Chuck E Cheese!

We have been telling Carter forever that we would take him to Chuck E Cheese's when he was potty trained. I think the pressure of it all freaked him out, because he would always have accidents the day that we were planning on going. Friday Mike had a half day, so we decided to surprise Carter and go. He had such a great time. If he had to pick between me and Chuck E., I am pretty sure he would pick Chuck. It took 3 hours for us to spend our 100 tokens and then 5 minutes to spend all the tickets that we won (Mike beat the basketball game after only 5 tries). I forget how exhausting it is. It will be a while before we go again, but it was definitely a good time!

Cannery Shmannery

Mike and I went down to the cannery last week and picked up a bunch of food. We didn't want to spend the whole day there, so we just bought the empty cans and canned it all here with the Stake's canner. I did 75 cans in one afternoon. I rock.

It's weird, but I feel very empowered knowing that we have some food storage. I want to get more. At least I don't have to worry about my kids starving right away if something were to happen. Now it would take at least a couple of months. Baby steps, right?

Silly Sammers

For some reason whenever I ask Samantha to smile I get this:

When she looks back at her pictures she is going to wonder why we never told her that she suffered from narcolepsy.

The Great Outdoors

We got to go camping this last weekend when some friends invited us to go along. I was super excited to try out the new tent:

Carter was excited to try out his tent. It was supposed to rain that night and it took some convincing that it wasn't a very good idea for him to sleep in it.

We had a great time hanging out around the fire (we stayed up way too late).

And we always wake up too early!!! We were all exhausted when we got home, but we had a great time and we're glad that we went!

Milwaukee at it's finest

That's right. If you aren't aware, Harley is celebrating it's 105th birthday this week. Why 105 you ask? From what I hear, the 100th bombed. They were supposed to have this great performer at the end of it all and when they backed out last minute the only other option was Elton John. Imagine Elton John singing in front of a huge crowd of bikers. Harley had made it a huge surprise so no one knew who it was before the show. Some surprise, right? Anyways, with Harley being based here in Milwaukee there are tens of thousands of bikers here for the celebration. This morning they had a parade/bike ride. We thought the kids would like it and we had friends going, so we got some earplugs and headed down to watch.

Overall, it was interesting. Lots of bikes (7500!). Some tricked out:

I don't think the bike is all that has work done here:This guy is out for blood:A bike for 5? Looks like something out of a Dr. Suess book:

The cops on their Harleys were impressive. There were hundreds here from all over the place with their lights and sirens on.

Most were just plain Harleys though. There were people from all over the world. I saw Argentina, Brazil, UK, Canada and Australia. Australia?!? How much would it cost to ship your Harley here?

My favorite guy was this one:

Tell me that it's not him:.

You know, from the Terminator? Granted he has aged a little, but I am sure that it was him. I actually learned that he is a rider when I was looking for this picture, which just reaffirms my certainty.

The kids got bored pretty quickly so we ended up leaving before it ended. But really, how many Harleys can you look at in one day? I was terrified driving on the freeway today. I so worried about taking one out as I changed lanes. They were everywhere and they don't wear helmets. I made it home without incident, but I will be glad when the cars outnumber the Harleys again.

I'm weak.

I just finished the third book. I need the fourth. Anyone???

Twilight bugs

I have at least 30 mosquito and/or ant bites on my feet (I swear I am not exaggerating). I have no idea how they all got there without me noticing, but I am pretty much incapacitated by them. I itch constantly. The only thing I have found that takes my mind off my feet is reading the Twilight series :). I have been so itchy that I have been able to finish the first 2 books in the last 3 days. Sorry kids...sorry big pile of laundry...sorry Jayme, you will have to wait. It is absolutely true that once you start these books, you can't put them down! I am going to show some restraint and wait a few days before securing the 3rd and 4th books...at least that's what I tell Mike. If anyone out there has them for me to borrow, let me know!

First day of school!

My baby is all grown up and off to school! This is what he had to say about it:

I sang songs and ate a snack. I met Ms. Jones, my teacher. She's nice. I thought she was going to be really really nice, and she was. The kids in my class are good. I don't know their names yet, but I will learn them (good luck, there are some doozies). I was trying to make friends but I didn't yet.

I actually did better than I thought I would. It was hard to walk away, but there were no tears. I think he had fun;he said he was excited to go back tomorrow anyways. I was just relieved when I went to pick him up and he was in the same clothes I dropped him off in. I was so worried all day that he would have an accident. He has been doing really great, but when he gets involved in something fun he has a hard time stopping to go to the bathroom. But, he just held it all day, bless his heart.

We are looking forward to tomorrow!

School Daze

It seems like forever since I have blogged. Part of it is that I have been trying to go to bed earlier so I'm not a zombie all day. That alone has cut down on my productivity. Another part of it is just that I have been busy with kids, Jayme, and housework.

The only big thing that has happened recently is that we found out that Carter starts school tomorrow! They have a 3K preschool program out here through the district at an early education center. Carter was on the waiting list and they called on Friday to tell us that he could start Monday (everyone else started last week). It was such a hard decision to make; he will be in school for the rest of his life, so do we really need to start him so early? But he is really excited about it and I think it will be great for him. I figure the 2 1/2 hours that he will be there 4 days a week is the time that he would usually just spend watching TV and just hanging out (my morning are incredibly unproductive). Also, I can now schedule Jayme's appointments for while he is at school and just have Samantha to deal with. So he starts tomorrow and I am sure that I am more nervous and scared than he is. Pictures to come tomorrow!

Green Thumb

Who knew I had it in me? I planted my first real garden this summer and it has done so well! I have a tomato jungle, cucumbers like nothing else, peas, beans and peppers. I even have a little watermelon growing! It has grown to about 8 inches long since I took this picture last week. I don't know how it will taste, but it is fun to watch. The kids love eating anything out of the garden. Carter gets so excited; whenever we pick anything he asks "can we eat it now?". He loves showing it off to anyone who will look at it and is so proud of it. I have a huge pear tomato plant and whenever I pick them Samantha will get into the bowl and eat them while I am picking the rest of the garden.

My parents have a HUGE garden. This little strip pales in comparison, but I do hope that I am instilling in my kids an understanding of where food really comes from and how hard people have to work to get it to us. Although I hate to admit it, I really did learn a lot from the weeding and watering that I did as a kid.

This is one of my tomato plants. It's taller than me. Nuts, right?

I can't wait until next year when my raspberries, strawberries and blueberries start producing!

Highly Recommended...

I finished this book last week. It was incredible. This was the first woman to leave the FLDS church with her kids and get custody. She was also partly responsible for bringing down Warren Jeffs. It is amazing that people live like this today. Abuse is rampant, and the men treat the women like possessions. I could go on about the crazy things that go on down there in Colorado City and Texas, but you really should read this for yourself. It is especially interesting reading this from an LDS perspective, because you can see little bits of our doctrine and how it is so skewed. Check this one out. It's a quick read (it took me 2 days, but I am a fast reader), and it will make you so grateful that you weren't born into their crazy world.