Time outside

We haven't been spending too much time outside lately. It's been extremely hot these days and this afternoon when I went to get the mail I noticed it didn't feel quite as bad as it has been. So I looked on the computer and saw that it was only 91 outside, and the humidity must have dropped some as it just felt better, so I told the kids it was time to play outside. We tried going outside to the sandbox yesterday. I got an extension cord and hooked up a large box fan on the edge of the sandbox so were able to tolerate about 30 minutes outside. But then the fan wasn't quite strong enough to overcome the extreme heat and humidity so we went back inside for some more time in the cool basement.

But this afternoon it really felt nice. Nice in a way that only can be experienced after having a few days of a heat index around 100 degrees. It was cloudy so we were able to play in the driveway as it generally is quite hot with the asphalt on a sunny day, but the cloudiness made it bearable. And it was a lot of fun. The kids raced (on foot or various self-powered wheeled vehicles) from the garage to the edge of the driveway and went back and forth and around and around. Oh, how nice it was to be outside and not be dripping with sweat even when sitting still. The kids still got sweaty, but we had a grand time outside for about an hour.

Here's Matthew upset that he can't play with the jump rope (Sam was playing with it). The boys don't really jump with the rope, they use it to hook things to their bikes or as a rescue rope when one of them needs rescuing and the other comes over and attaches the rope to their vehicle and tows them to safety. It's quite a tough game, but they have a lot of fun with it.

Sam is posing for a picture after some serious racing. His fastest time from the garage to the end of the driveway is 7 seconds and he is fastest on foot. Hmmmm.

And this is the face Abby makes when she is asked to smile for a picture. You're better off just taking a picture rather than saying, "Smile, Abby!" because this is what you will get.

And here's a senior-photo like picture of Matthew when we were resting on the steps after some hard playing. The boys were putting on shows on the sidewalk in front of the house and the other kids and I were watching from the steps.

Abby after dark

Last night after the kids were in bed I was doing some cleaning up in the kitchen. After about 15 minutes, I heard Abby making noises on the monitor. I turned it up and realized that she was singing..."Ah-yeah-you-ah, Ah-yea-you-ah! God will save the day!" We had been listening to the kids' vacation bible school music CD earlier in the day and apparently she wanted to sing some to herself before falling asleep. She sang on and off for about 10 minutes. We listened to the CD more today and Abby is very opinionated about the music. "Not dis one!" she yells when she doesn't like the song being played. She also will yell, "Nother one!" when there's a break between songs. "Nother one, nother one, nother one!" she yells until the next song begins. Sometimes I sing along and often she doesn't like it. "No mommy," she says, shaking her head. "No sing." Ok, Abby. We knew from the beginning that she was quite opinionated and she is beginning to show her opinion with regard to her taste in music. So it begins.

"Vacation"

We just returned from our annual vacation up north with the Reese side of the family. The term vacation has taken on new meaning for me lately. Before Jason and I expanded our family, a vacation meant a good number of days relaxing, maybe some sightseeing or hiking, but generally enjoying a break from the everyday work of life. These days a vacation involves visiting places and people, and watching the children experience new things and new places. Relaxing isn't really a big part of it anymore (at least while the kids are little and while we travel with the kids), and it takes a bit of time for us to recover from the lack of sleep associated with travelling with the kids. Regardless, we had a good time with family and enjoyed swimming, playing on the beach, fishing and riding in the boat and eating lots of good food. The boys also enjoyed sharing a room (which was part of the lack-of-sleep problem) and Abby slept like a baby in her cave or tunnel as she calls it, waking a few times during the night to call gently, "Mommy?" to which I responded, "Yes, Abby, night night."

Here are a few pictures spending some time around the "camp", which is the area between the two cabins my family stays in. We set up two tables and arrange chairs around the outside. In the first picture, the kids are coloring pictures on a beautiful Minnesota morning.

 Abby is spending some time with Great-Grandma Verna.

We were able to go swimming and play on the beach every afternoon. Jason and the kids built a fish mountain, a volcano, a stegosaurus, and many, many towers for all the kids to destroy which they heartily did so. 

Shaving, shoveling and VBS

Yesterday afternoon Matthew was yelling, "Wipe my butt!" so I hurried upstairs and did the deed (which fortunately I beat Abby to it as the previous day she beat me there and was wiping his butt when I walked in. She did a pretty good job, but well, you know...). I walked downstairs after Matthew had flushed and was at the sink washing his hands. Moments later I heard him screaming horribly and I thought maybe he had fallen off the vanity or bathtub or something similar. Then Jason yelled out to me to bring some band-aids. So I ran upstairs to see Jason wiping blood off of Matthew's chin. It turns out he had tried to shave with Jason's razor which was at the far end of the vanity (so Matthew had to climb across my sink and the rest of the vanity to get to it) and cut himself. I stuck a big bandage on his chin and he then took a pretty good nap after his injury. His cut looks pretty good today and I don't believe he will try shaving anytime soon. After the incident and screaming, Sam said he was never going to shave. Again this morning, Sam told Jason that he was never going to shave. Jason said, "You don't have to shave, you'll just have a really big beard. Sam got excited and replied, "Arrrrgh! I'll be a pirate!" 

Today Sam went to vacation bible school at Ken and Cheri's church. He was quite a trooper being in a semi-unfamiliar environment, especially when Matthew was, um, reluctant to stay and I ended up taking him with me and leaving Sam with his new friends, teachers and new experience. He enjoyed it, especially the singing and dancing and wore the crown he decorated almost all day (it got a little sweaty playing in the sun this afternoon but is still in decent shape). Abby was quite disappointed that she didn't get a crown. Ah, princess.

And Abby was quite a work horse this weekend. We had the stumps from the trees which were taken down in the spring finally chipped and Jason then shoveled and hauled an enormous amount of wood chips to the pathways of my garden and the rest to the dump. After that task, we hauled loads of dirt from the dirt pile which we had delivered this spring to the areas where the stumps were to fill them in. The boys shoveled dirt into the wheel barrow with their snow shovels (which worked surprisingly well), while Abby used a 1/3 cup measuring cup to scoop dirt into the wheel barrow. When I took a break from wheel barrow duty to go prepare lunch, she did not want to stop working, so then she then would get a scoop of dirt and walk the 40 feet or so with it to the stump area, dump it, then walk back and get another 1/3 cup and she did it repeatedly. Abby helped scooping cup after little cup of dirt for probably around 30 minutes and was quite upset when I told her it was lunch time and she had to quit working. I think I know of another Kirchhoff who is reluctant to quit working for lunchtime...hmmm...

Morning of messes

It all started off when I got up and went to the bathroom to get ready for the day. I stepped in pee which was on the floor by the toilet. Sam had apparently gotten  up and used our bathroom at some point, then went back to bed. I cleaned up the mess, then went about getting ready. After I was all ready and the kids were up and hungry, we went downstairs to get breakfast going. I was preparing oatmeal and Sam again had to go to the bathroom.

He again missed the toilet and made quite a mess. He has to help clean up such messes these days, so I gave him a few paper towels and told him to start cleaning up. He threw them on the mess and tried wiping them up daintily with his foot which was not very successful. I told him he was going to have to use his hands, then wash them well, and gave him a few more paper towels. He did a better job and I went back to finishing breakfast prep. Moments later I heard the toilet flush (or attempt to flush) as Sam was finished and he decided to flush the paper towels down the toilet. They didn't want to go and I fished them out of the toilet with my hand and threw them in the garbage.

Then I washed up, finished wiping down the floor, washed up again and went back to breakfast. Sam spent quite a good deal of time cleaning his hands which is unusual for him. But he finished up and came to the counter to enjoy his breakfast. After a bit I heard, "Mom, look at this!" Sam was holding his spoon upright in his bowl and spinning his bowl around it. Before I could say the words, "Don't do that!" the bowl flew off the counter to the floor and the floor near Sam's chair was splattered with oatmeal. Ugh. I gave Sam some more paper towels and he set to work cleaning up. It took everything in my not to scream and go crazy at another mess in the first hour of the day. And the floor was just mopped two days ago. Wow. Patience and fortitude take on new meaning when you have little kids.

I instructed Sam to put the dirty paper towels (which were loaded with clumps of oatmeal) into his bowl. He resisted, saying he was going to walk them over the garbage (he has entered the phase where he thinks he knows best). I told him they should go in his bowl, then he could dump them into the garbage as they would probably drip oatmeal onto the floor. He started walking away with a dirty paper towel and clump after clump after clump of oatmeal fell onto the floor. Oh my. Don't scream. Instead of screaming I told Sam, "See? Put it into the bowl." He complied, and together we cleaned up the rest of the oatmeal and wiped the floor with a wet cloth and we then went on with our day.

Generally our mornings aren't quite so exciting. To look on the bright side, the floor by two toilets and under Sam's chair got an extra cleaning this morning. And Sam is becoming quite a good helper and I am becoming a more patient mother.