Our new baby boy

Isn't he cute?!??!? I completely feel like a first time mom. I am excited and nervous and have no idea what I am doing. Ali was a bad influence and talked us into adopting a little shih zhu puppy. He is 8 weeks old and I have no clue what I am doing!!!!!!! I have never bathed, brushed, trained, neutered, or hardly walked a dog for that matter! On the farm, our dogs had to learn how to survive. There was no cozy crate in the corner or dog treats and they definitely weren't allowed in the house. What am I thinking?! I am doing everything in my power to not have more kids and I welcome this little bundle into my home willingly. He needs shots and vet appointments and toys and food and then he will pee and poop and wake me up at night...did I mention I don't want another baby. AND instead of a baby, which I would know what to do with, I have NO CLUE HOW TO RAISE A DOG!!! I am sure there will be plenty of posts about the crazy happenings of JAKE! :)

First Jeep ride at Grandma Baner's

Elle is petrified of pretty much every dog in the neighborhood so this is a big step for her. Hopefully, they can grow together and she will learn to like other dogs as well. Our neighbor said recently that she always knows when Buster gets out because she hears Elle's blood curdling scream!

The poor thing was exhausted so I put him in his bed and shut the door. I soon found Elle laying there singing to him.

He had more adventures today than his whole life combined. He rode the Gator and in the wagon and was carried around like a baby most of the day. The poor guy is so tired he is sleeping in my lap. Hopefully we can get into a routine tomorrow!!

School Days

My Elle is starting Kindergarten in a little over a week. I have very mixed feelings about this. I am not ready to have her gone for all those hours a day. Once school starts, I feel like I hardly see them. On the other hand, she is going to LOVE it. She constantly asked when she will get to start. Today we went to see her classroom. It is so cute! I wish I had a picture. I am sure I will post about the first day with pics of her and the teacher later. We saw the class list on the wall too. Get this!! Of 16 kids, there is an Elle, Ella, Ella, Ali, Ally. Try that tongue twister! There is also an Elijah and an Ethan. I pity that poor teacher! My mom thought maybe she could just assign them numbers and then call them that...Hey #5, get off that counter...not so sure about that. There are a multitude of reasons that I am thankful I am not a Kindergarten teacher. We all have our gifts and coralling 16 five year olds isn't my idea of a good time!

Overnight with Ali

Ali invited us to come to a movie in the park, spend the night and then go to the zoo the next day! My kids think that anything with Ali is the best.

Don't they look excited to go! Actually, this is when we were having a little van trouble on the side of the road. They were not impressed. Soon I figured out that we actually ran out of gas! Can you believe in this day and age that someone could run out of gas!! There was a sunglasses case in front of my gauge and gas light. Bummer. Thankfully, Ali called Holly, and Will came to the rescue with some gas!! Thanks guys!!
Only Aunties have cupcakes with sprinkles that the kids can put on themselves...

What a crew! It was fun to be with A. Denise and Sue and some of the Thames/Schroeders joined us. It was a great chaotic supper!!

Little Arawen loved her cupcake!

Movie in the park. It was $0.50 to get in to see Monsters and Aliens on the big screen! How fun!

Reese was convinced she was 16. She sat by Suzanna for a while...

...then started bugging Hannah...

...then got by Caralee too! Once I looked down and Reese was watching Hannah, who was watching the movie! Yikes! At least the Thames girls are wonderful role models so I hope Reese looks up to them as she gets older!!

The kids playing with Brian's Bible study materials. (sorry Brian!) I think Elle was preaching and Graham was typing in words and the machine was pronouncing them. I am thinking we have been very effective birth control for them! :)

When my kids have the camera, people make great faces b/c they think that they may get deleted. No such luck, Ali! You make me laugh.

Peoria zoo. We happened to go on FREE day! Yeah!! It is a great zoo and a fun day with Grandma and Ali. It was heat index of 107. We spent a lot of time in the fountain. Unfortunately my camera died and missed the soaking kids but we had a great time despite the oppressive heat! Reese's favorites were these little creatures. I don't know what they even were. They were at her level and the first time one came running at the glass, she high-tailed it back to me whining! She soon learned they couldn't get her and sat there for a long time waving at them. She kept saying, "Hey, buddy buddy buddy" over and over.

The ever famous wing span. Miller Park zoo doesn't have this any more. I have pics of it from when I was a kid. I was sad to see it was gone. At least we can still do it in Peoria!!

Thanks for a fantastic get away, Ali! The kids will remember this for a long time! It is so special to have you guys close by and I am so thankful for the example you guys are to them. We love you!!

Summer!

At this house, we are serious about summer. In my opinion, there is no reason for winter. I would love it if it would get COLD, which means it would drop from 60 to 30 overnight and snow for about a week and then the temps would go back up! A week of winter! What a wonderful thing!! Someday, I have plans to have that week of winter and then hit the road like a committed snowbird and return with the crocuses! Enough about winter...we are thoroughly enjoying our summer so maybe winter won't seem so bad.

After supper one night, the clouds came rolling in and I asked them to go out and get the bikes in. It started to sprinkle just as they were finishing. Then it "dumped buckets" according to Elle. They were safe and sound in the garage with barely a drop on them but the rain looked so fun!! They had a great time running in the rain!

Yes, Reese had been stripped to her "unners". Maybe we should move to the country!!

They then got out scooters and rode all around. Soon the bikes came out. Yes...those are the same bikes we were trying to save from the rain in the first place!!

We got some tickets to the Cornbelters game from the library reading program!! The girls and I didn's see very much of the game. We went to the bathroom, bought sweet corn, made hats from the Discovery Museum, rolled down the hill and jumped in the bouncy houses. It was a beautiful evening and we had a great time!

Totally Random

Today I saw a commercial that actually made me laugh out loud. I think it might just be "that time" because the next commercail was about kids sharing cookies and I about got teary. Yikes. Anyway...this is one of the most awkward commercials I have ever seen!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9LH0nYoqrs

Crispy Corn Dogs

Grandma Knapp invited us over for her famous CORN DOGS!! We hadn't had them in a while so we were salivating just thinking about it!

Grandma demostrated to the kids how the hot dogs were dipped in the batter.

Elle enjoying a Root Beer float while waiting for the corn dogs to cook. Not the healthiest meal but definitly one of the tastiest.
Even Reese polished off a bun legnth corn dog.
It is so fun as a mother when other people think your kids are cute! :) Grandma laughed all evening at the kids, as we played games. We very rarley get to spend time with just Grandpa and Grandma. It was a very special time.

One of the best traditions of Grandma Knapp's house is the candy jar. She has one for the chocolate kind and one for others. The kids always look forward to it but I have to admit, it is one of my favorites as well!!

Doing Corn

What exactly do you "do" to corn, you might ask? The Knapp's got together to freeze corn last week.

Elle during the picking process
Kate trying not to think about what creatures were hiding in the field

Grandpa Knapp came up with an invention to help speed along the process. Instead of brushing the silks off by hand, he cut off a baby bottle brush and stuck it in the drill. It would spin the silks right off. Graham and Mason thought it was pretty great to get to use a tool.

Awww shucks...

Isn't he cute?!?! It also makes me laugh b/c he always gets corn silks covering his glasses from the drill!

Grandma getting the corn ready for bagging
The corn gets cooked and then put in these tubs to cool. The kids thought that they should cool down as well!

Cutting the corn off the cob

Ta Da!! The finished product. We did 11 bushel of corn and got 110 quarts. Not bad for a morning!