josh

my josh is 5 now. it just doesn't seem possible that my babies are all growing up so fast. what can i tell you about my boy?

he's a big boy. bigger than most of the other kids his age. in fact, he's as big as some 1st graders...and he's just a pre-k kid.

he was my smallest baby. he was 8lbs 2 oz. my doctor induced me 2 weeks early so that he wouldn't be too big. he and alex are the only kids i didn't have major bleeding issues with.

he loves cars, trucks, and tractors. he can play by himself for hours as long as he has some of them to play with. he makes all the different noises, and i even hear him talking in voices for the people in them.

he has one heck of an imagination.

he is so smart...he's the only one so far to know his letters this young. not that the other kids aren't smart too, but he's the only one that was that interested in them. it amazed me when he was picking out letters off of signs and asking me what words they made.

he has the biggest, most beautiful blue eyes. it makes it so hard to say "no" to him!

he used to have a special blankie and suck his first 2 fingers on his left hand. i think he was 2 or 3 before we were able to get him to stop sucking his fingers. when his blankie "disappeared", he stopped sucking his fingers.

he and zack are best buddies. they play with each other all the time. i hope that they stay this close as they grow up.

he idolizes his big brother. he loves being with the big boys.

his favorite color is blue. like his eyes. and his room. and his sheets. and his towel.

he loves that he has chickens. he is so proud of how cool they look, and that they are going to lay green or blue eggs.

he's the only one of my kids to lose a fingernail...so far. it was one of the most disgusting experiences of my life.

his teacher loves to tell us what a great kid he is. how well behaved and quiet he is in class.

he still crawls into be with me at night. in fact he doesn't sleep in his own room. he sleeps on the floor in my room...until he crawls in mine while i'm sleeping. he's the only one that isn't always ready to spend the night somewhere. don't get me wrong, he loves to spend the night...but there are still days/nights that he will tell whoever to take him home, he's tired and wants to sit on his mom's lap.

he is so excited about going to school with the big kids next year. and making friends. he's excited about t-ball too. and that his daddy is going to be his coach.

5 is a big year, but i think he's going to handle it well. i love this kid like crazy! he's handsome, smart, funny, and talented. how i got blessed with a kid like him, i'll never know!

hey all! i have been a holy terror lately. i blame it on my addiction to reading. no, i do have a problem. i am addressing it. i figure that i only have 3 more books to read in the series and i should be good for a while...well not really, but i'm thinking it anyway.

i have been trying to de-stress. watching the chickens in my yard is a lot like watching fish in a fish-tank. it can be quite relaxing. and entertaining. actually the chickens are much more entertaining than the fish...unless you have piranhas or something. maybe the chickens are more like the turtles in the tank than the fish. they look so cute and sweet...then BAM!! crazy psycho killers!

yes, i do find that entertaining.

i can't wait to see these guys in action in the spring and summer. i wonder if i will actually see them eat stuff like mice and lizards. if i can teach them to get moles...that would be so cool. and profitable. i could start my own "mole removal" business. and it would be totally green! how cool would that be!

i am sitting here watching "space buddies" with the kids. they like it. me, not so much. well, it's a kid movie for sure. talking dogs are not normally my thing.

josh is turning 5 tomorrow. he's so excited. i am too...i guess. this year, out of my 5 kids, i will have one that is 13, one that's 10, and one that's 5. those are some pretty big years to me. alex is going to be a teenager, haley's in double digits, and josh is going to start school. then there's grace and zack.

i am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the next book. sad, i know. it should be here today, or tomorrow, or the next day. i sure hope it's today. that way i can read it and be all happy and ready to celebrate josh's 5th. otherwise i may end up being crazy mom, jonesing for my next fix.

i know, i know. i need help.

rose!

i am so sorry that rose flack got eliminated last night! she spoke to my inner hippie. i really liked her, and i thought she would have made it farther. (stupid bikini b#$% had to screw it all up!)

on a lighter note, my alex has graduated from D.A.R.E. yesterday. his essay (along with 3 other kids) was picked to be read in front of the assembly. he did a great job on it. he has a way with the written word, let me tell you! he gets that from me. in school, i could b.s. my way through an essay like no-body's business! we (the parents) were all talking after assembly was over, and we were all saying how we hope it sticks with them. the pledges they take, the lessons they have learned. i was really impressed with all the kids essays that were read. they put a lot of thought into them. some of them were more facts (like alex's) and some were more funny ("i don't know why anyone would want to smoke. i don't know about you, but i like my teeth white and my breath not to stink!" was what one of the kids wrote.), but all were very well written and to the point. the deputy they had working with them was great. he will be sadly missed at our school! (he was transferred to another school district) he was funny and the kids all really seemed to like him.

i have 2 new kids now. my days start about an hour earlier now. it is an adjustment...for me more than anyone. the kids are nice enough...but the older one is a bit of a bossy tattletale, and we will need to work on that. the younger one doesn't talk. seriously, he's at the age he should be doing much more than "uh" and pointing. i think it's the pacifier. i don't like those things. josh was my only kid that needed something like that. he had his blanket and his first two fingers on his left hand. when his blanket "disappeared" so did the finger sucking. one of the little ones that i watch has figured out a way of getting out of the walker. you would think after having 5 kids, and watching quite a few, that would have happened to me before. um, no. it hasn't. not until today.

anyway, i am glad american idol is back. i have a few fave's, but i really was surprised rose forgot the words. to much drama i guess. poor girl. i really thought she would go far...hopefully she still does.
good luck kid (if you ever read this!) you have talent and you are likable. i think you could go far.

later taters! i got me some kidlets to round up for naps and lunch!

note to self

seriously consider the ramifications of teaching a 4 year old about calling 9-1-1.




you would think that the child in question, being the 4th kid, well, i should have it down by now. but i didn't. and i was a tad surprised when i picked up the phone (after he slammed it down) to hear a 9-1-1 operator asking if there was a problem.


we had a nice little discussion...

which ended with him in the corner...

for quite a while...

and he actually fell asleep there.

i don't think he'll be doing that again.

at least not any time soon.

hello? anyone there?

hello there! well, it's been a busy week or so here at the zoo!

friday was our "breakfast for dinner with santa". i know, the name isn't the greatest. i have no idea why they couldn't come up with anything a little...um...snappy-er. but it is accurate. we had pancakes and sausage for dinner...and the kids were able to get their picture with santa. of course alex didn't want to go...so i didn't make him. i figured he got his "just desserts" by me not making dinner and his friends were all there having a great ol' time...and i let him know it. haley didn't want to look like a baby..even though a bunch of her friends had a big group picture with santa. i don't know what her deal was. but she was super helpful and i was so happy she was there. i pretty much talked the whole time i was there. well, until the work had to be done for the craft fair. we set up tables and chairs...we cleaned up...we brought in waters...it took a couple of hours. it probably wouldn't have taken as long if there wouldn't have been 10 kids (and one dad) playing basketball while we were trying to work. poor paul, he had been working out of town all week and came home just in time for his wife to have him come up and work setting up tables and measuring and well, work.

the craft fair went well. it looked very busy. i don't think it was as busy as we had hoped (another craft fair was going on at the same time across town...with santa arriving by HELICOPTER in the morning) but it was better than the first one we did. my sil did well with the doll clothes. i think there were other people that also did well...and there were people that didn't sell a darn thing. i got a couple of things. not much. i'm not sure i spent more that $20 but well, i can't see spending a bunch o'money on stuff i have no need for or that i can make myself. i worked there from 12:30 until about 5:30.

sunday we made cookies at my mil's house. i totally screwed up some snicker-doodles (added twice the amount of butter needed) but my sil fixed them and all was well. they actually turned out really good and fluffy looking. we cooked up there until 9, then i went home with the little guys. (hubby had already taken the older ones home) i love to make cookies. i really really do.

now i am getting ready for tomorrow...josh is joseph in his pre-k play and he has 2 lines in it. he is a little nervous and doesn't like to talk about it. the other kids were disappointed because it's at 11, and they don't get to see it. the girls are in their program on thursday too. haley is a narrator. she has more lines than any one else in the program. grace gets to sing. that is at 2 and again at 7. poor hubby, he has to miss all of them. he works 11 to close (like 9:30) and so he doesn't get to see anything. i'm going to get the video camera going and tape it (hopefully ) for him.

this friday the kids are supposed to spend the night at my dad's house and make cookies with my step mom's parents. well, haley has a girl scout christmas meeting that night. they are exchanging gifts and going caroling. so now i have to let my dad and stepmom know that she's not going to be there right away. hubby is off and i was planning on going out with him, but i'm not sure i will be able to since we may have to take haley over to grandma and grandpa's.

this sunday is the annual cookie bake at my grandma's house. it's also the day my hubby is going to chicago for training with work. i have to drop him off at 10 am sunday morning. he doesn't get back until sometime thursday evening. so i will be a single mom for almost 5 days. i am not looking forward to it. at least i will have lots of cookies to drown my sorrows in!

pillow talk

i have been dealing with puking kids since 4am yesterday.



zack woke me up by puking on my pillow.



he didn't get any on me, but not exactly the way i want to wake up.




he continued to puke all day, and by evening he was feeling better. but he wasn't able to go to grandma and grandpa's house. and he was ticked!


i picked the rest of the kids up right before the girls played. both my girls were playing at 9am. alex was complaining about his belly hurting. yeah, great.


except it wasn't him that threw up as soon as i parked the car.


it was haley. she did good though. for the most part, she hit the parking lot and not much got in the car.


so she didn't get to play. and she's missing her volleyball game too. and i'm not sure if i'll be sending her to the game tomorrow.



the weekend isn't all shot though...josh's team won! coach d is out of town (ha go figure) and i was the one coaching. i had 2 parents helping me, but we only had 9 kids today. we have 20 on the team. for not getting much of a break, they played awesome. the kid that scored the goal is one that hasn't scored yet. i was so proud of him. he was so proud of himself. he kept asking me if i saw his kick.


then i got the call that zack puked again at the soccer field.


what a fantastic weekend!

my josh...and my team

WE WON OUR FIRST GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i was so proud of those kids! they played their positions. we have a new little guy on our team...i was really scared he might get hurt. he's not "clueless", but he's pretty uncoordinated and well, really small. i think he has some kind of "condition". i'm not going to ask about it. it's none of my business, but i do try to be a little more aware of where i position him...and who with. i try to put him with two stronger players, that way they take more of the attention away from him, and he doesn't get run over. i don't think he noticed. he played all the positions (except goalie...i don't think i would put him in there). and he did his job.
anyway, i had several kids score goals today! no one scored twice, but.....................


JOSH SCORED HIS FIRST GOAL TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

he almost scored at the first game, you know, the game i wasn't at. i am so glad he did it today! i would have felt horrible if i missed his first one! oh, today was pictures to. i don't know if they got his goal in their action shots, but how cool is that? tomorrow, we play again.. i sure hope they play as well as they did today.

you know, it's not that they won the game, or that they scored several goals, it's that they listened to what we've been saying. seeing them actually use some of the stuff we've been working on with them....man there is nothing better!


well, and seeing your son score his first goal is pretty cool too!

soccer and a mayo sandwich

let's start with the mayo sandwich...i know you are all wondering "what is that?"
well, my boys like cheese sandwiches with mayo/miracle whip (same thing in my book). but i don't have any cheese today. hubby cleaned me out. so zack wanted just a "bandaise samich". he ate every bite. now haley used to eat pickle and mayo sandwiches.

no, i have no idea how my kids come up with such weird ideas.

on to soccer practice.

josh is having some breathing issues lately. i guess it's the asthma flaring up. i hope so anyway, as i was giving him breathing treatments. he did really good, considering he lost steam about 20 minutes into practice. we had enough kids to scrimmage. we worked on playing in our positions. i don't mean to sound like i know soooo much, but my half of the team played their positions...and even scored a couple of goals. coach d's team, uh, not so much. i made sure my side knew their jobs: offense-score goal, defense-stop the ball, goalie-catch the ball. coach d focused too much on just the offense, so his defense was playing in the grass. i think as long as you are making sure they are staying focused, it's an easy job. focus is the main thing they need to learn. they are little kids, so it's not easy. you have to make sure you praise them when they are doing the right thing. if they stay in position, that earns MAJOR praise. that's one of the hardest things for them to do. they have to focus on doing their job. it's really rewarding to see them do what you tell them to. and when it works, and they are scoring goals, it shows the kids they are doing it right.

hubby is taking haley to the doctor right now. she has poison ivy (i'm pretty sure) and in the week she's had it, none of the normal treatments have helped. in fact, it's spreading more. she has spots of it all over her lower leg. one is pretty big. we've tried caladryl, ivy dry, benadryl, and cortisone. all of that, and it spread. so off to the doctor. hopefully they don't put her on steroids. poor alex put on like 15 pounds the first time he was on steroids. well, i guess it doesn't matter as long as it clears it up. it's really nasty!

off to finish my lunch!

coming to my house

this week, i have had strangers at my door twice.
the first time didn't really bother me. it was two nice, older ladies that were Jehovah Witnesses. i am totally being honest in saying that it doesn't bother me when people come to my door spreading the Word. i am catholic, and i don't plan on changing that, but they are nice people and i am not going to be rude to them. i think it takes a lot of courage to go to people's doors to try to spread your faith. i don't know any catholics that do it. i know baptists do because my sister had them visit her several times. they've never come to my door. i've had young mormon men visit us when i was younger. it must have been after alex was born, otherwise i would be burning in the H E double hockey sticks right now. see, back in the day, i would have seen a young man coming to my door to spread the "Word" as a challenge...(awkward little temptress that i was).
i'm sorry, where was i?
oh yeah, people spreading their faith just doesn't bother me. i don't understand why it bothers others.

what does bother me is people that are trying to sell you something...well, not even just trying to sell it to you, but guilt you into buying it. i had a young man show up at my door (this is as parents are coming to pic up their kids, mind you) trying to sell me magazine subscriptions. i don't have time to go to the bathroom most days, let alone read a flippin' magazine, so i told him i wasn't interested. did he leave? no. he told me some hard luck story about how he's trying to stay out of trouble, and move up in his career, and help other underprivileged kids like himself do the same kind of job. you know what? i had the same kind of "job" when i was 14. the only difference was it was candy and nuts we sold door to door. we were given lines to tell people to get them to buy from us. "we are selling these *whatever* to keep us on the right track and out of trouble". the same freakin' lines he's telling me! sorry pal, i know the deal. i hope he gains some self respect soon and gets a real job. i did that job one day. one day was all it took for me to decide i didn't want to humiliate myself for some stupid job.

ok, i think i will leave you on a light note...
josh was playing with my mouth, you know, making it look like i was talking but he was saying stuff. so he's moving my mouth and singing "my mom is stinky, stinky stinky....my mom has hair in her nose nose nose". nice. i do so love kids, i wish i had 10 more just like him!

i love my kids, but...

i have a tough time talking about how great my kids are. time after time, when people talk about their kids, i have a tough time talking about how smart my kids are, cute, talented, nice, whatever. i have never been one to brag (i don't think i have been) and i guess that's what it seems like when i say something about them. it's not like i sit in judgement about people who do. i have several people who talk about their kids all the time, how advanced they are, whatever. my sister in law talks about her 2 kids all the time. her daughter is beautiful (and she is) and they boys swarm her. her son is so smart (not so sure about this one) that she has asked for him to be tested for the gifted classes. not the teachers, mind you, she asked. several times. now, i know my kids are smart. i don't have to rub it in when i talk to her. and i don't. i just sit there and nod sympathetically. what else do you do? i know kids make mistakes all the time. i don't want to put unwanted pressure on my kids because they feel they need to live up to my standards. i remember trying to do that for my parents. so i am going to try today to brag about my kids.

alex- my oldest very smart. in 3rd grade he was reading at an 8th grade level. now, he's in 5th and can read anything he wants (except books below a 6th grade level) he remembers everything he reads (like he dad). he has the most beautiful blue/gray eyes. he is helpful and polite at his friends houses. he helps with his little brothers. he loves sports. he's great at baseball, basketball, and soccer.

haley- my oldest daughter is brilliant. she is in an advanced math group and an advanced reading group. she may come across as ditsy, but the child is so very smart. she is absolutely beautiful. i am seriously afraid of my girls becoming teenagers. she is athletic. she is a great softball player, soccer player, basketball player, and swimmer. she is so sweet natured and helpful. she loves to "mother" brothers.

grace- my youngest daughter is so friendly. she makes friends everywhere she goes. i won't say she doesn't know a stranger, but she is always quick to make friends. she loves attention. she is also very smart. she went into kindergarten not knowing her letters very well, and is already reading books. in fact she just started the reading counts program. she makes friends quickly, but she also keeps them. she and her "best friend" claudia have known each other for 3 years now, and are as close as can be! she is such a love. she loves to help me. anything i ask, she's there to do it for me. she is my other beautiful daughter. my girls may not look exactly alike, but they are still beautiful. haley is darker complected, with beautiful brown hair with golden highlights and eyes like mine. grace is blond, lighter complected, with blue/green eyes. they both have those awesome thick black eyelashes like their daddy.

josh- my middle boy is gentle giant. he was my smallest baby (8lbs 2oz), but is my biggest kid (4 years old and 50 lbs...not a bit of it fat either). he is into all things mechanical. i know this kids is just as smart as the rest of them. he loves cars, trucks, tractors, basically anything mechanical. he really listens to you when you talk to him. he loves girls too. it's only girls that are his age at my house. he plays with them just as good as gold. he loves his family. he has the same eyes as my oldest...beautiful blue framed by thick black lashes. to look at him, you would think he is much older than he is. he's the same size as most of the kids in grace's class, and speaks just as well. he is, by far, my biggest help in the house. you just ask him to do something, and it's done!

zack- my youngest is the only one that looks like my side of the family. he is a scrappy little thing. he doesn't take any s#%^ from anyone! he has the most beautiful and contagious smile. he also has the same blue eyes at the other two boys. to talk to him, you would never guess he's only 2. he's also the friendliest of my boys. he is definitely not shy! he and josh are the closest out of my 5 kids. not just in age either. zack loves his daddy. as soon as he sees him, he runs to get some pretzels so they can sit in daddy's chair together. he always wants to help out too.

ok, that ends my bragging session for today. you can see for yourself how beautiful my kids are in the picture of my family. just pay no attention to the fact they are wearing clothes that don't match. i am not the most organized mom, so i am just happy they are all wearing clothes!

i have been up to...

one week from tomorrow and we (meaning the hubby and i) are leaving for new orleans. then the following day, we leave on our cruise. let the countdown commence!

yesterday, (being friday) alex had a tournament basketball game at 9 pm against one of the other teams from his class. (there are actually 3 teams) tomorrow at 6pm, he plays against the other team from his class. this one for the championship. it's pretty cool seeing how competative these boys are on the court (and before the game), but after the game's over it's like all of the competativeness was left on the court. in fact 3 boys from our team went home with 3 boys from the other team. oh yeah, we had to play them again this morning. we lost that game.

grace played goalie in soccer today. atleast for the first half. well, playing goalie is what i like to call it...what she actually did was play in the net, twirled around, and danced a little. her team won. i think she may have touched the ball once as goalie. the second half she was out running the field.

haley has been a huge help with her younger sibs. she watched them for me most of the games. that way i can actually watch the games. she starts her games soon i think.

josh woke up this morning having one of his "it's not asthma" attacks. i had to give him a breathing treatment, and it cleared up pretty well. last time i took him into the dr's office, she told me it was croup. (not my dr, one of her partners) it's not. i know it's not. although, i'm not really wanting them to call it asthma either. he's fine now.

zack was running a low grade fever last night. it never went above 100.2. he never complained about anything. he just felt warm to me. i hope that's all it ends up being.

the hubby has sold 5 cars so far this month. for those who don't have husbands that sell cars, that is really good. really really good. especially when said hubby will be out of town for a week.

i have been keeping up with my cleaning. i seem to hit it every other day. i don't know why. i guess i just need to get into the swing of things first.

*rachel, with my kids, i always wiped for them. when they learn as young as 2 or young 3, it's hard for them to get themselves clean enough. atleast their behinds. that, and the fact my kids all have very chubby bottoms, and that makes it even harder for them to do a good job. usually around older 3 to 4 years is when they start doing for themselves all the time. atleast that's been my experience. i will let them try first, but usually they just make a bigger mess.

kids and puppies and a couple of jens

my friends, the jens, just left. jen f. is a nurse with 4 kids and a great hubby. she stays home during the week and works weekends in the oncology ward. she has a definite calling. i don't know that i would be able to work there. she came over with her 2 youngest. benny is an adorable newly 3 year old boy. he will be in my zack's class. and meggy (meghan) who is around 7mos. beautiful kids. jen s. is our vet. well, she and her hubby are both our vets. she has 3 kids. she brought over joe (who will also be in zack's class), cora, and syd (he is her friend jessica's boy). this was the first time they had gotten to see the pups. they were all very impressed with the size and friendliness of the whole litter. jen s. said she thinks they will be at least 80lb dogs. if you have ever seen a newfoundland, that is what our fluffy pups look like. if you haven't, just google it, and look at those pics. adorable, i know!

rachel, thanks! i hope i didn't sound like a total freak in my last post. it's just with guy friends, you can get that male perspective. i love my husband, but it's hard to talk to him about him. my friend chris was fun to talk to, but when he started on the whole "well amy, if you stay home, maybe you should do more things like keeping up with all the house work, and doing laundry". i totally dropped him after that. i mean really! he's supposed to be my friend. i'm just kidding chris! you are still my #1 back-up plan if jeff decides that he can't handle the dirty house and annoying kids. (you can still afford a maid right?)

i hope anyone reading this gets that i am just joking about that. (unless it's you reading it chris)

i guess i could go into a little more detail about alex, haley, and grace's report cards and my meetings with their teachers.
i'll start with alex. he made high honors. what that means is he had all a's and only 1 b. (basically a 3.9 gpa) now this is impressive even if you didn't know how much harder the grading scale is in a catholic school. 90% to 92% is a b+. lower than 70% is failing. i was very very happy with his grades, and his test scores on his iowa basics test. that is the standardized test all catholic schools in the arch diocese take. he scored better than 98% of all the 5th graders nationally. congrats alex!
haley didn't make honor roll only because they don't start honor roll until 5th grade. she had all a's. her teacher said she is a great student and always very dedicated to getting her work completed and very neat. the teacher is also going to start her and some other students with some harder math. she said that haley is doing so well, that she is afraid this math that she is teaching is way below their level, and they need to move up to multiplications now, before they get bored. and she was the kid i was worried about. she is my child that has a hard time sitting still. always fidgeting. not in school apparently. she also took the iowa basics test and scored better than 98% of the 3rd graders nationally. who would have thought i would have such intelligent kids?
now we come to grace. kindergarten doesn't have letter grades, but the teacher was very happy with her progress. she is now bringing home books to read, by herself, every night. how awesome is that! she is a reading fiend now! all the time, this book, that book. it is awesome!

i am sooo proud of those kids. not just because they get good grades, but because they try hard and are just good kids. i was so happy yesterday when one of the moms from the field trip told me how good alex was. not that i was surprised he was good, but apparently he was great. he helped her out with directions (he's been there enough, he should know his way around), watched out for his 1st grade buddy, and just a huge help to her. i am so happy with that. it's nice he's that good for strangers. now if only he could do that for ME once in a while!

hey mom!

today, when my 3 year old son came out of the bathroom, he ran to me saying, "hey mom, my butt don't stink anymore, i brushed my teeth!".

ahhhhhh, the wonders of having a 3 year old.

apparently what he really said was breath, not butt. (but right now i am happy neither stink).

he also told my brother-in-law, jason, that he had dingleberries hanging from his tree. jason, who is 26 and has no kids, found this hilarious. so did my husband.

i am going to be very busy tomorrow with the bookfair dinner. my SIL (sisinlaw) and i have been in charge of this for the past 3 years. family night at the bookfair is also a "see the teacher/sign up for conferences" night. i am really glad i finally talked them into doing a dinner. we have been in charge of it for 4 years, but all i could talk them into the first night was some snack type stuff. i thought it was kind of ridiculous that we have this family book fair night right at dinner time, and offer nothing for families to eat. so now my SIL and i get to make chili and hotdogs and tatertots for about 150 people tomorrow. good times.

i have been thinking more and more about polygamy. i really hate housework. maybe if i had a sister-wife, we could divvy up chores to make it easier on us. i get to take care jeff and the kids, she gets to clean the house, do laundry, and make dinner. i think i need to do some more research on this subject, get jeff's input, but it just might work.

jeff has started working out...(did he see that i was thinking about getting another wife?) i am not going to let him get skinny before i do. i want to be in shape for our vacation in feb. we are going with the freeman brothers, their wives, and nathan and whoever he brings. i am going to be the youngest woman (by 5 years) in our group. but i am also the one with the most kids (bryan's wife has 2, and mike's has 1). i don't want to be the "fat one". so i am going to lose weight, and tone up. believe me, i will never, i mean NEVER, be in a bikini again. i just want to not scare small children when i get in a one piece.

VIP, yep that's me!

yesterday, we went to grant's farm...as vip's. this was the most awesome trip to grant's farm i have ever had. we were taken on a tour by safari van (basically it is a van with no roof or windows) all over. instead of staying on the road, like you have to do normally with the tram, we were off roading it, seeing all the animals up close and personal. you haven't lived until you've been licked by an elk! that's right, the animals actually walked up to us! we got to see baby clydesdales and had our pic taken with one of the stallions. i was really amazed at how gentle all the animals were. we fed the baby goats (i wouldn't recommend this for small children, the goats mob you and try to climb and head butt you to get to the bottle). the kids loved seeing the chickens they had, and fed the llamas too. i guess what i liked best, was how excited the kids were. and i think my step mom's parents and sister really liked and enjoyed it too. all in all, it was a truly awesome experience. thanks to "aunt" barb's friend who hooked us up!

by the way, grant's farm is free to the public. and supposedly they give free samples of beer. it is the busch family after all! also, i believe grant's house is open to the public also. it is across the street from the farm, and if you love history, they said that is the place to be!

josh and zack are at the zoo today with my niece and nephew. i hope they are having fun...zack was crying when they left and josh had to be talked into going. sometimes my kids blow my mind. when i was little, i would have gone to the zoo with anyone. seriously. i would have gone with an axe murderer had he said the magic "go to the zoo?" words. i was (and still am) a total animal lover. not as crazily as i was when i was younger, but still love them. in fact i am trying to set up a zoo trip for next week. it depends on the weather. jeff said it is supposed to rain on tuesday. heat we can deal with. the children's zoo has those cute little kid fountains for the kids to play in, and the penguin house is air conditioned. so is the living world. hopefully the boys will be ready to go again next week.

also my friend nike is in town. she got in thursday and she is leaving tomorrow. she brought her daughter this time. she is supposed to come over this evening. i hope she does, i really miss her!