Colds

We all have them. We use a lot of Kleenex/Puffs. We drink a lot more fluids because our throats are soar. The house is loud at night because we are all snoring...loudly. Sounds like it could be a good children's book.

Tonight was the third grade back to school night. Wildcat had fun playing with his friends on the playground. Since Kapooka had come with me last year to do playground duty most of the kids knew her. Several of the girls played with her a lot tonight. That was really sweet.

Kapooka is perfecting the art of just sitting on the ground, kicking her feet, shaking her head, and shouting NO, NO, NO over and over when she doesn't want to do something. Wildcat is having to learn that we don't let her do this, and we deal with it firmly. He wants to distract her and love on her. He is such a sweetie. However, she can't get that positive attention by that behavior.

While at the playground, Paul is pretty sure that Kapooka said "slide". That would add to her words which are no, mama, dada, nana, grandma, more, dog, cat, and bye. She signs please, thank you, diaper change, phone, and tooth brush. She waves bye and throws kisses.

Allergic Reaction

This is a slow blog week mostly because I had a severe allergic reaction to something I ate (tongue swelling, hives, etc). The hives are still around whenever the Benadryl wears off, so I am spending a lot of time slightly groggy. Today, the hives seems slower in returning (I can go 6-8 hours between Benadryl instead of 4). So...I don't really know much of what went on this week.

Bethany and I have enjoyed dancing to some new CDs we checked out from the library. We liked one so much I ordered it from Half.com, so we can listen to it in the car. It was Jessica Harper's Rhythm In My Shoes.

Jon has his first spelling test and Memory Verse quiz of third grade today. He should do great on both.

Paul is sick with a bad cold. That typically happens the first month of school for him, so we aren't too worried...actually not at all.

A pretty normal week around here.

First Haircut

Today Grandma and I took Kapooka to Cookie Cutters to get her first haircut. We got to warm up and figure out that it wasn't a scary place by playing on the slide.


Next, Kapooka got to sit in a pink car. By this time she could tell something was up, so she asked to hold my hand.

Notice...still holding hands and the wary look at the beautician. However, she didn't every cry.

All done. We just trimmed everything up and started growing bangs. The bubbles were a big hit as was the free barrette that went in her hair. She enjoyed driving the car once it was all done.

PooPoo on the Potty

We will spare you pictures for this one. Kapooka went poopoo on the potty for the first time today. We were both very excited. Her favorite part is handwashing after. She also likes to just sit on the potty and read books. Her face was so funny when the poop hit the potty. She looked at me like "Is that what is supposed to happen?" It wasn't long before she was clapping and saying "YAY!" with me.

That is about all I will say on the subject.

Vacation Metamora

In Indiana before railroads were built, canals were built, to transport goods. One of the canal towns, Metamora, has been restored, and you can ride on a replica of a canal boat. Metamora was really close to where we were staying, so we went for a day. We had a great time riding the boat, poking in interesting shops, and eating at the Sidetrack Cafe (the owner/chef is an editor for Taste of Home Magazine. The food was GREAT!) You can see the Sidetrack Cafe menu here... http://www.metamoraindiana.com/Loc27.htm



We're getting ready to get on the boat, The Ben Franklin II. Back in canal times, it would not have had a roof. The shed on the back would have housed the extra set of mules.

This is an aquaduct. The canal used this as a bridge to cross a stream.

Now, horses are used to pull the boat. These were our horses.

The horses home....the barn, not the truck.

Vacation King's Island

We spent a day at King's Island, an amusement park near Cincinnati Ohio. It was really fun. Skye, her friend who came, and I all really liked the new coaster called the Diamondback. Here is a link to a video if you want to watch...http://mobile.visitkingsisland.com/public/fun/videos/index.cfm


Wildcat and Kapooka on the Go Diego Go ride. They had a good time together.

Oops...I got these posted backwards. This is Skye and her friend in the slingshot (crazy teenagers. This is after they have launched. The picture below is getting ready to launch. Her friend offered to pay for my ticket to go. I told him that I had attained sanity in my old age.

Kapooka LOVED the carousel. She rode it 10 times. She spent most of her time looking up to see the mechanism that made the horses go up and down.

Happy Anniversary

Today was my parents' 40th anniversary. We celebrated with a family dinner at Hollyhock Hill. The food was excellent, and the wait staff was very attentive. I would highly recommend this restaurant. Wildcat loved that he get 3 glasses of chocolate milk! You can check them out here...
http://www.hollyhockhill.com/



Here are the cousins all playing together. Grandpa got all of the girls a pink rose, so our cousin S is holding hers.

My sister in law Angela made these to die for cakes. The chocolate one was the best I had ever tasted. Daisies were the predominant flower at my parents wedding. My dad loves pineapple upside down cake. The cakes were so good, and there was so much we even shared with our waitress!

Kapooka with her flower. Grandpa had even wrapped the stem in florist tape to keep her safe. By the end of the meal, it was the floppiest rose ever, but she was a happy girl.

The anniversary couple. My mom is wearing the necklace my dad gave her as her wedding present. My dad is wearing his new watch (you can't see it) that my Mom gave him for an anniversary present. They just smiled the whole dinner, except for when we were eating the delicious food.

I pray that God will give them many more years and many more wonderful memories together and with the rest of their family. I love them very much.

Vacation Part 1

We have been crazy busy since we got home from vacation. Now that school has started, I hope to get back to semi-regular updates again. Let's start with vacation. We spent a week here...
http://www.kingsranch.cc/
They no longer had llamas, but everything else is pretty much the same! We had a fantastic time. We stayed a whole week. One day we went to Metamora, and one day we went to King's Island (we'll update about that later), but most of the time was spent...



Hanging out together and laughing, reading or playing games. The kids liked to go on hikes through the 150 acres, or ride on the golf cart. Wildcat liked spending time in the loft of our cabin. Skye liked to spend a lot of time outdoors and see where she could get one bar on her cell phone (only one place in the whole ranch by the way), but it was a fun way to spend time.

Swimming. We swam a lot. All of us swam a lot. However, no pictures of Mom in a swimsuit are allowed to be posted on the internet. We have tons of cute pictures of the kids in the water, and we have some funny ones of Paul jumping off the diving board. However, he asked that those not be posted either. However, killing horseflies became a competition sport between Paul and Wildcat at the pool. Also, Kapooka loved to throw balls, floats, and shoes into the pool. Skye learned to dive.

Building fires was very popular as was roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores. Wildcat really enjoed tending the fire. Wildcat and Paul slept in a tent one night. Of course it rained. They ended up with 3 inches of water in the tent. Everything was soaked. They still had a good time though. I think they did give up pretty early in the morning and come back in the cabin and slept some more.

Mom, well I slept a lot (I had a migraine 4 out of the 6 days we were there BIG BUMMER). I got to read and swim, and I enjoyed staying in the cabin away from the bugs. We would love to go back again.