Gettin' Ripped

Carter seems to be working hard on his upper body lately.  And by working hard I mean, being forced to do push-ups in class for being tardy, eating/drinking during class, phone out in class, etc.  Sounds like he's getting quite the workout at school.  Ugh. 

 

And because Cate is such a giving person, she's more than happy to help Carter build his strength! 

Lake Trip!

Last weekend we took a roadtrip to the Lake of the Ozarks to hang out with Aunt Fran and Uncle Mike in their new lake house.  One word...AMAZING.  And if they ever questioned themselves about whether a 6500 sq ft. lake house was too big, I'm pretty sure having our traveling circus visit confirmed that the house is just the perfect size!!!

The less-than-three hour drive is the perfect distance for these clowns. 

 

As soon as we got there, Bennett grabbed food and made himself comfortable.  Not really any different than home, eh?!

 

Main floor kitchen.  Hello 12-ft ceilings...made everything feel even more awesome!

 

Main floor living room (Fran and Mikes room is also on this level)

A stairway leads up to the boys room or "dorm".  This is pretty much what they look like at home too.  Minus the huge clean room.

 

That's more like it!  I think Brady tried to sleep in all five beds :)  Thankfully he didn't realize they were all trundle beds!!!

 

Our bedroom, and Bau Bau, and Grammy's were on the bottom floor.  Don't think we were stuck in a basement though...it's just as luxurious as the first floor!!

This is the bottom floor kitchen

 

View from the stairs. 

 

Grammy and Bau Bau hanging out.  We spent the entire weekend lounging down here.  It was awesome :)

 

 

 

 

Brady practiced his downhill run from the garage, over the dock, and (this summer) into the lake.  He only fell once and slid all the way across the bridge.  It would have been a very cold lesson to learn!!



Our foodie made biscuits and gravy for breakfast 

View from the first floor dining table. 

I woke up from my nap (!) to find Carter practicing his kendama.  This is the reason we don't have a 6500 sq ft house.  (well, one of the reasons!!)....no matter how many rooms we have, our kids are always right next to us!

Brady did not care how cold it got on Saturday, he was going to fish!  As soon as they got down to the dock, it started to rain REALLY hard.  I stayed in the house and took pictures :)  Needless to say, they caught zero fish. 

Fran had a secret room under the stairs filled with new toys. Of course Cate loved the dress up chest, and Mike helped Brady with the Legos.  

Carter's thinking a summer job working at a marina would be perfect for him!!

Scott loved the screened in porch the best

He hung here a lot too!

 

This is the first floor laundry room (there is one downstairs too).  I think it is my dream laundry room.  12 foot ceilings and soooooo much room.  I would put a tv in there and hide all day long!!!

Carter started the trip home in the drivers seat.  But about halfway, he pulled off because "his back hurt" which I think means, "sleeping on roadtrips is way better than driving".

 

We had the best weekend!  Some people have said a trip to the lake during the winter is boring and not worth it, but Scott and I felt just the opposite.  We loved the laid-back feel of the not-so-crowded Ozarks and it was one of the most relaxing weekends we've had in a long time.  (Ironically, it was probably one of the loudest, wildest weekends Bau Bau, Grammy, Fran, and Mike have had!!) They have one month to rest up before we do it all again!!

mystery solved

"WHAT???"

 "I can't believe that someone pee'd on Uncle Scott's side of the bed"

 

"Let me think about who it could be..hmmm"

"Oh yeah....itttttt wassssssss meeeeeeeee!!"

smorgasbord

Cell phone photo dump!

 

On the first Thursday of every month, Brady and Ben's school hosts a skating party.  January's was held on the first day back from Christmas vacation and I was hoping to get out of it, but no such luck.  Ben chose baseball practice, but Cate and Brady insisted on going. Thankfully Candi was there to keep me entertained

Cate and Reid...soon they'll both be "officially" qualified to attend the skating parties!

Brady won the limbo contest.  Duh. 

Cate skates with all of Brady's classmates, they're so good with her.  And this Molly can rock a school uniform.  I will soon be asking her mom for shopping advice for Cate's kindergarten wardrobe!

Molly, Cate, and Julianna (for my highschool friends out there, this is Lisa Shrums daughter!)

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Crazy Hadley! She always tucks her pacifier in her bottom lip :)

As soon as she gets in a cart, or car, or home, she rips her shoes off!  She looks pretty comfy here

This is the nice artwork she added to Cate's room.  With a Sharpie marker.  Looks like I'll be painting this week!

Bennett is playing in a Bethalto basketball league and I have quickly realized that I am not a basketball mom.  For some reason, it makes me soooo nervous.  I literally spend the entire game doing anything and everything to avoid watching (counting bleachers, cleaning out my purse, etc).  I know. I'm nuts.

Made his first free throw!

And his second one!

Cate avoided watching the games too

On Tuesday, Murphy got his hair cut.  For some reason, he came home and was soooooo clingy with Cate.  Very strange considering he's gotten his hair cut every six weeks for the last 8 years and he's never acted this way before. On Wednesday, Cate did not have school and Murphy would not leave her side.  He even followed her downstairs, which was his very first time ever going down to the basement. And  I'm sure going out of town for the weekend isn't going to help with his new mental issues.  Regardless, he's still a sweet puppy and Cate loves all of the attention she's getting  :)



But clingy dogs make cute pictures

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Everyday on our way out the door trying to get to school, Cate has at least two toys that she insists on bringing along.  These toys do not make it out of the car, or into her school, so by Friday, my car looks like a portable ToysRUs driving through town.

She created this bagel/cream cheese/bird food feeder to hang on a tree.  She insisted it be placed on a thin twig next to our window so she could watch the birds eat it.  However, the twig is not strong enough to hold a bird, so the feeder just blows in the wind and teases all of the birds and squirrels that would love a bite!

TWO MORE DAYS until Scott's 8th grade boys basketball season is O.V.E.R.  Coach Vaughn blew out his knee the first week, so Scott took over for the season.  Unfortunately, that season overlapped Scott's girls team, so he has yet to have any break from coaching.  After Tuesday's final game, he'll have ONE MONTH free before highschool baseball starts. And once that starts, I'll kiss him on the cheek and tell him I'll see him at the end of May!!!

saturday

Today has been crazy.  Felt like 72 hours crammed into 12, yet we had nothing on the calendar.  So weird.  Seems like it was just one thing after another all day long, but I still got nothing accomplished on my "to do" list.  And tomorrow we have two basketball games, two baseball practices, and one soccer game.  Ironically, it'll probably be a more relaxed day than today!

 

The day started with me and Cate rolling out of bed around 10:15ish :) Scott wanted to get a few books from the library so we dropped in there for a bit.  Cate got her first library card!!! 

 

When we got home, I put a roast in the crockpot for dinner.  I then ran to the grocery store to grab a cart full of crap.  (Schnucks has some serious sales this week!!!)  When I got home, the worst smell was coming from the kitchen.  Scott figured it was a new recipe and didn't bother to check out the stench.  I checked the crockpot and turns out there was a plastic Schnucks bag melting (and practically on fire) in between the crockpot and base.  You know how bad melted plastic bags smell?  Holy crap, it was awful.  So I switched the food to my 2nd crockpot and put the smelly one out back to air out.  And really...what kind of new recipe smells that bad??  I can't imagine what would have happened had I been gone all day!!!  Once I emptied the grocery bags, I discovered I bought more frozen foods than our freezer would hold.  Our garage fridge doesn't work so great when the weather is below freezing, so Scott decided to take it downstairs.  Stay tuned for that lovely story....

 

After I saved dinner, I sent Annie a text to tell her to let Trevor know that Aunt Debbie still loves him even though his selfish mother hasn't brought him by in a long time.  She immediately text me back and said she would drop him off while she ran to Target.  Yay me!!! I was so happy he was coming to visit so I could avoid doing laundry and dealing with my own children!!

Me and my BFF played and laughed for about an hour when I decided I he was tired.  We went to my room to lay down and I he quickly fell fast asleep.  Until our house shook because Scott dropped the refrigerator down our 14 basement steps.  Tied to a dolly.  On purpose.  Apparently, when all else fails, tie shit to a dolly and throw it down the stairs.  I jumped up and ran to the stairs to make sure there weren't any bodies under the huge fridge that was now laying on it's side at the bottom of the stairs.  Turns out, Carter actually does have some common sense and he jumped out of the way before Scott let go. (Obviously those two nutso's will never work at Two Guys and a Truck moving company).  Scott acted like nothing crazy had just happened and he picked the fridge back up, moved it to his desired location, plugged it in, and went back upstairs.  Sometimes I feel like I'm living in the damn twilight zone.  And whaddayaknow...turns out GE refrigerators can take a beating.  That sonofagun is back in action and currently freezing three $5-3lb bags of chicken breasts. Woot! Woot!

perfect profile

Once I made sure everything was under control, I jumped back in bed with my sleeping baby and not too much later his mama came in and woke us up and off he went.

Scott finished the tile backsplash tonight (minus the outlet covers that I have yet to decide on) and installed a new garbage disposal....he's turning into quite the handyman!!! 

Brady had two friends over until 10pm and they ran wild through the house...Scott and I kept checking the clock begging time to pass quickly so we could get the rugrats home and go to bed.  It was a long friggin' day!!!