Celebrating the Fourth

Last Sabbath was the 4th of July and since it was Sabbath, we kept it pretty low key. Last year we did the LL Bean Fun Run since July 4 fell on a Friday during our time at campmeeting (oh, how we hope that next year campmeeting is back to that week) and the year before that we did the parade in downtown Winter Garden.  Alas, neither of these were options this year so it was a pretty normal day with going to church. However, later in the day we did have the Bergherms, Isidros, and Zbaraschuks over for supper (everyone brought their own) and fellowship.  Most everyone attempted to then go down to the pier near the clubhouse to see the fireworks but they quickly returned explaining that the bugs were so bad.  And it was raining.  Nonetheless, a good time with friends!

Made the boys bowties and the girls hair clips to match.

Brady in his new Sabbath School.  He did enjoy it despite the face.

I love Bruce's face!

On Sunday, I took the girls and I to get haircuts.  This was kind of a big deal because the girls hadn't had a haircut in almost a year and a half...I think I was reluctant because of the whole fiasco the last time we went (we had an appointment and were there precisely on time but they didn't get to us for 30 minutes).  I didn't want to go back there, Fantastic Sam's, so we went to Hair Cuttery which is right by our house. There was no one else waiting and there were three people doing hair so I was thinking we would be in good shape.  But as time ticked by and I took a good look at what was going on, I noticed that two of the hairdressers were doing color on two ladies with very long hair and it became evident that it could go on for hours.  We had already invested all that time waiting and there were few other options (Fantastic Sam's isn't open on Sundays even if I wanted to go back) so we stuck it out.  As it turned out, we had to wait probably about 45 minutes but finally Calleigh was in the chair.  It was a momentous occasion for her because she had decided to get several inches cut off.  I'll tell you, I think I was permanently scarred in my youth from being called a boy when I had short hair which is why I have long hair to this day and why I like for my girls to have long hair.  But, I'm dealing with it and when Calleigh said she wanted short hair, I swallowed a few times and said "Okay."  Truth be told, it probably needed to be done anyway.  I wasn't intending for Aubree to get hers cut very much but the hairdresser showed me how the tips of hair hair were green from the pool so I agreed to him taking that off too.  It came out much shorter than I was anticipating (more than I think he even had showed me) but I kept repeating to myself "It's just hair.  It's just hair."  All that should have been a tip off that I was in for something special myself.  Sure enough, when he was done with me, I had WAY more taken off than I had asked for.  Sometimes these hairdressers just get scissor happy.  When we got home and I explained it all to Duncan, he says "You went to Hair Cuttery?  Oh, I NEVER go there any more.  That guy Roger - - his fingers smell like cigarettes because he smokes."  Thanks for the warning, Duncan, because that's exactly who we had!  Guess that place is out now too.

Before

After

After.  No before because I wasn't anticipating so much being cut!

This week we had several home days, partially so the kids could try on their pants and see if they still fit and go through all of their other clothes and shoes.  If only these darn kids would stop growing. On one of our home days, Allen and the kids stopped by to show off their new pet.  It was their guinea pig that met its demise here a few weeks ago and they were planning to get dwarf hamsters as a replacement. But low and behold - - what pops out of the back of the van but a DOG! They got a black lab/basset hound mix from a rescue place.  He's only 10 months old but was as calm and mild mannered as can be.  That is saying a lot because Colby was all over him, hugging him, petting his ears, etc and he didn't so much as look sideways at Colby.  They named him Tuxedo, Tux for short.  The kids all just love him (Brady was hesitant at first but then came around).  We have already decided to get a dog in the next three to six months and this really sealed the deal.

I have talked about on here how Brady doesn't really know any letters or anything like what the girls knew at this age.  I'm not bothered by it all but I decided that I was going to a better job of reading to him.  We read books/stories every night but they are usually more geared to the girls and then Colby has his "baby/toddler" books before bed.  One thing that really helped with the girls learning letters (well, mainly Calleigh as Aubree just seemed to learn them from Calleigh or something) were the "Letter" books which is basically a book for each letter with the things in the story starting with that letter.  He's been very excited about doing the books each night.  I started off reading them to him and now Aubree has taken over the task.  But I can see I kind of have an uphill battle.

Me: "Okay, Brady.  We are now going to do the "D" book.  It makes the sound of "d-d-d-d."  Can you think of anyone's name that starts with that sound?"
Brady: "Camden!"
Me: "No"
Brady: "Calleigh?"
Me: "Try again.  Hear what I'm saying "d-d-d-d-d."
Brady: "Aubree!  Colby?"

Hopefully he'll have it down in the next few years!

In other Brady news, we had a little incident this week during lunch.  When I asked him what he wanted for lunch one day, he said that he wanted cereal.  That is rather odd because usually he has a PB&J but I went with it and poured him a bowl of Cheerios and milk.  A minute later, he starts crying and whining, "I didn't want milk in it!"  I said, sorry, but that's what you said you wanted so now you have to eat it or you don't get anything.  He doesn't take any bites and then over the next few minutes he starts going on and on about how he's itchy and that "The milk in the cereal is making me itch."  I took it for what it was....a made up story to try to get out of eating his cereal.  Finally, after listening him go on and on about it, I picked him up off the chair and pulled down his pants to look at the area he claimed to be itching so I could put a stop to the nonsense.  But when I did, I noticed that there was a black thing on his leg and my first thought was "Tick!"  No wonder he'd been itching.  I looked at it really carefully and I couldn't tell for sure but I was pretty convinced that's what it was so I ran for the tweezers.  I tried a couple of times to get the darn thing off but it was pretty secure there and I didn't want to dig too hard because, of course, it wasn't very comfortable for Brady.  I snapped a picture of it and sent it to Duncan asking for advice.  Should I just leave it until he got home or keep trying?  Duncan texts me back "I thought that was a birth mark?"  I"m like "No!  Surely I would remember if my son had a birth mark."  But it got me thinking.  I went and got my computer and started poring over pictures, looking for one in his underwear where I could try and see if that mark was on there.  Sure enough, I found a picture from about three months ago and when I zoomed in, I was about 99% sure I could see the mark which must be a mole.  Oops!!  So yes, I was needlessly tweezing a mole on Brady's leg.  But, I think a very important message was learned here.  Don't pretend you're itchy to get out of eating something you don't want to eat or this could happen to you!  Of course, in the end, he didn't have to eat it because I felt so bad for tweezing him. Oh, let me add that no real damage was done to him, no blood was produced with the tweezing or anything lest you think I'm a horrible, horrible parent.

It COULD be a tick, right?  Right??!!

Last night the girls had their drama club again at the church.  They love it and were sorry to miss the second meeting while we were out of town.  They have been breaking the groups up into the Kindergartners/1st graders and then the 2nd/3rd/4th graders. Aubree was disappointed with her group the first time only because she didn't get to read anything like Calleigh's group did (Aubree's group had done a play but it was more like a charade than a play because they didn't talk).  So when they broke up into groups this time, I told her she could go with the bigger kids and she was really excited.  You may recall last time that Brady had that big poop accident when Duncan was trying to entertain them in the parking lot so I told Duncan that he may want to just take off with the boys this time instead of hanging around the church. But come eat first so I didn't have to make food at home!    That's what they did and then Duncan took them to the mall. They went to the Apple store as one of their stops and Brady used an iPad to play some games which then prompted this:

Brady: (Walking out of Apple store): "Daddy, we CANNOT tell Calleigh and Aubree what we did because they will FREAK out.  They'll say 'It's not fair!!"

A little while later, they come pick us up at the church and the girls and I get in the van.

Brady: "Calleigh and Aubree, we went to the Apple store and I was playing games on the iPad!!"
Aubree: "That's NOT fair. We get to use our tablets when we get home."

Some things are just to juicy to keep to oneself.  And while we are on the subject of what's fair, seriously, there is no phrase I hate more than "That's not fair!"  When you have more than one kid, it's inevitable that things will not be exactly even at all times and this phrase rears it's ugly head.  I must hear it 10-15 times a day and it's getting so tedious that I've now made a rule that every time I hear it, the kid will be charged $.50. Hopefully that will help.

Practicing their play.

Aubree doesn't look quite so engaged here when they "performed" but she did love it.

Another interesting thing this week is that while I was talking to my cousins, who are from New Hampshire, they passed along the info that New Hampshire now has a law that you can't be talking or texting while driving (unless hands free) EVEN when stopped at a red light or in traffic which I think is way extreme.  So much for "Live Free or Die" (the state motto).  Guess if you have to look up directions you have to go park your car.  Crazy.  Anyway, I was telling this to Duncan one night at supper and he went and looked up the statute and read it verbatim to be sure we understood the rule correctly since we will be driving in the state of NH sometime in the near future.  This is what he read:

This statute, NH’s Hands Free Law, will prohibit the use of hand held electronic devices while driving or temporarily halted in traffic for a stop sign, traffic signal, or any other temporary delay. 

This includes cellular telephones, Global Positioning Systems (GPS’s), tablets, IPADS, IPODS, or any other devices that require data entry. 

When Aubree hears this she bursts out with "WE CAN'T USE OUR TABLETS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE?!!"  She was actually screaming and was about to cry.  I quickly told her this applied to the driver and NOT the passengers and she finally calmed down.  Have mercy!  You may get the impression from this that the kids always have their tablets while we are driving somewhere which is not the case at all.  She just knew that when we were in NH it's because we will be driving to Nova Scotia and that is when they are allowed to have them (although we will be driving overnight so they will barely even be awake to use them).    

One more quote from the girls.  Since we go to first service at church now and have to leave the house by 8:40, it's typical that I have to wake Calleigh up to be ready on time.  She is obviously not happy with this...at all.  This was the convo in the car on the way to church.

Calleigh: "I'm so tired.  I only got eight hours of sleep last night."  (Not true most likely) Me: "Well, you should go to sleep earlier then."                                                            Calleigh: "I just can't.  I can't."                                                                                     Me:  "I'm sorry but this is what time you have to get up so we can get to church on time."                                                                                   

Aubree: "So why do they even call it a day of rest then?"  

Don't try to employ logic with me, young lady!

A few more pictures...

And then there were 18.  Another cousin added to the kids of the 10 cousins.  This is Kaitlyn Mae Conrad born on July 4 - -  a few weeks early!  She knew her parents needed to get to Nova Scotia!

This is what happens when Dad deflates the blow up pool.  

Looks like fun but man, the clean up is a real pain in the you-know-what.

Colby getting into some mud during swimming lessons.

Went to pick up the pictures from JCPenney and we had to stop at the playground.  The girls are way too big for it now so I told them they couldn't run around...only sit there which they weren't too pleased about.  

The boys had no such problems.

Love the sleeping pictures.

Once a year I like to do surveys with the kids to keep there "likes" documented.

Of course, the answers can get very skewed depending on what has gone on recently.  Brady happened to watch "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" for the very first time the day before this survey.  

Have a great rest of your weekend!