A Little Of This...

A little of that.

Georgia loves to lick the bowl! In this case the from scratch corn bread batter.

I am minues two kids these days from 7 in the morning until 2:30 in the afternoon. But when one of the two kids that are still with me on my day to day errands is Walker, there is bound to be a story.

This time we spred the crazy around during a shopping trip to Trader Joe's. I had big plans. I needed to double up on several iteams that we go through quickly during the week. So we got in line to have it all rung up, and hit the road before Walker reached his shopping limit.
Wouldn't you know that this would be the day I would forget my wallett!

I was embarrassed, and frazzled, and digging through my purse for any cash I may have had floating around in there. I of course I nowhere near the total amount due, but enough to make dent. So the cashier, and a manager started taking items off the bill. And while all of this was going on, Walker broke!

If you have never heard the mighty (and to be honest, mighty annoying) scream that this little boy can produce, then just imagine the loudest, most ear ringing scratch on a giant chalkboard you can, and you are getting close.

So there are Walker and Georgia having a brawl on the floor over one of the kid size shopping carts they have, with Walker doing his best version on his famous screaming, jumping up and down, tatrum.

And the manager of the store could not get the total figured out. He was frustrated, and could not think straight. And who could blame him? I tell Del all the time that Walker has a scream that could make a genious lose their smarts. It is true. The minute he starts, I completely lose my capacity to concentrate. And I am no genius, so it is pretty bad.

This moment of desperation called for setting aside my reservations about popping candy in my kid's mouths when they are naughty. I happily accepted the sucker the store offered me, and enjoyed the moment of silence while the manager still punched away at the register keys. Then Georgia started whining. Why didn't she get a sucker? Oh my!

And that is when we apparently reached the manager's limit to cope. Next thing I knew he was throwing all of the food into shopping bags, and saying,
"I can't figure it out. I made a mess of it. Just go!"

Me, " No! Wait! What? How much do I still owe you? No. Can I pay you back next time? Are you sure?"

He kept saying, yes, yes, he was sure, just GO!!

I mummled over and over about how embarrassed I was, and thank you so much, and I am so sorry, and quickly pushed my crying crew out the door. Much to the relief of the Trader Joe's employees.

And as I loaded my bags of free food in the car, a cloud of shame hung over me. I realized this was a payoff just to get me the heck out of there, to save someone's sanity. And that is a very humbling place to be.

But I am determined to come out of this raising kids thing with my dignity in tact. I will be heading back to Trader Joe's this week with plenty of cash, and a credit card, ready to pay them back. Weather they like it, (or me,) or not!

1 To 3

Yes, it was back to school around here at the end of last week. This Summer flew by!

Will is in the 1st grade, and Wally is off to 3rd grade.

Georgia is lost without her older brothers. She will start school in a couple of weeks, and then Walker will REALLY be lost.

We have the brand new, not a scuff mark shoes, the crisp, clean, new backpacks, and the $6000.00 dollars worth of school supplies we are given a list of instructions on buying!

Seriously, it was out of control this year. Four boxes of 24 count crayons, seven folders, four spiral notebooks, three boxes of four count glue sticks, three boxes of large tissues, and on and on, and that was just for Wally!

We are ready!

It has been nice to get back into a routine. Even if that means waking up at 6:00 again, making a nice big breakfast, packing lunches, and doing the never ending hunt for the boys' shoes. Every morning.

The boys love that they ride on the same bus this year, and Mom is a fan too. It has been nice to go to the health club with only two kids, and get caught up on some of the areas of the house that were neglected this Summer. And it has only been three days! Hopefully it will be a productive Fall! The boys teachers seem really put together and experienced, and we are excited!

Lake Ohatchee

We hit the lake with the Tyson family this week.

You know you are in Wisconsin when you are boating on a lake called Ohatchee, or anything that sounds like it.  Leslie is a trooper, she was out on a rocking boat full of little kids, and taking over the wheel half the time, and she is going in to have a her fourth baby on Monday, if not sooner. More of a woman than I am, I must say.

We had so much fun, and our kids defiantly have a love for boating. I grew up with a love for being dragged, pulled and flipped behind my parents boat, so I guess it is just in the genes.

And it just comes naturally to Wally apparently. Watch how this sequence went down.

Wally's first time in water skis.

A little pep talk.

HIT IT!!

Pull through!

He's cruising! Look at that form! He, he!

That's better. His facial expressions were cracking us up!

There is the confidence we know and love. One handed!

Over the wake!

And he is down! What a run!

We did not get home until late that night, and when we pulled Wally out of the car he woke up and said while half asleep,

" I didn't know that skiing was so fun!" I told him Grandpa will be so proud of him, and so are mom and dad!

Wally learned everything he know from the little this little pro... Sam.

 The rest of the kids also had a blast. Del and I keep laughing at how this smile did not leave Georgia's face the entire time she was out on the tube.

Dad with the kiddos.

Walker didn't last long.

Jared and his kiddos. Oh, plus Georgia, because we couldn't get her off the tube.

Our boat host and hostess.

Gotta love those curls.

Start them young.

Surfing

Ella

The Tyson family

We love you guys!

Denver, Colorado

Rocky Mountain High!

We made a stop in Denver for a few days on our way home from Utah, again this year. Del had hired a new rep there, and wanted to do some interviews, and that is always good news because it means I will get to see my forever friend, Christy.

Bryce and Christy are so great, and open their cute home to our crew so warmly. It was fun to get to know their baby girl, Ivy this year, and I must admit that I am a fan of Denver, so it is nice to spend some time there. It is so beautiful... and the air is crisp.. the landscape is stunning, and the drive through the mountains is breathtaking every single time!

Christy and I like to just take care of the kids, catch up, and hang out. It is low key, and that is nice sometimes.

I recruited Wally to take a picture of me and Christy on a little shopping trip to the Castlerock Outlet Mall.

We got a good laugh out of it. Wally kept pointing the camera lens off to his right. So Christy and I would hunch down, and shuffle to our left, and when we would get centered, Wally would veer off to the side again. But we did manage to both make it into the picture.

A big time treat. A stop at the candy store.

Georiga and Walker loved Bryce and Christy's dog, Ruby. Maybe a little too much.
Briggs playing in the background.

We had a nice visit, and then we hit the road again for the long drive home. We were almost convinced by everyone we talked to on this trip that we need to move to Denver. I guess you never know!

We decided to follow my parents lead and stop at the Hilton in Omaha for the night. It was good to stay in a decent hotel, instead of the last minute roadside motels that you usually end up in on an I-80 road trip.
Especially when the hotel gives you a free upgrade. Yay!

Omaha at midnight from the car.

After many a windmill, and cornfield in Iowa, and an almost accident that spun the car in front of us off the road, we made it home safely!  Back to the heat, humidity, and power outages! Real life, here we come!  But it is good to be home.

Heber Valley

Our dear friends, the Tyson's have a family cabin up in the mountains surrounding Heber Valley in Utah. They were kind enough to let us use it for a couple of nights while we were in town.

Our children were in love with the concept of being in the mountains. It makes Del and I kind of sad that something that we took for granted as always just being there in our childhood is such an anomaly to the kids.
We invited my family to come up one evening, and we went dinner at the Dairy Keen in Heber, and Del's family come up to stay for one night.

My favorite part of the whole trip was when Del and I took a group of the cousins, and all of our kids out for a walk right at dusk, to look for deer. They were so abundant in the trees, they could not help but run across the road right in front of us. That was a pretty, and peaceful walk. The moment of peace at sunset felt good.

Unfortunately, my camera died the first day we were there, and I had packed the wrong charger in the camera bag. So I did not get any pictures of Del's family's visit.

I spy with my little eye!  Do you see what the kids see? A deer in the upper right hand side of the picture. Unafraid of the ruckus being made on the trampoline.

The Dairy Keen train. We really like the Heber Valley. So beautiful!

We took the kids out in the morning for a little hike. You would have thought we had taken them on a death march with all the complaints we got on the way back. They had been wild and crazy, climbing on everything, and running ahead, and on the way back, it was all uphill, and nothing seemed as wonderful. But, we made it, and it was nothing a little lunch didn't cure.

Thank you Tyson family! You have an amazing cabin, in an spot in the world!