was. Oh, and by the way....do you see Kaleb in this picture below? No? Well, neither do I, but don't worry, I hadn't lost him like I do so many times. He must have been right next to me while I took the picture. Oh, and see that little spot of water that's NOT covered with green slime junk?? Well, that's the exact spot that Kaleb FELL into when he got a little too close to the water.
Yes, I said FELL into. He fell and did the floating, face-down ,flailing his little legs and arms around ,waiting for someone to rescue him thing. I threw my camera down and tried to reach out as far as I could, and couldn't reach him. Next thing I know...I'm down in the water waist deep grabbing the little guy. Poor little guy. Once we got him out of the water he was fine. He never even cried. He did want his mommy to hold him very tightly for a few minutes. If you ask him about it, he'll tell you he was scared, but that he didn't cry and that mom pulled him out. I'm still not breathing properly yet, and it must have happened about what......8 hours ago. My baby almost drowned. Okay it wasn't that bad because I was there, and I knew I would get him out, but still.....I'm still very surprised that I didn't panic or freak out or anything. I was surprisingly calm. Of course, when I think back on it, it is not a pretty sight to see your kid floating face down in the water, but I thank God that He kept Kaleb safe. Here's a picture of the wet Kaleb. (This is the only part where he almost cried because he did not want me to take a picture.) Oh, and I'm sure that if I would have had the camera on, that this all would have made the $10,000 prize on AFV. Oh, and to end this post of a happy note...a slightly jovial note. This is the exact same waterfall area where Luke fell down last year. We do not do good here at this waterfall area. Note to self: do not return to this area. Someone always falls and gets wet! Check last year's adventure out here. (Remember that one, Betsy?)

Oh, and we came home and watched the Absent-Minded Professor and had popcorn and hot chocolate. That always makes everyone feel better.

PS. Don't forget to check out the new videos on the left in you get a chance. They'll make you chuckle.

a week in review in pictures

(Video on left)

Not me, Monday

All right, so it's Not me, Monday again. I think that it's gonna be short and sweet.

I absolutely did not make Fried burritoes the other night and completely did not forget to add the taco seasoning in them. And of course, the burritoes tasted the same without the taco seasoning mix. NOT! Jakeb did not make the statement, "Hey, mommy they taste like hamburgers. They're not hot at all."

Remember that laundry basket that was NOT in the middle of my floor last week? Well, I promise you that it has NOT been replaced by another one that's been there for a couple of days too. Oh, and don't worry, my laundry is not piling high all over the house. Don't worry, it's definitely not.

I also did not watch with glee as my husband got dunked again and again in the dunking booth by children at church. It did not make me want to do a Whoop! Whoop!! and a little dance because that would be absolutely awful if it did. What kind of wife would I be if I did that.

I also did not give in and make my daughter a doctor's appointment to get her feet check because SO MANY people kept saying stuff to me about her not walking that I started to get paranoid. Nope, not me. I don't care what other people think. I definitely didn't give in. (More about that later.)

Luke's b-day cont.

We had plans on Luke's b-day to go over to the Hall's house for dinner, so we gave him his presents bright and early on Monday morning. He got three games, Big Trouble, Hulk Smash, and Electronic Guess who from us and he got some Narnia guys from my mom. He LOVED the Guess who game and Hulk Smash game the best. (Shoot, I liked those the best too.) After dinner at the Hall's, they surprised Luke with a great ice cream cake fully decorated and everything. He loved it.
Then, well, I made the mistake of introducing my kids to the Wii at the Hall's house. Man, is that thing fun! Here's a couple of pictures of them playing. There's a video of Kaleb actually playing tennis on the left if you want to see it. It's pretty cute.

Not Me Monday

Well, it's that time of the week again...and let's see...what did I absolutely not do this week?

I'll start of by telling you that I have not had the same laundry basket full of clean clothes sitting in my bedroom for 4 days. It's not there, and it's definitely not right smack dab in the middle of the floor where we have to actually walk around it. And we definitely do not scrounge around in it looking for whatever article of clothing that we need for the day. Nope, not us. Oh, and not to mention the dirty laundry basket in the closet is NOT over-filling again with our clothes. That is definitely not happening in our room.
Did I tell you all that last Friday we did NOT invite two other boys over to our house. And while we did not have those two other children at our house, I definitely did not make my sons do a mad dash around the house cleaning it while I was frantically cleaning the kitchen because I didn't want their mom to see a messy house. Oh and I'm sure that I did not forget to CHECK the jobs that they did around the house. I trust my kids entirely when it comes to household chores. They do a great job. Really, they do.
I also did not show the kids' mother our house room by room to only be shocked by how POORLY my children cleaned their rooms. There was not dirty underwear HERE and dirty socks THERE. There were not TOYS still EVERYWHERE shoved into every nook and cranny in their room. Nope, not my kids' room. They did a great job cleaning up. The bathroom was sparkling clean. Yes, it most definitely was. Oh, and my dirty clothes were NOT left in there from the morning with my underwear on the top of the pile. And, of course, those boys that did not come over did not use my bathroom while my dirty clothes were in there. No way, my kids definitely obeyed so well and cleaned the bathroom for me. AHHHHHHHHH
I also did not get a little giddy when my husband told me to go pick up the pizza for Luke's non-existent sleepover. I did not get excited just because I was gonna be able to stop by Speedway and get a fountain drink of Dr. Pepper. I did not get my Dr. Pepper, drive over to pick up the pizza, turn into my parking spot, and I most certainly did NOT dump my entire 32 ounce Dr. Pepper all over the floor of the Sunfire (the one Eric drives to work). I am positive that I did just look at it, and say....."Grr....I wonder if they will give me another one at Speedway if I get back." And I did not follow that with the thought of...."It's a good thing the carpet of my car is black. The Dr. Pepper will never show, and no one will ever know." No way, not me. That would be positively dreadful. Oh, and I did not drive back to Speedway, go in, and ask the nice lady if I could get another drink because mine dumped all over the car. NO way! How pathetic would that be??
I also did not purposefully keep the boys up late on their sleepover night just so they would sleep in late on Saturday just so I could get some extra sleep. OH, and it's a good thing that it worked. They did not rise up at the crack of dawn. And I know that they did not run around my house like crazy Indians early in the morning.
Mmmm... what else did I not do? I did not purposefully avoid this one library for the past 6 months because I had a $28 fine. Seriously, I would never let my fine get that high. What kind of a person does that? I did not get new library cards at other libraries and drive further just so I wouldn't have to pay the fine at my library. But then, I most definitely did not pay part of the fine just for one lone reason alone. I, of course, never had a $28 fine in the first place. But the reason that I paid it was not so I could get the Xbox 360 Star Legos game for Luke's sleepover. No, that would be pathetic to know that I finally paid it off so my kid could play a game, and not so I could have more books available to us for school. No, it was definitely not for the game. I am not that sad.

Oh yeah, I also said "no," when someone asked me if I needed a breast pump because I know for sure that we're done having kids. I definitely did not say...that I would take it especially since I've been done nursing since Makenna was 9 months old. We are definitely not planning on ever having any more kids....so of course, I would never ever need a double breast pump. (Did I mention it was a double?)

You know, I'm sure that there is some other stuff that I did NOT do, but for the life of me, I can't think of anymore stuff right now, but I promise...if I do, I'll save it for another day. Until next week.....

Luke's sleepover/birthday

This was Luke's year for a birthday party. We had lots of ideas to do things...like the zoo, a Chuck E. Cheese party, museum, a party at a park, or a sleepover. The last one won. He invited the two oldest Smuda boys to our house to PARTY ON! We had pizza, movies, xbox games, ice cream, cookie cake, and a sleepover on the floor. Talk about a fun time.

We're meeting up with the rest of the Smuda's at the Keehner Fall Festival. We went last year on Luke's birthday too.

Shaw Farms

I finally did something on Thursday with the kids that I've been wanting to do since Blake was a baby. The kids and I went to a Pumpkin Patch/farm. I've always wanted to go because I thought they would be such great pictures, but never made it. Seriously, each fall I would plan to go, and then each fall I would procrastinate, and then eventually it would be too late.
So I was thrilled when Mindy suggested meeting there. What's sad is (and I didn't even tell Mindy this) I wanted to call her Thursday morning and cancel. I was feeling very, very lethargic. Know what I mean? I didn't feel like doing anything. Now don't get me wrong. We did school. But beyond that....I just didn't feel like getting the kids all ready to go. I kept thinking and thinking of a good excuse to tell Mindy to get out of going, but I couldn't think of anything, and well....I WAS NOT GOING TO BAIL ON HER. I hate it when people bail on me at the last minute with a dumb excuse. So we went.
We of course were late, but....not too late...just a few minutes and were excited to see all the set-ups of the pumpkins. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it was this.Talk about having some fun. They had scarecrows with painted pumpkin faces in different set-ups across the front field. They had an Aladdin theme, Peter Pan, Flinstones (my favorite), Winnie the Pooh, and quite a few others. They also had a maze that the kids really enjoyed. Oh, and then in the back they had more of a historical set-up. They had a scene from the Civil War, and old West town, and then an Indian scene. They had chickens and a few animals. Loved it. We did the hayride too. I'd like to go back again because I heard that you can set up an educational tour, and do a few more hands on things. I think that would be fun too.

Proof

I've been telling people for weeks that Makenna could walk and just doesn't do it when we're watching her. I've told everyone that she probably wakes up in the middle of the night and walks in her crib. Well, Look at this! This is PROOF that Makenna does get up and walk in her crib. So it wasn't in the middle of the night, but it was after her nap. Check that little booger out! See I told you. I knew it!

....the below part of this post is told by the famous Makenna Alma herself......

1. Let's see.....I'll do a dance first, and now just walk over here, and I'll just take a step over here. Man, this is fun. One of these days I should try this on the hard wood floors. Ooooo...I should perform my dance moves for mom and dad.....Nah...not any time soon.
2. What's that? Oh, stink! some one's in here. (turning around and freezing in one spot, looking scared) What? I'm not doing anything. I'm just standing here holding on to the rail for dear life. I don't want to fall....I'm not very good at this standing thing, and I definitely can't walk. No way! Not me!
3. No really, I can't walk at all. Stop looking at me with that look, Mom. I really can't! I'm just so scared I'm gonna fall, so I don't want to try to do it on my own. No, Mom, my legs are not slimming down from exercise from walking in my crib. I told you I'm not doing that. ( Smile..smile really sweetly, so she'll believe you. Don't look away...Keep eye contact, or she'll know you're lying....Keep smiling! Keep smiling!)
4. (asking innocently) Plus, Mom, why would I ever bother walking when I have all of you guys to carry me around wherever I want to go?

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Today is my nephew's birthday. He's exactly two weeks younger than Blake. I can't believe they're both eight now. Seems like yesterday we were comparing the two side by side. I love Andrew. He is so much fun to be around. And he takes GREAT pictures! I hope you have a great day, Andrew! Happy Birthday! We love you!

Standing Tall!!! (Updated some)

I originally posted this quickly just so Eric could see it at work. Since then I've updated it with the story behind it all.

Now you have to realize that the only time she does this normally is when she's in her high chair at the dinner table. She does it then because she knows that she's not supposed to.
I'm so glad I caught it on film. It was a little crazy at our house today. I was watching my friend Amy's kids while she was at a doctor's appointment, so there were seven kids 8 and under at our house. Talk about being in a LOUD house. (I'm not kidding...it was soooo loud.)

And to add to it all, the kids were playing Hullaballoo, a great Cranium game (which I did suggest, so I must subconsciously enjoy madness or something). Basically, you put all these mats on the floor and the electronic box tells you what mat to stand on. You move from an animal to a triangle to a green mat. It's great for building listening skills. Well, I guess Makenna wanted a part of the action. It must have looked fun out there to her because she crawled out in the middle of it all and decided to show her stuff. Too bad those little mats are little slippery for her! I just love how she cheers for herself at the end of her performance.

"Not me, Monday"

Once again, I decided to join in on the fun of the Not me, Monday posts inspired by the My Charming kids blog.

I most definitely did not let Makenna go to sleep in a diaper and a shirt only to wake up in the morning and find that she had pooped in her diaper, and taken off her diaper, and succeeded in throwing diaper and poop (separately, mind you!) all over the floor. Oh, and I did not laugh at the smear of poop across her face thinking, "Man, Makenna, when you're going on your first date, do I ever have a story to tell the boy!" Oh, and did I mention that I did not make my 8 year old mop the floor.

I did not make my kids do new chores. I did not make my six year old do his and his brother's laundry simply because I did not want to do it. And I definitely did not make my eight year old clean the bathroom from top to bottom including the floor and shower simply because I didn't want to do it, and because I thought it was too gross.

I did not laugh when my five year old woke up from his nap soaking wet. I continued to not laugh when he told me that he had no idea why he was wet. And, oh my goodness, I most certainly did not make him take a shower by himself to clean himself up.

I did not try to make chicken wings with my new Toot's sauce, and mess them up so badly that I had to throw the entire platter of chicken wings away. And you can bet that I didn't get all upset at Eric when he told me that he didn't like them. I then did not proceed to make popcorn for dinner for everyone and tell them, "Tough!"

I also did not go to the grocery store and spend almost $100 over my budget for groceries alone because our cabinets were so bare. I also did not get angry every time I went to pick up something and realized that it was more expensive than it was a month before. I did not have so many groceries that the cashier lady asked me, "I just have to know. How many does this feed?" Because if that happened what kind of a mom would I be to let my house get that empty of food? I mean, seriously, what would we have been eating then?

I also did not decide to fumigate my basement with foggers on Saturday when we left for the firework extravaganza only to remember that I left the box of library books inside the fumigating basement. I definitely did not hold my breath and run in, passing only one fogger, grabbing my box of books, and running back out. I then did not start to drive up the road only to remember that I had left night crawlers in the refrigerator upstairs. I did not drive back to my house, hold my breath again, risk my life again by going into my fumigating house, run all the way upstairs, and got those silly night crawlers out of my refrigerator simply because I did not want to spend another $3 on worms. I did, however, get smart, and ran out the back door so I wouldn't have to pass through the fumigating basement again.

I absolutely did not almost burn my house down by leaving my brand new coffee pot on yesterday with the coffee pot still in it for an entire 8 hours while I was gone at church and over to some friend's house.

Oh, and I also did not yell at Luke about 3 times for interrupting my thought process while I waste my time typing this Not Me, Monday. Nope, definitely not me because man, that would make me a horrible mom.

I did not start to worry about my mom because she wasn't answering her phone when we called. I definitely did not worry enough to drive all the way up to Middletown to make sure she was okay, and then when I realized that she was...I positively did not ask her for the money that she owed me and her Meijer employee discount card so that I could stop by Meijer and buy the most happiest diaper bag ever. (I did not use incorrect grammar there either.) I most definitely did not do that because that would be absolutely awful. What kind of a daughter would that be? Oh, and I positively did NOT spend too much money on the diaper bag even with the discount card.

I also did not squeeze my fat butt into my jean skirt that is entirely too small for me on Wednesday night, and I positively did not have to wear a shirt that was a little too small because all of my other clothes were in the laundry basket wating to be done. Oh, and it did not have deoderant marks on it either which only proves that it was dirty too and somehow got re-hung. I did not go about teaching Master Clubs sucking my belly in so that no one would hopefully notice how tight the skirt really was.

I also did not get giddy when my grandma, of all people, pulled out a stylin' jean skirt that she had and ask me if I wanted it. (She really does not go to my church by the way, so she had no idea how badly I needed a new jean skirt. ) Of course, getting the kids back in the car when we were leaving her house is no easy task, and that did not make me forget the skirt, go to Meijer, realize that I forgot the skirt, and drive all the way back to her house just to get the skirt. I was NOT that excited about getting a new skirt. No way, not me. I never get that excited about clothes. That would be, w hat's the word...way too materialistic. (On a completely honest side note I did absolutely think God was awesome for working the whole skirt thing out. Sometimes He gives us things that we don't even think to really ask for, but we really need. Pretty cool, huh?)

Well, that's it for my Not me Mondays for this week. But, don't worry......I'm sure there will be plenty others soon.

Fourth of October

Well, I'm sure that most of you remember that Eric couldn't complete his Fourth of July Extravaganza this year due to a very kind neighbor who decided it would be fun to ruin the fun of everyone and call the cops to put a halt on his fireworks. Eric, being bummed, mentioned this to a couple of his firework buddies. Being pyros themselves and always looking for a oppurtunity to blow things up, they planned a Midwest Firework Extravaganza out in Indiana where thankfully it is legal to shoot off fireworks, so cops were no concern this time. Eric's been looking forward to this for weeks, so have the kids.
Eric packed out the van with ALL of his left over fireworks. (There's a picture of how full the van was.), picked up his newly discovered pyro buddy that goes to our church, and started the hour trek over to Indiana. I met up with Ron's wife a little later and she followed me over there. Between the two of us, we have 10 kids, so talk about a little crazy. It was about an hour drive. Makenna decided that it would be fun to cry for the last 20 minutes of that drive. Try mixing that with driving in very unfamiliar territory and not wanting to get lost along and making sure I didn't lose Wendy. I was a slightly frazzled by the time I arrived. I'm sure you know how that goes.
Once we got there and everyone was out of the car all was well. Eric and Ron came over and set the kids up with their fishing poles and helped them fish for awhile. Blake caught two fish, and Luke caught one. Poor Jakeb and Kaleb never really got a chance to fish because Daddy decided to go back over to the fireworks and expected Mommy to hook the worm. No way that was gonna happen. The dock was pretty small too, and squeezing 10 kids and at least two adults on it was just not happening, so we stopped fishing pretty early. (Let's just say that Wendy and I were VERY relieved.)
We let the kids play around for awhile out. The kids play SOOOO well together. They are pretty much the same ages so it's very nice. The hosts gave the kids some goodies, and, boy, were they thrilled. These hosts were AWESOME. They deep fried some chicken, and wow...talk about YUM! Did I mention after the goodies for the kids, they also had a pinata! They went all out and filled the pinata to the brim. All the kids got plenty.
FINALLY, it was firework time. I promise you that we had to be watching fireworks for at least a whole hour, if not longer. There is a picture below of the fireworks on the ground during the daylight, but that wasn't even 1/2 of them. There were probably about 6-7 guys that brought tons of stuff. They were like little kids in a candy store. Their excitement was plastered all across their faces. You should have seen them. They did a great job with the fireworks. They were phenomenal. I actually heard one of the little boys say, "This is the best day of my entire life." Seriously, fishing, candy, food,and fireworks......it's every boy's dream...big or small!

Red light, green light, and some swelling

Yesterday we went outside to play. You know, normally going out side is a good thing, right? In fact, the boys played pretty well outside, and then we decided to play a game of Red Light, Green Light. I used to love that game as a child, so I just knew the kids would. And they did. They loved running, then walking, then freezing; and of course, they loved being "it." I, however, did not like the running, then walking, then freezing because it seemed that I could never freeze quite the way that they wanted me to. (I think they had it out for me. grr..) Anyways, while we're all having fun playing, Makenna is roaming the front yard not too far from us. Here's a picture of her playing. Isn't she cute? And this is how I found her this morning. AHHHHHH!!!!! I noticed last night that she had a small bump by her eye, but I just assumed she knocked it against something, but obviously...that would not be it. I'm assuming it's some kind of bug bite. Poor thing. I do not do well with "eye injuries." So, of course, it's freaking me out. I got some Benadryl on the way home from co-op, and hopefully it'll go down.