We're back, baby. This will be mostly a journal for me, so I'm not out to entertain anyone. So turn back now.

Ok.

Max is enjoying 5th grade, his friends Kenny and Rence seem nice. His teacher Mrs Tuttle is sweet. Max is growing up, I can tell because he is getting lippy. He argues and talks back quite a bit, not sure how much to let him get away with. He usually is not overly rude or disrespectful, but I'm afraid to let it go too far.  He is so sweet to Kai and usually Mattie, and is fairly independent. He says and does the most hysterical things. He is really funny, and not just in the cute little kid way. He is really witty and makes great jokes. He's a great kid.

Mattie is loving school as usual, her friends vary from day to day. She is so energetic and creative. At least once a day I find a pile of cut paper and tape and markers where she has made some hat or drawing or sometimes even a whole costume. Usually a dragon, Pokemon, or animal. The latest one was paper copy's of the hats in the movie Emperor's New Groove. They were really good. She usually makes something for Kai to wear as well.  They play so well together now. While max won't play "house" with Mattie, Kai is more than happy to. And doctor. And school. And barnyard. They usually make it about 20 to 40 minutes before squabbling about something or another. She doesn't like to play alone.

Kai is hysterical. Sweet, funny, stubborn, active, talkative, and crazy. He dances to every snipit of music he hears, insists he can spell and write, has NO problem telling me I am wrong about something, and would eat candy all day every day if I let him. He adores Jackson coming every day, and cries and says he has no friends when there isn't anyone here to play with him. He never plays on his own and will either follow me around pestering me to play with him, or ride his scooter or any other vehicle around the house when we are stuck inside. I always think I will never get tired of hearing his little voice, until about 2:00pm when I just want him to can it for 5 minutes. He's adorable.



So that is a good catch up, and I will try to be back tomorrow with more day to day things.

VBS 2010!

We've been having a great time at VBS this year! The theme is Saddleridge Ranch, so the first day Mattie wanted to wear her cowgirl outfit. So she rode in on Moe, also note snakey around her waist, but today he is not snakey, he's a rope.Max had fun in crafts. The first day they made chirpers: sticks with beads that you rub together and it sounds like crickets. Fun!

Not sure what part of VBS this was.Mmmmmmm.....lunch!! Dallas looks happy about it, anyway. The second day was Crazy Hat/Crazy Hair Day. Mattie wore a ponytail Mohawk and crazy flamingo glasses.Max wore crazy monkey glasses and a crazy shark hat!!Finally on the second day they had something Max would eat! Nachos! Well, chips with meat and lettuce. And jello! Kai is making friends, too. I don't have many pictures of him, because if he sees me, it causes lot of problems!

Fun with Lucas!

Great Wolf Lodge!!

We had a great trip to Great Wolf Lodge!

We packed into Nana's car (thanks, Nana!) and we were off! Everyone did what they do best: Max played his DS, Kai slept, and Mattie watched a movie! In the lobby they have a huge window overlooking the whole water park! That made it really easy for the kids to wait. NOT!!But soon we were swimming!

Mattie loved the lazy river. But you couldn't be too lazy, because kids in the treehouse (Max!!) would dump water on you and shoot you with water cannons!There was basically no where you could go that didn't have water shooting up or falling down.

Even Kai loved it! I wish this was a video, because he is kicking his legs and yelling, he was lovin' it!

Look out babies! Mattie's got a water cannon!

Max must have done this slide 1000 times!

After all that swimming, we ate dinner and the when questing!! Max played a game called MagiQuest and he completed several quests.

Mattie had a MagiQuest wand, too! Guess what color she picked?!


All over the hotel, there are pictures, treasure chests, magic books and animals that you wave your wand at and they all do different things.

I tried to get a picture of Max waving his wand on his quest, but he was following the clues and would run ahead and get his item. By the time I caught up with the camera, he was off to the next item!

Just missed him again! The halls were cluttered with kids "questing" running up and down the halls, looking for their items. It was fun!

Mattie has a unicorn on top of her wand!
Here is Kai "questing"!

Back in our hotel room AT LAST! But they are still going strong! On Max's side of the wall there is the kids "cave" with their bunk beds and a TV. They both wanted the top bunk, so they slept head to toe.

The next morning it was back to swimming! This is Max in the wave pool.

He got pretty good at riding the waves, but his favorite was when it tipped him all the way over!

They had huge indoor water slides. Max made us climb all those stairs over and over. Mattie was a little too short to ride the big slides, so Mark and I would take turns taking Max and staying with the babies.

Is is nap time yet?!

Stop for lunch?! No way!! Seriously, we had to make him come and eat lunch. He wolfed it down and was back out swimming in about 15 minutes.

Mattie loves the kiddie slides! Just right for her.

We all had a really good time, and swam about 11 hours total! The food was great, the room was SO nice, and the swimming and games were awesome!! Mattie cried the whole way out of the lobby screaming, "I don't want to go home!!" You know it's a good trip when you have to carry someone out crying!

Spring 2010

Kai Kai Kai Kai Kai Kai Kai Kai Kai Kai

Mattie's Birthday!!