Seriously...

What is going on?? I had an AWESOME day yesterday! It was really a good day. One I hadn't seen in a long time. And then today when I woke up I could barely roll myself out of bed. I was in such a gloomy, sad, lay in bed all day kinda mood. I had so much to do today and I all I wanted to do was crank up the music and sit on the couch/bed and do nothing! Serisouly...nothing...not shower, not clean, not sit on the computer for hours deciding on curriculum, not entertain the kids...nothing. I had NO motivation or energy. How is it possible to go from such a wonderful mood to the complete opposite?? I felt so far from everything when I woke up this morning. I know that I am not the only one that has experienced this this week based on the other blogs I have read. What is seriously in the water?!

I did, eventually, manage to roll myself out of bed and force myself to try to get some things accomplished. I made a few runs to the bookstore and Teachers Delight to look at some books that I thought about using for curriculum. I didn't end up buying any of them, of course! I am having such a hard time making a decision. A REALLY HARD TIME!!! The school year is approaching and I am not anywhere close to being ready and its really frustrating!

I was so very thankful for Renay today!! When I checked my email and saw, "wanna go to the fair?" Of course I do!! The only place I wanted to be was the house, but truely it was the last place I needed to be. I tend to withdraw from everyone and everything when in one of those moods that I woke up in. Thank you so much!! So I guess not all of today was gloomy. :) But I really thought that today was going to be one of those days. Even as I sit here typing this I am supposed to be at a birthday party but I'm just not in a people kind of mood. :(

The boys had a blast at the fair. We walked around and looked at the projects. I would love for Mason to get involved in 4H next year. So as we were looking at the projects I was explaining to him that he could participate and do something next year. He was not interested. I was shocked to hear his answer. Since we had gotten there he had been asking to go and see a certain animal, obsessively asking. Mind you we live in the city so his answer may shock you. This is what he wants to do...

No I did not post the wrong picture. He wants to show pigs! Seriously how fun could that possibly be?! They stink, they smell, they are loud, they are messy and frankly some of them are ugly. Why on earth would he choose this animal? Did I say I wanted him to get involved...maybe I should rethink this. hahaha Something not many people may know is that Mason loves and I mean LOVES animals!! He is always asking for more animals and unreasonable ones at that. A zebra...seriously (and I'm really not kidding)! I should have known that given the choice between a project or animals he would choose animals. He was so sad when he thought one of the sheep was lonely. He just has a heart for them. So, mind you, as much as I don't like the idea of being around stinky smelly pigs, I will not discourage him. I will however be praying that if there is a calmer more appealing animal that could spark his interest, that it happens. haha :) So on that note, if anyone knows of anyone with pigs that Mason could use or how to even get a pig, please let me know. I can't believe I just said that.

I think Weston is going to follow in Masons footsteps. He was all about petting the animals. I have so many pictures with him in them and not many with Isaac. Isaac would barely get near them. I had to force him. :)

Look Mom...are those twins? I loved that Weston made this assumption.

Weston, "Mom are those Llamas?" hahaha We did eventually see and identify a Llama. Look Weston...a horse! Just kidding!
Can you tell which ones Isaac?! haha

Then...on to the RIDES!!! This was Masons first year where he was big enough to ride the rides without us and with a friend. Thanks T.J.!!

Don't they look so grown up riding by themselves. :)

I can't count how many times the boys hit their heads..HARD..on the mirrors trying to find their way out. haha We eventually had to go and help them out. It was a very funny moment. Ya know, one of those where you wish you had a video camera. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time.

We were so exhausted by the end of the day. Mason still wanted to go and look one more time at the pigs. Goodness, haven't you seen enough of them. haha Once you've seen one pig you've seen them all...right? So we went to use our free hot dogs coupons that the boys got from doing the tractor pull before we went to see the pigs one more time. A friend had so graciously offered to let him in the pen with theirs and see how he did up close and personal. Well...we never made it and this is why.

Now isn't that a good sleeping picture if I do say so myself. haha This is what happens when you spend hours at the fair with NO nap. :)

So, tomorrow we are off to have our up close and personal experience with the pig and watch a little bit of the judging so he can see if this is really what he wants. I will definitely have the camera then. This should be good!!! :)

Christmas in July

So I know what your all thinking...Christmas??..what is she talking about? Well this is what we have been hearing in my house for the past couple weeks and probably many more to come as he masters both hands. Please excuse the piano tuning, we haven't been able to get it tuned so if it sounds a little off, I'm sorry.

Gotta love the head bobbin to the beat! I tried to get him to play it with both hands, but he said he doesn't have it perfected yet and he knew that I was going to put it on here. So he played this one with both hands instead. Its still not perfect, but he has been practicing this one for a long time and finally doesn't have to do it anymore. :)

Mason wanted to me to tell you that he messed up at the end and that last note was right, but the one before it wasn't. I am so very proud of him! The twins are doing great too! Isaac has played his first song all by himself with no help!! Way to go!!! It amazes me that the twins, at age 4, are starting to learn to read music. It blows me away, but it is very cool to watch. Such a proud mommy moment. :)

OK, so I'm going to bore you all with some more sleeping pictures because I have caught some cute ones and just can't resist myself! :)

Don't their little red faces look so exhausted. LOL

That can't be comfortable.

Thats Isaac under that blanket. Obviously that was taken on the way home from Wisconsin. Apparently my music was too loud. hahaha

I hope everyone has a great week! Maybe we'll see some of ya! Anyone wanna go to the cove? I'd love to make it there this week.

:)

Pictures, Pictures and.....

MORE PICTURES!! Did I mention pictures? haha So, I have so many that its so hard to choose. We had an amazing trip! When we got there it was pretty cloudy and we were kinda worried, and with the exception of one 5 minute rain storm it was gorgeous! The park opened at 9am and we made sure we were there "on time". I don't even know where to start. So I guess I'll let the pictures do the talking. Oh, side note...we rented a free digital underwater camera so that we wouldn't ruin ours. We did use our occasionally towards the end of the day, and with the exception of not wiping off the lens it took pretty good pictures for a 2.0 camera with no zoom!
ENJOY!!
We left at 3am so we could get there on time and then the kids could sleep the entire way and we wouldn't here the famous, "Are we there yet?" At about 4:30 I here "Mom, when we gonna be at the waterpark?" Isaac had been awake that whole time waiting for us to get there. haha I kindly explained that it would take a LONG time and he needed to get his sleep. :) The boys first glimpse of the park!

Big Kahuna Wave Pool Pictures! There were 2 wave pools but this one was our favorite!

Adventure River! A version of a lazy river only with more of an adventure side. haha It had lots of soaking opportunities. And for some reason I was the one that always ended up in the right spot to get soaked. But I did manage to snag some pics of the boys getting soaked. :) Water Slides!! There were over 47 water slides! Some of our favorites were Kowabunga, Congo Bongo Falls, Black Anaconda (the longest in the US and one of the few that actually goes up hill...a must do!), Dark Voyage, The Slidewinders (the twins could do those and we stayed there for what must have been over an hour), the Tadpole Bay which had smaller versions of the big slides that kids the twins age could do alone and Flash Flood which we rode a total of 5 times!! Isaac

Weston
Black Anaconda

Flash Flood

SlidewindersOnly a few more...I promise! Hang with me! :)

By the end of the day we were ALL exhausted! We had so much fun though and none of us wanted it to end. I won't bore you guys with my sleeping pictures though. :)

The next day we did a few things before heading home. We rode the Army Duck Boats. They are boats that go on land and water and were also used in WW2. Its an amazing and very educational tour. Our tour wasn't a full one due to all of the flooding they had. The floods wiped out Lake Delton and Highway A. We did get to see the damage though which was a good history lesson for Mason.

The gap in the middle is what happened. The land used to be connected and when the floods hit it washed it away. You could see the pipes that were supposed to be underground.

Highway A

We finished off our day by doing a little Mining (for gemstones that is) and this is what we found...

The big pink one in the bottom right hand corner is rose quartz and the brown one in the upper left hand corner is actually a ruby when refined and sanded down. How cool!

Okay, so I just went back and proofread everything...I AM SO SORRY! I had no idea how long I had made it. I tried to figure out how to delete some pictures but couldn't do it. But I guess by now if your reading this your already at the end. haha Hope I didn't bore you! Please say you'll visit my blog again. LOL :)

So needless to say we had a fabulous time!!! I would absolutely recommend the Dells as a mini vacation to anyone. The kids had a blast, we had a blast and now...we're all tired out. Ha Ha Ha!

Night all!

HOORAY!!

So I know this may sounds silly, but I am so excited!! I thought that I would give you all a quick weather update before we leave. hahaha

I just checked the weather for today in the dells and....NO RAIN!!! Me and the kids have really been praying that the rain and storms would pass so that we could enjoy our mini vacation...WOO HOO!!

Ok enough of my silliness. LOL :)

See ya when we get back!

Please...no rain.

We have had quite the busy week. And its going to get even busy, but in a good way. We have been trying to find something to do with the kids or somewhere (cheap) to go. Its very hard when you have an 8 year old who can basically do anything and two 4 year olds who only think they can do anything. haha We have thought about different theme parks and such, but even thats hard when its just you and the kids with no additional help. So a couple weeks ago we were watching the travel channel (my favorite) and they had a special on waterparks. PERFECT...was what I thought. How could we all not enjoy a waterpark! So I did a little research and found one that we could all enjoy...Noahs Ark Waterpark in Wisconsin Dells!!! I know it probably doesn't sound too exciting to everyone else, but its really cool and its the largest waterpark in the US. Sounds perfect right? Thats what I thought until I looked at the weather this morning, which I have checked everyday since we decided and booked our hotel....its supposed to rain!! NOT GOOD! Well, it actually said scattered thunderstorms. And get this, the next day...sunny. :(

So if everyone could join me in praying for good weather that would be great!! The boys are REALLY excited and have not stopped talking about it for a week. We have a countdown on our calender thats how excited they are. haha

A little side note...we have not gone any like this as a family. This will be our first family vacation! So this is a huge deal to the kids! And us for that matter!

I'll leave you with some great pictures of the kids jumping on the trampoline.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I will definitely be posting some pictures from our trip...hopefully with sunny skies in the background. :)

Fruit Trees

Most of you know that I planted a garden for the second time this year, but what you don't know is...nothings growing!!! I was so excited to make it look pretty that I forgot to do some of the things that we did last year. Last year our tomato plants took over, and when I say took over I mean it!! They grew so big that my green beans stopped growing because of lack of sunlight. They even knocked the stakes over that were holding them up. haha So this year I put them on the side away from the green beans and other smaller plants. It doesn't really matter, they didn't grow anyway (2 of the tomato plants and the other vegetables). The rabbits ate my pepper plants (which I was so excited about this year) and so the only thing I have growing is tomatoes and the squash plant that Mason wanted so badly. Side note...we don't even eat squash! :) The weeds have taken over so badly that I think even if something was growing, I wouldn't even notice. haha I have not tended to it like I should have. But hey...we'll have tomatoes coming out our ears!! :) If anyone wants to trade tomatoes for other vegetables, I game! lol

We also have some fruit trees in our backyard. We originally just thought they were trees until about the third year we lived here we noticed something was growing on them. woo hoo!! We have 2 apple trees and 2 pear trees! The apple trees haven't looked very healthy and we have only gotten like 2 apples off of them. I was going to cut them down this year because I think that all the water that fills up in our backyard was killing them. Mason heard me say it the other day and said that there were lots of apples on them. HE WAS RIGHT!! We went down and they have several apples on them! I was so excited! I was like a kid in the candy store. So of course I go over to look at the pear trees and they have TONS!!! Question....does anyone know if its normal for fruit trees to bloom every other year? Last year we didn't get any blooms, the year before that we did and now this year we have. Does that make sense? Also I noticed that the pears on top of the trees have started taking shape, but we're just getting blooms on the bottom. I think that they bloom from the top down. Interesting! So when I say kid in a candy store I'm serious. Everyday I check on them, like they're going to just bloom over night. haha Its so exciting!! I have called Bennett's and they cant tell me much because I have no clue what specific kind of pear and apple trees they are (obviously because I didn't plant them). So if any of you are knowledgeable about fruit trees, I'd love for you to share your knowledge with me. :)

Apple Trees

Pear Trees

And this is just ONE part of the branch!!

Fruit anyone?? LOL :)