D E N I A L

It ain't just a river in Egypt!

Full Day Kindergarten is coming, whether I like it or not Keira went to the Doctor today and got all her immunizations updated -- and then was treated to some ice cream afterward - I mean, seriously, getting 4 shots without so much as a tear warrants ice cream, right?!? We got a letter in the mail today about orientation and a phone call yesterday about what bus she is on and when it will pick her up. The train is moving forward and I need to get on it.

Keira is ready. She already knows over 100 sight words and can read some of the beginners books. She is becoming quite the mathematician as well - randomly coming up to me during the day and saying "Hey Mom, 9 minus 5 is 4" Alrighty then, it sure is. She is constantly looking for something more to do. another project to create, something else to explore. She will do great.

But I am sad to be losing my baby all day. She gets on the bus at 7:50 am and won't get off the bus until about 3:45 pm. Talk about cutting the apron strings. Our weekday outings are over for the most part. I already feel guilty about even thinking about taking Mallory to the zoo without Keira. Is that weird? I just don't like the thought of her missing out. But she will be having her own experiences, making new friends, learning new things, taking cool field trips - lots of things that Mal and I won't get to do. I am so excited for her to have all this stuff to look forward to .... just gotta get over the blues that my first is growing up!

Herding Cats

Trying to get a picture with 6 kids age 5 an under, is, well, like herding cats .... nearly impossible. Below are a few of our attempts.

In front of the arch ... Mal was having no part of it.

At the City Garden, only Keira looking at the camera.

Missing a child here.

The guys trying to get the kids into position. Didn't have much luck.

Hey, look, all the kids in this one! Should have zoomed in, but the darn sun behind them was in the way.

Two, maybe three trying to escape ... several of the older ones trying to hang on to them.

We've got a runner!

What we have been up to ...

We have been crazy crazy crazy for a few weeks. My MIL came in and we went to key west. We got home on a saturday night, and then the girls and I left on tuesday and drove to Kansas to see old friends. We had a great time - Keira got to go to VBS with Lexi, Mal made Frankie fall in love with her and we all got to spend some time in the neighborhood pool! It was a great time and the 4 hour drive by myself with the kids in the car really wasn't horrendous. i was really sorta freaking out about it, but it really wasn't bad at all. Totally do-able. Watch out Indy friends we may be on our way!

We left kansas on Thursday afternoon and on Friday afternoon had friends from Ohio stop by to visit. Valerie, her husband Kevin and their 4 munchkins (ages 5, 3, and 17 month old twins). Keira and their oldest were "baby friends" when we lived in Ohio. Sadly, the girls don't remember each other anymore, but the moms have fond memories of the girls playing together. We hit the Magic House on saturday morning. Always fun. Keira's favorite this time was playing library. Mal loved to fish. Sunday morning we headed downtown and hit the bubblers at the sculpture park and then headed over to see the arch. The Gerbus' took their crew all the way up! We passed - both Wade and I have been up before and that little egg they put you in, well, is not my favorite thing. And it gets stuck like twice a week - I would totally freak. We'll wait till the girls are a little bit older before heading up again! Then we spent the afternoon outside - finally - it has been so hot here that we had not been outside in over a week. The kids got to run run run and play in the water - it was great! Sadly, the heat has returned :( The Gerbus' then headed off on Sunday night on their way to a wedding in Denver.

Pictures to come ...

Greetings from Key West

Thanks to my fabulous mother in law, Wade and I were able to sneak away on our annual (without the kids) get away this week. We had such an awesome time in Key West last year that we decided to go back. We stayed at the same place -- Southermost on the Beach. Such a wonderful place. Great room, great views. It is quite a long, hot walk to the other end of Duval where all the "action" is, but it allowed us to work off some of the food and booze and get all our steps for Wade's work competition. The above picture was taken during a bike tour that we took. It is apparently what the Key West Tourism department uses for their advertising. And yes, you read that right, bike tour. It was literally 105 degrees, but hey, we are on vacation, who doesn't want to sweat profusely on vacation. ha. It was neat to learn about the history of the island and see some things we hadn't already seen. And we got to ride Key Lime colored bikes. And eat key lime pie at the end of the tour. Yum.

Wade at the Top of the Conch. It is a bar at the top of the La Concha Hotel. Tallest building in Key West. Super awesome views, overpriced crappy drinks.

Our dollar stapled to a palm tree at Willy T's. There are thousands of them stapled all of the bar. Thousands. Ours says HH + WH 2011 - it looks like WA, but it's not.

The most stolen sign in Key West, mile marker zero. Ignore that we are covered in sweat. Just ignore it. This was also part of the hot bike tour.

Wade and I on the steps of a house that Jimmy Buffett used to own/live in.

The view from our balcony. Aaaaahhhhhhh.

This was "our spot" at the hotel. In the sand and in the shade. Did I mention it was 105 degrees? Just checking.

One of our favorite events ... Turtle races at Turtle Kraals. The literally race turtles on this table. Too fun. And I won $20 Turtle Bucks to pay down our bar tab. Awesome.

We did lots of other stuff, but I am out of patience with the photo uploader on this thing. Let's see, we did a Wind and Wine sunset sail. It was pretty cool -- there were 9 different wines to taste and plenty of appetizers. We sailed for about two and a half hours just enjoying the water. There was a street fair type thing one night with live music a local band called Howard Livingston and Mile Marker 24 played. Definitely Jimmy Buffett-esque. Loved it. Hit a great dueling piano bar, spent time at Irish Kevin's, ate at Blue Heaven twice, saw lots of wild chickens, had some Hog Fish.

Great time was had by all.

Now off to Kansas.

What do I even say about this picture?

I used to think we were excellent parents. Keira is such a nice, polite, well behaved little girl. She says please and thank you, doesn't throw fits, asks to be excused from the table when she is finished, etc etc etc. And then there is Mallory. This child, well, she just looks for trouble. In the past week, we have removed her from the dryer, the bathroom sink, and the kitchen table. Places Keira would never have dreamed of going. She has learned the word MINE already and likes to throw the "throw yourself on the ground and scream" type of fits when she doesn't get her way ... again, Keira would never have done this and is quite embarrassed when Mallory does. Join the club, kid. So apparently, sometimes, parenting requires some work ... personally, I prefer the self-policing model we got with our first ;) So Mallory is a work in progress. Since she idolizes her big sister, so we are hoping Keira rubs off on her ... quickly!