Getting nervous...

OK everyone -- I NEED YOUR HELP!!

Matt's birthday is Monday (August 10) and I'm at a total loss on what to get to him. We're going out to dinner on Saturday night, so it has to be here by then. Any ideas???? Come on... help a girl out!!

Our anniversary.

We had a great anniversary!

We spent the morning doing stuff around house with the kids and then Matt and Andrew took off while I showered and Katherine & Caleb played together. Katherine had a private gymnastics lesson at 1, and when Matt wasn't home at 12:15 I began to wonder where he was. I finally got a hold of him at 12:30 only to find out he was out in West Des Moines. Great..... Since there's no way he could be home in 5 minutes, so Katherine and I could get down to Chow's by 1, we decided to meet in the middle and head down there together.

Her lesson went well. She's learning a ton of new skills (on floor -- front and back handsprings, front flips, and front walkovers. On bars -- front hip circles and kips. On beam -- cartwheels, handstands and different dismounts) and perfecting the skills she's been working on. It amazes me... She doesn't mind the criticism. In fact, she thrives in the quest for perfection. She doesn't mind her coach moving her head ever so slightly, constantly making tiny adjustments to her fingers and toes and pushing her out of her comfort zone. I will say this... Little Katherine fears NOTHING. She's not afraid of falling. She's not afraid of getting hurt. She'll do crunches and squat jumps to the point that I fear that she'll puke. She loves every moment she's in the gym. As a parent, the conditioning and training process can be tough to watch at times. After all, this is my baby girl and as much as I want to coddle her -- they don't. They don't treat any of these girls with "kid gloves". I've seen many of the team or "team track" girls in tears over the past year. Some have quit, and I'm sure many more have wanted to over that time. So far, Katherine is in love with everything gymnastics. She watches the team girls in awe and will do anything they ask of her to make sure she makes it all the way. She tells everyone that Level 10 is not her goal -- she's going to be an elite gymnast someday.

Anyway....

I sat up on the balcony watching her with tears in my eyes. It doesn't seem like that long ago that she was taking gymnastics at Urbandale and Mr. Tarry was gushing over how good she'd become someday. At that time, she was a little girl full of energy and determination. She had big dreams and tons of confidence. She was constantly giddy.... literally jumping around the gym with a smile on her face. The smile, energy and determination are still there, but it's different now. She walks around the gym with her head held high, her back straight and her arms at her side. She knows she belongs there. She's earned it. Looking back, Mr. Tarry was more of a playmate who taught her cool stuff in the gym. At Chow's, she has a new found respect for her coaches. They are people who she listens to and respects.... and she'll do anything they ask of her. It really hit me yesterday when I saw her in the gym-- she looked more like a young woman than a little girl. AAAAAAHHHHH....

When the lesson was over, Nicole (the Level 5 coach who also coached her TAG class last school year) came up to me and gave me a handwritten sheet with strength and conditioning exercises they'd like her to be working on at home. WHAT???? She's 6 years old and the fact that she has"gymnastics homework" seems silly/crazy to me! LOL!! We got talking and she told me that Li (Chow's wife) told her that Katherine "was a VERY special little girl with tons of talent". Evidently they have decided that Katherine's future at Chow's will be a long one and they can take her as high as she wants to go. Nicole told me that Katherine was everything they were looking for -- right body shape/size, great attitude, she'll do anything they ask, takes criticism well, makes any body/form corrections they ask, and doesn't have the "I'm the next Shawn Johnson" attitude. She's humble but confident; energetic yet controlled. She then started talking about pre-team and told me that most girls are in TOPS (Katherine's new class) for two years, but she doesn't see Katherine there for anywhere near that amount of time. They have big plans for my little girl! Katherine just stood there beaming and taking in every word Nicole said. She wants this so badly.....

Later that night, Matt and I had our first dinner out without Andrew. I've never felt comfortable leaving him with a babysitter (because yes, I am a control freak!! LOL!!) but our anniversary dinner out with friends seemed just the occasion! So when Mary Claire arrived, Matt and I took off to pick up Troy and Andrea. On the way there, he surprised me with some gorgeous bling! He bought me a beautiful 3 stone right hand ring and I LOVE IT!! Oh, and remember when he was late for Katherine's gymnastics lesson??? He and Andrew went over to Anglo and bought it. How sweet is that? I was shocked!! We had a nice night out, and then came home, put the kids to bed, and sat around the fire pit with Troy and Andrea and chatted. It was a really great night!!

So now I'm on the quest for the perfect birthday present for Matt. Anyone have any ideas???

Annoyed....

Tomorrow is our anniversary. It's been 11 years! To celebrate we're going out to dinner with the Hodapp's who are also celebrating tomorrow. We've been looking forward to it all week!

I decided that I needed something new to wear, so Matt met me at the mall after work, we had dinner and then he took the kids home so I could shop in peace. Guess how much I bought??? NOT ONE SINGLE THING. ZERO. ZIP. NADA. UUUUUUGH! I couldn't find one thing I liked, so I came home empty handed. I won't even give you the list of stores I went into! So frustrating!

Anyway, about 45 minutes ago Andrea called. She was on her way to Dahl's and wondered if I needed anything. She then goes on to tell me that Colin had been running a fever (102 to be exact) since yesterday and she needed to pick him some more Tylenol. Then she happens to mention, as an afterthought, that my kids were outside playing with them all night while I was shopping. WHAT??? I love her to death, but come on... We're going out to dinner with THEM, and if my kiddos turn up sick and we can't go, I'll be *slightly* annoyed!

Lil' swimmer

Today the kids and I went to Ashby Park with a bunch of friends and had a wonderful time! We packed a picnic lunch and the kids splashed around with their friends for several hours. It was so much fun, and such a beautiful day!!

It was also Andrew's first trip to a pool, and wow.... he had a blast! He was in awe of all the water, and squealed non-stop for the first hour! Much like Katherine, little Andrew has no fear. He was crawling all over the place, racing for toys and splashing like a crazy man. He was all smiles!

Since keeping up with Andrew occupied 100% of my time, I didn't get any good pictures of Katherine, Caleb or Morgan (my niece who was also with us). However, I was able to get some of Andrew. So -- on to the good stuff -- PICTURES!!

Here's my little man getting his first peek at the water!

Starting off slow --

All smiles and loving it!

At this point, the camera had to be put away. He was splashing so much and crawling all over the place, that there was NO WAY I could take care of him and not get the camera wet!

After a fun filled morning of swimming, we pulled out our picnic and ate lunch. After Andrew was finished eating, he started playing with the cooler.... pulling things out, trying to eat the ice packs and standing up beside it. All of a sudden, he falls -- FACE FIRST over the top and lands with his face on the cement. I was right there. However, in that split second, I couldn't grab him. Oh man did he have a good cry. He could hardly catch his breath at times. The poor little guy was left with a horrible rash all over the side of his face from the cement. UUUUUGH! I feel so badly for him!

**********************

Today it dawned on me -- Katherine starts school in three weeks. THREE WEEKS. Where did the summer go? UUUUUGH. It seems like school just go out, and now the kids are almost ready to go back. I hate it! So, we are making the most of every day, and trying to fit in everything we want to do before Aug. 24th....

Tomorrow -- Adventureland here we come!!

favorite

I took a couple hundred photos at Matt's mom's family reunion over the weekend, and just finished uploading them.

Here's one I *love* of Matt's dad and Andrew. Definitely a keeper! More to come....

A little teaser...

This Saturday we went to Mapleton for Matt's mom's family reunion. I took a million pictures and will post them soon. I still haven't downloaded them to the computer but hope to find time tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Sunday dinner

Dinner tonight was .... aaahhhh, should we say eventful???

We decided to take the kids to our favorite Mexican restaurant for some of the yummiest chips and salsa on the planet -- literally, it just doesn't get any better than this place! It's the perfect place for kids -- immediate chips and salsa, not overly quiet, great service, and really quick. Oh yea... the food is incredible too!

What should have been a nice family dinner left one child (Caleb) almost removed from the dinner table, another one (Katherine) in tears, and the last one (Andrew) screaming in a high pitched squeal that I was certain would crack the glasses on the table. Matt and I could do nothing but laugh at each other!

So.... here's how it went down.....

Caleb was pill for some reason. That's right. TOTAL. PILL. First he broke his straw trying to shove the entire thing into the styrofoam cup. We asked for new straw and thought we had the situation resolved. Then he decides that the table would be a perfect drum and starts banging his silverware as loudly as possible. UUUUGH. At this point, Andrew starts squealing as loudly as possible. He opens his little mouth and starts yelling. Not crying. Not fussing. Not wanting to be held. Just screaming. His face was red. He had drool flying all over the table. He was quite the sight. I dropped his plug on the table and for some reason (we all know he couldn't have been thinking clearly) Matt dips this pacifier into his glass of orange soda and shoves it into Andrew's mouth. Evidently he was trying to clean it off... Oh man... did it work. Andrew sucked on that thing like it was pure heaven! A few minutes later, Caleb got bored again, and starts drawing on his styrofoam cup with the fork. UUUUUUUMMMM... hello.... he's about to poke a hole in the cup and spill soda all over the table. Great... Oh, and yea.... our food hasn't even arrived at this point.

All of a sudden, I look at Katherine and say to her, "I know exactly what you're thinking and totally agree, but leave it alone. We can't discuss it here". Matt's at loss, and asks for explanation. I tell her not to say anything and we'd tell dad when we got to the car. But, oh no.... Katherine can't let anything just be... Nope. Not my little princess. She has to point across the restaurant and say in a rather LOUD voice, "Look at that lady over there -- the one with fuzzy springing headband. SHE LOOKS RIDICULOUS". I just wanted to crawl under the table. Thankfully she didn't hear Katherine's comment, but man... she did look absolutely insane. Remember those headbands from back in the 80's that had glittery balls attached to springs that would bounce all over the place when you moved your head?? Well she had on one of those numbers along with a sun visor. Oh, and she was older than I was. I had to bite my tongue to stop laughing!

So, dinner comes and Caleb refuses to eat. Evidently his beans are too hot and he has to wait for them to cool down. Whatever. At this point, whether or not he eats his beans is of supreme indifference to me. I really don't care.....

Katherine downs her food and while she's waiting for us to finish, she grabs onto the the back of the booth and starts using it as a piece of gymnastics equipment. She is sitting normally, and reaches her hands up as high as she can and sits in a pike position with her butt off the seat. Don't ask. There are very few moments in life that aren't consumed with gymnastics in one way or another. In any event, the decorative wooden spindles attached to the top of the booth can't hold her weight *GASP* and break apart. That's right, she totally broke the top part of the booth. She's horrified, in tears, and holding two small wooden bars.

Oh, I'm ready to get home. Talk about a disaster. I could have just died.

So home we went -- to the comfort of our home, turned the sprinklers on, and invited two of our 'hood friends over to hang by the fire pit. So ... 8 kids, 6 parents, and a water fight later, we're all happy again and everything is right with the world! LOL.