Grandma Visits

My mom has been here for the last two weeks. She just left late last night. She lives in Maine, so we barely ever see her. I enjoyed having her here. I want my kids to know their grandparents. Most of my grandparents died before I could know much about them. I am glad my kids are having an opportunity that I missed. Thanks for coming, Mom. I love you.

Big Kids Trip to Lagoon

Four weeks after the baby was born, I finally came good on my promise and took the second and older half of my kids to Lagoon.

John went into work early, so we could leave around 3:30. Since this past week was the last full week Lagoon was open for the summer, they were having a two for one pass-- we couldn't have planned it better. The trip cost $100 less than it would have another time.

We started out on the old wooden roller coaster. That frightened Adam a bit, so I took them to the ship. That made Adam feel like barfing, so we went on the swings. Adam enjoyed that. Then it was time for some more roller coasters. We went on the crazy mouse coaster that has these sharp turns up high. I hate that one, so I started chanting, "I hate this ride, I hate this ride." For some reason that made Adam relax. He tensed when I said it was fun. But he relaxed and had fun when I said it was scary.

We went on several more roller coasters after that, including my favorite "The Wicked"-- truly a wicked awesome coaster.

 After a few more rides, I needed dinner and Ruth and Kate desperately wanted to go on a ride I refused to go on-- the Samuri. I sat down with Johnny and Adam to make sandwiches, while Ruth and Kate got in line.

 Adam is too small for the Samuri. I will not go on a ride that turns me around 3 different ways, and Johnny chickened out after watching it run.

 Ruth and Kate waited in line for this ride for around 30 minutes.

 I wondered if they were going to come off and barf. Kate is proned to motion sickness.

 They came off fine. Ruth really enjoyed the ride. Kate did too, but she was mad. Apparently, Kate had sat down on the outside edge. Then some older girls came and asked if the "bigger girls" could have those seats. Ruth just moved and Kate ended up on the inside seat, really mad. (She hates being called small, short, or young.)

We went on several other rides and roller coasters after that until it closed at about 10:45. We had a lot of fun.

Adam quit being scared and decided it was cool! Johnny wanted to try some of the scarier roller coasters again so he could get over feeling scared on them. Kate was the funniest of all. The last time Kate went to an amusement park, 3 years ago, she would not go on any of the scary rides. This time, she was determined to LOVE the scary rides. She ran from one big coaster to the next with determination to ride them as much as possible.

This is an end to our summer. We will begin home school officially on Monday. Good bye summer; welcome fall.

Normal Parenting

Forever and always, whenever we have gone out for a meal, I try and spend as little money as possible. For example, if we go to McDonald's, I usually only let everyone get one dollar menu item. If we go to a nice place, I make everyone share a meal. With the little kids, I will even put three to a meal. Since we would often end up with left overs, this made sense to me. Until recently...

I had this interesting conversation with Kate. Kate said to me, "if you were normal parents..."

"Wait a minute," I thought to you, we would at least be "normal". So what makes us abnormal???

Kate said, "Well, you see, I feel guilty asking for two items off of the dollar menu, and that is such a little bit of food. Normal parents get everyone in their family a full meal deal."

I mentioned that normal parents either have to throw away a ton of that food or eat all of the leftovers and get fat.

Apparently "normal" kids can eat a full meal deal, and my kids don't because they feel guilty asking their parents to spend a whole other dollar on just one more item on the dollar menu.

Hmmmm.... girl, have you ever seen our food budget??? Normal parents would drop dead at how much we spend a month on food.

Conclusion: A family with 9 children is just not normal. You can make do with one item from the dollar menu and get a cheaper, healthier apple to fill up on later when we get home. I will not let this conversation make me fell guilty. Hahaha

But I will concede on one important point... forever and always (meaning when I had one kid, four kids, eight kids) I tried to spend as little as possible on restaurant food. So maybe, it just takes an abnormal parent to have 9 children. :)

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

You must be really tired to sleep nearly standing up.

More Awesome Adam

Awesome Adam was very excited to lose another tooth. While we await the other top tooth to come out, Adam has quite the funny smile!

He did it again. Adam got another award. To get more than one of these in the school year is very unusual. To get one two weeks in a row is rather stunning. Kate has declared Adam to be a definite teachers pet.  I am proud of my boy for being good in school and being an good example for the other kids, and I doubt teachers pet is all that bad.

Nine Kids!

I NEVER thought I would have 9 kids. 8 has been my magic number for years. John and I both thought we would have between 6 and 8 kids. We thought I would be too old to have more then 8 kids. We thought our kids would be spaced further apart then what they are. We even tried to space our kids further apart then what they are. Our plan was not God's plan. We sure are lucky because we all really love our new little daughter and already know that she fits in and is meant to be here with the other 10 of us.

Awesome Adam

Most of the awards my kids get, I could care less about because they are for everyone who did such and such. But I love it when they get an award because how they have behaved has stood out. (Especially in the beginning of the school year because you know it is not because they are finally behaving.)

Everyone: aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, brother, sisters and parents worried about how our active Adam would behave in school. Adam is good in school. He is good at home, but he really tries to be kind and obedient in school and it shows! I am proud of my Awesome Adam!