Crazy Days

It's been a while since I've posted - lots of happenings around the house. Soccer season has started again - two nights a week. The kids are good sports about it - the others will play while they wait for their brother's game to finish. Randy and I were impromptu coaches for Tyler's game last Tuesday night. I coached the first half and Randy coached the second half. All the parents went up to Randy afterward and asked if he was coaching next week - was I not good at it? :) We'll see what happens this week. Our coach became MIA. Don't ask because I don't know what happened. All I know is that we now have the goal in the back of the van. Tyler's coach is a very nice man, but he doesn't communicate well and he came down to the game in a hurry, dropped off snacks, and took off.


We had Austin's 7th birthday on Sunday - Easter Sunday. It turned into a birthday weekend. We went to Benihana's on Friday night and had dinner, Randy took the kids bowling on Saturday afternoon and we followed it up with "Horton hears a Who". It was really cute - Randy and I did, however, fall asleep in the movie - we do this every kid's movie we go to. What I saw of it, I thought was cute. We then had a big dinner yesterday for Easter - Austin chose the menu - we had deep fried turkey, and all the fixings we usually have for Thanksgiving. McKell and Tyler LOVED the turkey and had two plates full. We had cousins come over - Jodi, Kevin and their kids, Mary and Jake, and Vic. Autumn said dinner was delicious - I think she only ate Monkey bread - when I saw her she had so much in her mouth Tyler said, "Autumn, I think you may choke" . Maybe her mom never feeds her rolls :) Just kidding, Jodi! Safari joined in the festivities and drank about 4 cups of oil (the deep fried turkey oil). She is now re-thinking her decision as she is banished from the house for the next five days.

Today we are at home, watching men dig up our front yard looking for a water leak. We got a call on Friday night, from the city, saying that since November 2007 we've been using over a MILLION gallons of water. They shut off our water (since we weren't home and they couldn't get a hold of us) and wanted to come out and try to find the problem. So, Friday night, we had a man from the city over for three hours trying to pinpoint where the leak in the pipes is. He wasn't quite sure, so we had another company come out on Saturday and he told us most leaks are in the first 10 feet of the pipes coming out of the house to the street. So, his work crew came out this morning and started digging in the area 90% of the leaks occur - our leak wasn't there, so he is now having his crew dig up the side of the house where the pipe goes into the house, in hopes the pipe connection that is faulty is there. If not, they will have to bring out another specialist to start pinpointing and mapping through all the areas of where the pipe is and start trying to find the leak - I hope it's not under the concrete patio courtyard we have in the front. That could be a nightmare.

Anyway, Randy and I were very, very sad on Friday night when we thought through what could be wrong. Initially we were upset at the outrageously expensive water bill, then our thoughts turned to where a MILLION gallons of water has gone to - we were thinking foundation damage, etc. It was a somber night. We don't think there is foundation damage. The professional said if there was, we'd see water in the basement, bubbling water by the house and we haven't seen any of that. We are still going to get the foundation tested, and I hope the water pipe is an easy fix. Then, we'll have to still deal with a water bill that is crazy. Life... But, in the grand scheme of things, this is nothing. I'd take water leaks any day compared to trials of others we know.

All's quiet on the Western Front...

We haven't been up to much lately - and that's just fine with me. I enjoy having down time in between crazy everyday life. The kids have been working hard earning benjies (reward mechanism with raffle tickets - they earn them for toys, etc). We introduced McKell to benjies last week (the boys have been doing it for years). She has bright pink ones - typical of her girlish moods lately. We reward them liberally when they behave, share, do their chores, etc. One of the ways to earn benjies is by staying in your room all night (we have a problem in this arena with all of them). The other day, I pulled out ten benjies for McKell for sleeping in her bed all night long. I was trying to encourage and excite her by channeling my inner actress and over dramatizing everything. She looks at me and says, "Mom, you silly. I not want benjies. I sleep in mommy's room, okay?" I told her that she earned them for sleeping in her room and proceeded to put them in the jar. She then said in a very demanding I-am-the-boss tone, "I NOT want them" and ripped them out of the benjie jar. Okay, McKell...

Anyway, the boys decided last night what they are earning benjies for. Austin wants a watch (he's so cute and only wants simple things), Tyler wants all of the Prince Caspian toys and three tickets (tickets for him, not others) to Prince Caspian (the new Chronicles of Narnia movie coming out in May). He's a bit obsessed. As for McKell, I don't think she quite understands the concept and even if she did, would demand her prize right away.

Tyler is infatuated with Narnia. The other day we were driving back from errands as a family and it was really quiet in the back seat. We looked back and saw Austin with his mouth open, eyes shut and snoring and Tyler just looking out the window. I asked Tyler what he was thinking about. He said with a big sigh, dreamily, "I was just thinking about Narnia". He tells me he does the same thing when he's supposed to be sleeping during nap time at preschool. He's so cute.

Not much else happening. We're gearing up for Spring Break - we aren't going anywhere but it will be fun to just hang around and play instead playing the hurry up game and carpooling.

Soccer starts in a few weeks, so we'll be busy during the week nights again. I hope Tyler has a renewed energy for soccer this spring. Last fall, well... let's just say he was more interested in pretending he was shot and rolling around all over the field. His games were painful at best to watch. You had Tyler rolling all over the field saying, "You shot me", the coaches son refusing to play, sat on the sidelines and fell asleep - every game, another boy who wanted to go play on the school playground instead and cried, and a coach who I'm pretty sure has never coached four and five year-olds before (and probably never will again) and didn't understand that 'goal tending' isn't allowed and doesn't really make a difference that age, and trying to teach real soccer skills to them is like herding cats - the kids just want to run around after the ball. It was comical at best. I laughed a lot while I sat there drinking my soda in my lawn chair.

McKell's independent, firey little self is evident in the following example. This morning I was getting breakfast for all the kids. Austin and Tyler come to the table and I have caramel rolls and grapes for them. They are excited for breakfast every morning and say things like, "Thank you for this wonderful breakfast" or "You are the best cook ever, mom". They are very agreeable and appreciative for breakfast - they'll eat anything I put out. McKell on the other hand, emerges from her room with a rats nest for hair and after looking at the breakfast options decides she doesn't want it. I asked her what she wants, she says, "Apple pies and Coke" (I think that's an indication of going to McDonald's with me too much). I said no. She was upset with every other option I put out there. She ended up with a bag of Cheetos, a chocolate chip cookie and orange juice.