Did you hear

the loud scream around 9:00 coming from the edge of our town? It was ME! I was screaming FREEDOM!!!

You see, my dear friend across town agreed to take all 4, yes you read that right ALL 4 of my kids overnight and during the day tomorrow. I carefully packed each kids with loving care and during dinner we went over sleep-over rules.

Taylor had joined us for dinner and since it was her house they were going to, she helped establish the rules by sharing with me that, "We have no rules at our house!". :-) Then she backtracked a bit and we reviewed the obvious ones like no running inside, no screaming, obey the parents etc. I reminded the kids to be quiet while they 'stayed up all night talking' because the Daddy had to get up early to go to work. Rhia and Taylor began talking about the routine each of their daddy's had in the morning and they were shocked to discover that BOTH DADS TOOK A SHOWER EVERY MORNING. Can you believe the coincidence?

All the kids were excited and only Teagan was a bit nervous. We talked with Mrs. Baines about it and they decided to have a tea party tomorrow with all the stuffed friends at the Baines house. Of course when Teagan said she would miss Mommy, I told her she would be fine and to hug her blanket. Then remembering all the sleep-overs she has had with our babysitter Miss Katie, I asked what she did with Miss Katie when she missed Mommy. WRONG QUESTION! Teagan proudly smiled and declared that Miss Katie just brought her home when she missed Mommy. :-( Not what I wanted to hear. Not true either.

So my hubby and I snuck out of the house after casually giving kisses and then we went to Starbucks for coffee. Wow, I've aged. The crowd there was all 18-25 year olds and we just didn't fit in. So we came home for a romantic evening alone. Well that might have been a nice plan, but I had other things on my mind. My back closet needs to be cleaned. Thus explains the picture at the top of this blog. I emptied the closet tonight and tomorrow my mission will be to put it back together.

Lessons learned today?

Some dads shower every morning.

Apparently this is not as predictable for mothers.

Some kids have no rules at their houses! :-)

Nights alone without the kids aren't the same as nights alone before the kids!

Blessed to be momofkrit and woj and sleeping uninterrupted tonight, I hope,

KT

DINNER

We had a GREAT day today. Friends stayed over last night, another friend joined us this afternoon. We had breakfast, snacks, more snacks, lunch, after lunch snacks, afternoon snacks, before karate snacks, after karate snacks...sorry... I was "THE BEST MOM EVER". Well, at least until the friends had to go home.

We did karate and survived with no major incidents. Bonus. The thunder held off and T-Ball was NOT canceled and Iain did a great job playing tonight. He did get a nice ball to the face, but after a quick word with his coach, and a kiss from Mom, he was back on the field playing ball. We even have a bruise to show off! Cool!!

So burgers and dogs for dinner, baths, bed...All is well and done. goodnight.
OH WAIT< that was the plan...
Sweet corn cooking on the stove, burgers and dogs on the grill, pasta salad already made. What could go wrong? Well...the grill ran out of juice half way through the cooking process. Rhia and Iain discovered a great place to play with water outside while I was grilling so they managed to get soaked and needed to get showered before dinner. Fiona knocked over the trashcan spewing trash everywhere.

Ok, ok, no big deal, shower kids, microwave rest of food, clean up trash, serve dinner.
There are only 2 hamburgers. 3 kids want them. 2 adults want them. 6 hotdogs available. 1 child wants them and 1 puggle is hoping to catch some under the table. Many ears of corn. some don't like it. Some love it. Teags eats 3 ears of corn, but nothing else. The pasta salad is enjoyed by my hubby. Rhia needs me to eat hers up as it is too cold. Uh, honey, it is called a cold pasta salad. Water spills all over the table. My hamburger gets split 4 ways, I get 3 bites.

Daddy begins a discussion about justification at the table launching all kinds of questions about the trinity and beginning of God and even a debate about the dove from Noah's ark and whether that dove was actually the Holy Spirit. Teags falls asleep on my lap during this discussion. Daddy takes kids directly from table up to bed. I carefully transfer Teags from my arms to her bed.

Once back downstairs, I discover my dog on the table eating her anticipated hog dog. I hear snoring from Iain's bedroom, Iain? No, Daddy. The kitchen is a mess, the dog is in trouble, the grill is still open, and the worst thing is? I'M STILL HUNGRY!!! And it is now 10:00. Oh my oh my.

So, I"m going to bed with a slightly messy kitchen, a dishwasher that needs to be unloaded, laundry that needs to be folded, a grill that needs more gas, a dog that will probably have to GO in the middle of the night, a hungry belly, and a lingering question in my head about the dove.
Sounds like a typical day in the life of this mom of 4 kids...wonder what tomorrow will be like?

So very blessed to be momofkrit and woj, and even Mom to Fiona the pugle although she's in trouble!!!

KT

When Life gives you Lemons

After a long day and with no dinner plans I decided to take my family to a local pizza place for dinner. Quick in and out, eat pizza, leave the mess there, sounds simple, right? NOT

Kyle sits down and pretends to be drinking the ketchup bottle. Rhia starts chugging the mustard bottle. Iain starts playing with the knives, anyone surprised?, and Teagan grabs sugar packets and starts shaking them. Any quesses on which one turned to disaster? No, no cuts, no red or yellow stains either. Rather, the sugar packets became the issue with which I had to deal. Do I get upset about ALL the sugar spilled on the table? Do I scold Teagan for intentionally opening the packets? Do I clean up the mess? No, I make lemonade! Using my pointer finger I started spelling Teagan's name in the mess of sugar.

When Iain has trouble sitting still on his chair and all of a sudden disappers from his seat and lands on the floor, do I yell at him to sit up? Do I take away his chair and make him stand? (That would have been a good idea in hindsight.) NO, I make lemonade! I sit perfectly still and watch as my husband plays a family joke on him and Iain from the floor manages not to get trapped in the joke. The whole family started laughing causing a great scene in the restaurant. This has never happened to me before. Most times no ever even knows we are there, NOT.

When the kids start playing games on us saying, Mommy look at me and then when I look they say, What are you looking at, do I get upset? Do I tell them to stop? NO, I make lemonade! How could you not laugh when Teagan takes her little hands and physically turns my face toward hers saying, Mommy wook at me! and then Mommy, WHAT ARE YOU WOOKING AT?

While I am typing up this blog and Teagan yells from the kitchen, Mom, I accidentally peed, Do I get upset and yell at her? Do I do running to clean her up? Do I sigh with despair, ok, well yes, but then, I make lemonade! It was time to give her a bath and mop the floor anyway. Thanks for the reminder Teagan.

I think after baths and mopping, I'm going to go straight to bed. I'm getting a bit tired of making lemonade!

Blessed to be momofkrit and woj,
KT

ON the beach

We had a great day on the beach. Teagan loved sitting in the sand building castles and knocking them down. Classic play for a preschooler. Iain got brave and even tried a surf board. You'll notice the big wave which he "caught"! The high tide kept getting higher and higher and after several failed attempts to move back far enough Daddy approached the kids with a job. You MUST build a levy. They all got to work building a levy in front on our chairs. After much hard work the levy was complete and the tide produced a large wave and we kept dry! It was an exciting moment in our little "camp" of beachers. I even saw my husband do a victory dance which is very uncharacterisitc of him. What a great day on the beach.

Shovel Daddy Shovel.

Teags continues her play while Daddy supervises the Levy building.

Future Surfer!!!

Playing house in Paris

Rhiannon loves fashion. Always has, probably always will. She doesn't even really know anything about Paris except that it is a neat place where Daddy lived for a year and they have pretty things there. Based on that information alone, she would like to go. How do you get there? Well it is across the ocean you see. So once we board the boat for a trip around the bay and get out onto the water Rhia with great excitement asks, "Daddy where is Paris?" I love the mind of a child. Since we couldn't get to Paris on our 9 passenger motor boat she and the kids decided to play house on the docked boat and they had great adventures while they traveled to Paris for pretend.

Jump?

Iain had a great time playing on the boat. He was very excited about being able to get on and off by himself and pretending to drive. I have labeled these pictures, "See ya Mom, I'm off", and "To jump or not to jump, that is the question".

Taking a ride on the boat

While visiting friends in Rehoboth, we took a ride on their boat. The first night it was very windy and the waves were very high resulting in a rough and rocky ride. The kids weren't quite sure about this "fun". After hitting a big wave which resulted in a huge water splash inside the boat we decided to head back to the dock and try again the next day. The girls and I were sitting in the "wet seat" and it looked as though we had just been on a water park ride. Mommy thought it was awesome. Rhia was less than thrilled about her wet condition and Teagan just asked if she could put on a new dress! :-) Iain and Daddy had fun getting a little bit wet. Kyle had a chance to drive the boat the first night and did a great job. Iain drove during our trip the next day and although we went in circles for about 5 minutes he did a great job. Rhia even got over her fear and drove the boat too!!

Our Beach Weekend

This past weekend we were blessed to have the opportunity to vacation on the bay and visit the beach. We stayed with some friends at their house on the bay and went on their boat and played around with their paddle boat and kayaks. We had so much fun and just enjoyed making new friends and relaxing while enjoying God's beautiful creation. A few highlights of our trip will follow with pictures.

eXtra eXtra

Read all about it... Remember the days when the newspaper was the only means of media communication? Ok, well I don't either, but I've watched a documentary about it on T.V. :-)

Anyway, being in the newpaper was a big deal regardless of the reason. Some things have changed since then, but if you are a kid and your picture is in the newpaper that is a HUGE deal.

One of our local papers just featured a story about a library doing story hour at a local coffee shop and MY kids were the main picture on the front page. The reporter had taken the picture and mentioned that she would probably use it so I was expecting a small pic somewhere back on page 13 of section C. When I picked up the paper at the store and saw my 4 kids staring at me from the front page I just smiled proudly.

I very humbly walked up to the cashier and placed the paper on the counter pointing to the kids and saying, "Aren't those kids cute!" She mumbled something about yes, they are cute and then I smiled and said, "Thanks, they are my kids!" A mom is allowed a bit of pride sometimes, right?

Moments in history that define us...will my kids remember the time they were the main picture on the front of the newspaper? Oh yeah, you bet they will! Will anyone else? No, except me. But for this week, yes, that is how local the paper is, they will be "famous".

Blessed to be momofkrit and woj,

KT

birthday card

I would just like to publicly express my heartfelt thanks to Aunt Emme for the thoughtful birthday card she sent to my husband. It is a very fun card with a picture of a cow surfing on a cake. When opened the song Wipe Out begins to sing. We love it. Now I would like to publicly express my "thanks Aunt Emme" for the very loud card which the kids have been playing incessantly since 7:00 am this morning. I am hoping that the battery "wipes out" VERY soon. :-)

last night

me
my dog
thunderstorm
4 kids
1 bed
One rolls off
short night
enough said.

Surprised? I'm not

So would anyone be surprised if I told you that I walked into Big Lots today with 4 children in hand and watched as my 4 children walked away from me in 4 different directions?

Are you surprised to learn that I found Iain on an 8 step stanted ladder? Rhia looking at jewelry? Teagan running towards me holding a breakable clock? I actually don't remember where Kyle was...

Raise your hand if you are surprised that Mommy forgot that today was belt testing at karate and we didn't have class? If you have raised your hand you will also be surprised to realize that we were actually at Big Lots killing 45 minutes before going to karate.

Shout aye if you are surprised that Mommy stayed at the studio to talk with the instructor about Kyle's future classes and the kids took advantage of the time to play tag in the waiting room. This of course caused Mr. Watson to leave the office and go to the waiting room and tell the kids to sit quietly.

Go ahead and stand up if are surprised that Teagan entered the Karate office while I was talking with the teacher and with a proud face said, "Mommy, I goed potty!"

Keep standing if you are shocked that in her hands were her underwear which had fallen off in the bathroom and she was waving them in the air to show me she needed help. (How embarrasing.) The teacher was so kind and told me this wasn't the first time a child had stood in his office holding their underwear.

If you are standing up, raising your hand, shouting aye, and displaying a shocked look on your face then you have not read any of my former blogs. This is all par for the course for this blessed momofkrit and woj,

KT

Quintessential Summer Day

7:00 am - Mommy takes Fionna for a walk and picks wild blackberries for breakfast.

8:45 am - Mommy finished making breakfast and puts it in the oven to warm.

9:00 am - We all walk down the street around the circle to browse the community yard sale. Ok so at this point my children are in their glory. Neighbors that we sort of know are selling their junk and my kids want to buy it!! Rhia smiles her beautiful smile and manages to get a nice necklace out of one lady for $3.00. Teagan just looks cute and the lady gives her a free piece of junk!! (Keep in mind this is our development so my kids are feeling very comfortable and free!) So while I'm browsing one yard, my boys run over to the next pile of stuff. I am soon interrupted with the following noise, "MOMMY, We just bought these 2 MASSIVE stuffed dogs for only $1.00." I look across the yard and discover the seller laughing and pointing at me. My kids think they have just landed the deal of their lives. I quickly realize that I have been conned!! THESE DOGS ARE BIGGER THAN RHIA!! She should have paid US to TAKE these dogs! By 9:45 we were walking home with polly pockets, buzz lightyear guns, necklaces, books, a Nancy Drew book which Kyle got for 1/2 price after bargaining with the lady, and 2 MASSIVE dogs. Only in America.

10:00 We eat pancakes with fresh blackberries, eggs and bacon.

11:00 - 4:-00 We stay inside since it is SO hot. We chill out, nap, watch movies. Awesome.

4:30 - 6:30 - We hit the pool for some cool water. Daddy comes with us and plays in the water. what a special treat!!

6:30-8:00 - Mommy terribly burns the BBQ ribs and we all eat dinner.

8:30-9:30 - We hit the ice cream store for a summer night treat. This time there are 4 grown-ups and 4 children and somehow we DO manage to drop 1 ice cream. Next time, Katie, do it yourself!!

9:30 - 10:00 - This is my favorite part. You decide why.
We park at the local Starbucks to watch the fireworks which are available 4 times a year. You can pay a fortune to enter and watch, or you can TAILGATE in the nearby parking lot and watch for free. Iain loses his shoes, Kyle talks the entire time, Rhia gets back in the car and goes to sleep, and Teagan just keeps eating her ice cream till it is ALL gone.

10:30 - All is quiet. Bellies are full, bodies are tired, hearts are full of love, and memories have been made. What more could you ask for on a Saturday in July?

Blessed to be momofkrit and woj,
KT

Children helping and helping themselves

So my youngest son is on his way to being a doctor. Or at least that is what I choose to believe since he is fascinated with blood. Several times today I treated a boo boo on his leg and carefully placed a bandaid over the injury. Several times today he came to me with a bleeding boo boo. How many boo boo's can he get in one day you may ask? Well, many, but today only one. He just kept taking off the bandaid and picking at it so it would bleed.

Now that the premise is set, here is my story. At 8:45 pm after sending the kids to bed already, Iain came to me with his boo boo bleeding a LOT. Several inches of blood actually were dripping down his leg. As I was on the phone and tired of cleaning up this injury, I told him to take care of it himself. (yes, he is 5).

A few moments later I hear dripping water. Heavy dripping water. Iain was indeed helping himself and had soaked a kitchen towel in the bathroom sink and then proceeded to walk to the kitchen with his dripping blood and the dripping towel. Teagan, my big helper, heard the commotion and somehow appeared on the scene, remember I'm on the phone. When I hear noise in the bathroom I question who is downstairs. Teagan of course, she is cleaning up the mess of course. With toilet paper.

Since she is at it, she decides to clean the potty too. With toilet paper. And the sink. With toilet paper. Have you ever used toilet paper? Do you know what happens to wet toilet paper? Yeah, she did a great job cleaning and proudly declared herself finished and went back to bed.

Lesson learned? Mom, get over your selfishness and deal with the issue at hand in order to save yourself more work later. Now I'm off to reclean the bathroom and I'm sure tomorrow I will need to retreat the boo boo for sure. Oh well.

Blessed to be mom of great helpers,
KT

Inside the mind of a mom

So it is 9:23 am on Friday morning in July. It is already too hot to be outside. We did a bunch of activites yesterday outside of the house. I woke with the gripping thought, "What am I going to do with these kids today?" We read a lot yesterday. We did a huge craft yesterday. We could play some board games, IF we could find all the pieces. We could clean IF I'm willing to deal with their cleaning styles. I could break my NO TV before noon rule, NO WAY, I won't do it. Let's see, google...I'll google what to do on a rainy or excessively hot day. Great ideas, IF you have a working printer, which I don't. Hmm...what next...I'm in trouble...

Where are those kids anyway? Oh, well, look at that. All 4 children are in their toyroom playing together. They are in different countries, I think, and maybe our house is a hotel? I can't quite tell, but the point it...They figured it out on their own!! While I'm so busy trying to come up with an activity for them, they got busy doing something.

Why do we think we always need to have planned activities for our children? I forget that they have incredible imaginations and if given the time and space they can create wonderful play on their own.

Now, I'm not naive enough to think this will last all day, trust me, I've had this realization before and it is beautiful while it lasts. However, my research has helped and when they come to me saying they are bored, or when their play turns to fight, I'll be prepared. No wonder Mom's are so tired at the end of the day.

Blessed to be momofkrit who are playing so nicely this very moment,
KT

Story Hour

So today I gathered up all my offspring, and Uncle David and Aunt Kathie and we headed to the Herr's Chip Factory for our free tour. We all enjoyed seeing the pretzel room and tasting fresh potato chips. Afterwards I managed to get all the kids in and out of Wawa without causing too much commotion. We enjoyed lunch in the car on our way to storyhour at the Starbucks in Jennersville.

So what does the word Storyhour conjure up in your mind? Storyhour conjures up a very peaceful image in my mind of my children quietly sitting on a blanket listening intently while a quality book is read by a great storyteller.

Well, there was indeed a blanket! There were a few great books! There was even a storyteller who was pretty good at her job! My kids sitting and listening intently? That part of my peaceful image must involve different children. My children didn't want to sit on the blanket. They didn't want to listen to the storyteller read her books. They didn't even like her books. My children found the basket of books provided by the starbucks and proceeded to entertain themselves with a few moments of "quiet reading time".

Well, let me clarify. Teagan and Rhia read very quietly. Iain decided to entertain himself by opening and closing the bathroom door trying to figure out how the automatic light worked. Then he came back to the group and attempted to entertain us as the above picture shows. Kyle obviously doesn't find his brother very funny!

Once the story was over and my children finished with their books, we sat down and proceeded to enjoy the craft of making bugs. Mommy greatly enjoyed this craft because I didn't have to precut the shapes and legs for the insects and I also didn't have to hunt for 4 "working" glue sticks! Bonus. We left starbucks with an ant, 3 butterfly's, a beatle, and a 3-D bee. What a collection. Our bellies were full of free milk and cookies and our hands were full of creepy crawly bugs.

Later this afternoon we went to the pool for 2 hours and enjoyed our time in the water. On the way home from that adventure a little voice from the back of the car says, Mommy can we have a movie night because we didn't do anything fun today.

I quit.

Blessed to be the mother of 4 backwards storyhour kids, :-)

KT

T_BALL Pictures

We had T-Ball again last night and while the rest of us sat on a blanket in the very hot sun watching a bunch of 5 year olds attempt to hit and catch balls, Iain was working very hard. He discovered that he actually hits MUCH better as a lefty and he ran as fast as his little legs would take him.

What a very fun experience!!

Blessed to be Iain's Mom,

KT

Sweet moments

** Last night my brother-in-law and sister-in-law watched the kids and my hubby and I went on a date!! WOW. Wewent out to dinner and then went to Borders and stayed till they turned the lights off. When we got home the kids were asleep. My girls share a bed and although they each have a pillow Teagan prefers to use Rhia as her pillow. How cute is that!

** Today after we went to the YMCA I decided to do something kinda fun. It's summer after all and you are supposed to be spontaneous and fun right? So I stopped at the local Mexican ice cream shop in town and told the kids we were getting ice cream for lunch! You would expect excitement and joy, right? Well, I got 3 of those responses. Then comes a little high pitched voice saying, "Mommy, we can't just have ice cream for lunch, we MUST have something healthy. Can you make me a real lunch when we get home?" Kyle quickly responded saying, You have have healthy stuff if you want, but I'm having ice cream. YUM. As you might imagine getting ice cream for 4 kids and 1 grown-up can be quite the ordeal. I want strawberry, can I have sprinkles, I need napkins, I'll take a large, mine if falling, etc...We managed to get out of the ice cream store with 3 cones and 2 cups of ice cream, all size SMALL. One melted down the leg, one kid tripped and dropped her cone, but for the most part we all enjoyed our special lunch. Lesson learned? Always carry an apple for Rhia in case we decide to stop for ice cream. :-) Blessed to be momofkrit and woj,

Stories and Thoughts

Years ago Kyle found an old sippy cup of milk and took what was his last drink of milk for many years. We've tried vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, soy, and rice. No success. Even cereal has been dry except Rice Krispies which have just enough milk to make the snap, crackle and pop.

Tonight I once again forced the poor boy to try milk in his cereal, GUESS WHAT, He liked it and it wasn't even LIFE cereal!! :-) He claims that if I buy that kind of cereal again he'll have it with milk. YIPEE!!! Daddy mentioned how good the milk was for his bones and his teeth. Before bed when I said Go Brush your Teeth, the response? Mom, I already had milk which is good for my teeth so I don't really need to brush! Ha Ha I said to his smiling joking face. I am amazed by his wit and humor!

Tonight at dinner after a long talk about the dangers of grumbling and complaining, Daddy mentioned how thankful he is that everyone of us is a member of our family. Kyle responds in a very funny sarcastic tone, "Yeah, sure you are!" "Rhia responds with, "I want to go and live with the Baines Family!" The really funny part of this is that Daddy thought she said she wanted to be a doctor to the beans. (We were having green beans for dinner which were going over so well!)

During our family meeting earlier today while we discussed the importance of being content and not complaining and grumbling like the Israelites did in the Old Testament, Iain caught onto the seriousness of the situation and decided to declare his future helpfulness to the family. He stood up and said, "I am going to clean my room and the girls room and Kyle's room and Mommy's room too!" This was met with gratitude and well, NO THANKS from Kyle who quickly mentioned that no other kids should ever be in his room.

I sit here tonight wondering if I parent my children properly, remembering all my mistakes, looking forward to the future and thinking about what they will become, and I am overwhelmed by the task which I face each and every day. Did I love them enough? Did I discipline them enough? Did I read to them, play with them, feed them, clothe them, listen to them, encourage them, build them up, teach them, train them, and grow them? Honestly, NO, I did not do all those things. Will I do better tomorrow? Can I make up for what was lost today?

Parenting is such a remarkable, amazing, rewarding, and impossible job. Praise God for the ability that He bestows on me every day to do what I can and the grace that He gives to cover all that I have missed. Safe in that knowledge and trusting in Him for the future of my family I can honestly and with great joy say that I am

Momofkrit and WoJ, (Mom of Kyle, Rhiannon, Iain, and Teagan and Wife of Jamie)

KT

Never a Dull Moment

Whenever we visit the great grandparents on the farm we always stay at the same hotel. The kids LOVE this hotel. We talk about it all year long and start planning very early what we'll do while we are there. We always enjoy the pool there and this year Mommy remembered to bring goggles so the kids had a blast. Of course, our experience couldn't be quite without incident. Daddy fell asleep outside while we were swimming and against Kyle's advice Mommy left him there to rest while the rest of the family got cleaned up. OOPS! Daddy ended up with 2nd degree burns up and down both legs causing great discomfort and several doctor visits. Kyle, having enjoyed an entire bag of fritos with a cousin decided to empty the contents of his stomach onto his sleeping bag while he was sleeping. As the picture shows, Daddy slept with his legs up and Kyle slept on the couch with a bucket. Good times! When it was time to pack up, Teags ended up being the biggest helper and helped Daddy load up all the luggage!

Although our trip was only 2 nights we left with an entire vacation full of memories and stories.

Blessed to be momofkrit, woj, and granddaughter-in-law to Mommom and Poppop,

KT

Some are and some are not

Ever notice how some kids are designed for something and other kids just are not? Teagan and Iain were VERY happy to be on the farm and take advantage of all that the farm has to offer. They ran around in barefeet, pet every animal in site, fed the goats, walked quickly after, so as not to chase, the chickens and just enjoyed being on the farm. Kyle and Rhia enjoyed visiting their family. :-) Kyle is always nervous about his allergies and stays away from animals and Rhia, well Rhia just frankly doesn't like poop. That pretty much sums it up. 400 Free Range Chickens produce the droppings of 400 free range chickens so you wouldn't catch Rhia anywhere without her shoes and one time when she managed to get chicken poop on her shoes it was quite a tramatic experience.

Last weekend on the 4th of July our family ventured north to rural New York to visit the great grandparents MomMom and PopPop. They have 400 free range chickens

a bunch of goats, baby chicks, and a donkey. Every day they sell fresh brown eggs from their outdoor frig and if you want a pet goat they have a some great goats! We had so much fun running around the farm, watching the chickens, petting the animals, and eating what I call "farm food". Every summer we go and have a huge picnic and I love to see all the variations of pasta salad which are available and the desserts are always delicious.

Katie does cooking

This morning I tried to make pancakes and bacon for the kids and their friends. However, the morning started crazy with the air conditioning man arriving at 7:35 instead of between 8:00 and 8:30. I was still in bed reading and my hubby was sleeping. The kids were running around the house. Enough said.

We got the men to the right location, stopped the dog from barking, and I started to do my morning routine. By 8:45 I was ready to start making pancakes. I put the bacon in the oven to cook thinking that would be simpler and I pulled out the bisquick. UhOh. The enormous box of Bisquick is almost empty. Hmmm....Recipes.com is a great resource in these type of situations. Ok, pancakes make from scratch...here we go...

Flour, salt, cinnamon, 1/4 cup baking powder, hmm...let me check that one. Oh good, I have 3 containers. Wonder why I have 3. Oh, well that one expired in 2004, by-bye, next: this one expired in 2005, by-bye, the last one, YEAH, expired in 2006. That is only 2 years old. Perfect. Apples chopped, veggie oil and milk and eggs. I can do this. First let me check on the bacon. Crisp and done: let's take it out...BEEP BEEP BEEP...that crazy fire alarm goes off every time I cook. Back to the pancakes.mix, heat, pour, flip, pour, flip, pour, KIDS TIME TO EAT!!

FINALLY we are Starving mom. Oops it is 10:00. Wonder what took me so long. Several kids didn't like the apples, some didn't like the cinnamon, some preferred turkey bacon, good grief. Next time I'm going to follow Rhiannon's advice and take everyone to McDonald's to get breakfast.

As my husband says, "Kate, you should make step 4 of every recipe, disarm the fire alarm." Cooking is not my speciality.

Blessed to be Momofkrit, Woj, and owner of a very messy kitchen,
KT

Free Culture

Last night after a very successful T-Ball game, yes game, we decided to take advantage of a free concert available at our local park. The concert consisting of a brass band playing marches and jazz pieces, promised to be great. The excitement was great as we parked and walked to join the crowds, ok, crowd of people who came to hear the concert.

After settling down on our blanket and getting out my stash of snacks, the excitement began to die. Mom, uh, where are the electric guitars? Rhia - this is a brass band, there are no electric guitars. Oh, well, Mom, this is boring. Do you have any food? This scenerio continued for quite sometime until Mommy's secret surprise for the evening showed up. TREVOR AND TAYLOR ARE HERE!! Iain announces quite loudly during an especially quiet movement of the piece. We add our friends to out blanket and get over the joy of seeing our friends after a long 2 days and with great delight my kids hear that they are spending the night.

So much for the concert: the kids were gone. They searched for lightening bugs, found sticks, hunted for rocks, pet all the dogs, ate more food, and basically did what kids would do at an outdoor brass band concert. Was it a cultural experience? Well, it was free!! And it was one of the best summer nights yet for me. Listening to music, being outside with my family and great friends, watching my kids enjoy summer and knitting my next winter hat. All was well with the world. Now if only that brass band would get an electric guitar, Rhia would be happy.

Blessed to be Momofkrit and WoJ,
KT

The end of camp

Last week my niece Aubrie stayed with us for a week. She had a great time playing with her cousins and doing life with the AKKRIT TEAM. On Saturday evening, I drove to Baltimore with Aubrie and my husband to return Aubrie to her parents.

I told my sister that Aubrie was so good and so easy, I hardly even knew she was there. Little did I know what that meant. You see after we had dinner together we got Aubrie changed into her PJ's for her car ride home. She had previously made some crazy remark to her mother about wearing Aunt Katie's underwear and I had of course denied that knowing it to be completely untrue. Yeah well, while changing her clothes my husband walks past and remarks, Kate, Why is Aubrie wearing your underwear? NO WAY: That IS my underwear. Aubrie why are you wearing my pink underwear? Well, Aunt Katie, you said to go find underwear and pj's after our baths last night and I couldn't find mine so I just used yours that I found on your bed.

Many thoughts here: Clean, not clean, WAIT, how are you wearing my underwear around your waist, time to hit the gym!!!

Needless to say, Aunt Katie camp has reduced its prices and is now requiring all attendee's to sign a waiver before attending! The suggested number of underwear to send during your stay has been increased. Stay tuned for more information coming next spring.

Blessed to be the sister of a great sister and Aunt to a great niece,
KT

poolside musings

So the other day I packed up all my kids with the help of a wonderful gal MaryEllen who came to stay with us for a few days and we went to the pool.

Actually it went more like this: let's go to the pool. I can't find my suit, where are my flip flops, I'm hungry, are we leaving yet, I hate sunscreen, this suit doesn't fit me, ow the sunscreen is hurting me, are we taking a snack, can we stay all afternoon, where is my towel, do you have goggles, can we eat first and then eat there too? Basically it took us 90 minutes to get dressed and sunscreened and eat and get out the door.

Finally we got there. We set our stuff beside all the other overflowing bags of towels and toys and snacks. Stripping down to what always feels like your underwear we ventured into the pool. The kids had a blast and I enjoyed watching them play in the water, splash each other, make friends and practice their swimming.

While I was there several thoughts came to mind:
* Do you even wonder what the lifeguards think about when they are on the stand because they aren't watching the pool?
* What is the 16 year old guy who is watching the baby pool supposed to do when no one is in the baby pool?
* Why do moms always sit on the side where the kids jump in and splash?
*Why do moms always tell their kids not to splash them but feel free to splash their children?
* Why do moms HATE when their kids have to go to the bathroom? That one is easy, because it is gross. You never know if the "wet" is water or pee and you know the bathrooms have been cleaned by the 16 year old lifeguard who is currently watching the baby pool. GROSS.
*Why is it that kids never want the snacks that you so lovingly prepared but would rather have the $3.00 for a pretzel snacks from the snack bar?
*Why is it that once you leave all you hear in the car ride is this: we didn't stay long enough, I'm still hungry, my towel is wet, are we going to eat, why couldn't we buy snacks, and mom, why does the bathroom at the pool always smell like applejuice?

Blessed to be momofkrit and woj,
KT

confusion

I think the lack of air conditioning has messed with my head. In the last 6 days I have knit 2 winter hats for kids. This is a picture of my most recent creation for my niece Aubrie.

I'm not sure if I'm so nice and toasty that I'm thinking warm or if I'm trying to imagine being cold and needing warmth. Either way, I'm sure that knitting hats in July is somewhat odd!