Random Bits of Life....

Whew! What a busy few weeks. I have fallen so behind in posting that my works in progress is getting out of hand! Some times I only get a few seconds to sit down after the kids are in bed. But I love the go, go, go of summer and will miss all the hustle and bustle having all the kids home brings when school starts once again in mid-August. It feels like the end is coming so soon and I'm not ready yet. Sure there are moments we all need a break from each other, but thankfully that's where a good movie and naps for the girls come in and we can all be refreshed and ready for more family time. Life here in 'Tucky is going quite well. We have been spared the oppressive heat for most of June and the Cicadas went there way a few days ago. While I'll miss their unique sound, I can appreciate and enjoy the quiet stillness the day and night now brings. We have a great daily morning routine that gets up and moving before swim team, but lately even our nights have been busy. That is a good and bad thing. After an hour of homework and reading and then a few hours at the pool, I'm ready for a lazy afternoon. But when we are busy in the evening it pushes back everything and let's face it, I'm terrible at going to bed. Horrible to be totally honest. Rich was on call Saturday night and Sunday night and I went to bed at 3 AM. Seriously, why? Sure, I have a hard time going to bed when Rich's isn't here, but my insomnia has gotten out of control. Who else wakes up and takes three Advil to advert my sleep headache that was bound to hit during church. Sad, but true. We all just need some alone time and mine just seems to be when the rest of the world is snoozing. That's one thing I've gotta get working on.

Here's what else has been keeping us busy:
The ward Grill and Chill on Saturday June 7th. Rich was home studying physics. Yes, I did take off the girls shirts for fear of the chocolate mess. Yes, it doesn't make for a great photo op. But in my defense, it was really HOT! Team swim pictures bright and early 9 AM on Thursday June 12, 2008.
On Thursday my brother Greg and his wife Kate welcomed their second son, Oliver Goldthorpe Nance in San Francisco, California. It was wonderful to talk to my older brother on the phone and catch up about life, his work and his cute family. Congrats! Thursday afternoon for us was well baby checks for the girls with Dr. Branden at the clinic. Kaitlyn is only 3 pounds heavier than Brynn, but when you carry them around it feels like bit more- like 10. Then off for a quick run to Sam's Club with the girls. $400 dollars and massive amount of food storage later (I think the check out guy thought I was a bit nutty to walk out with 10 cans of peanut butter and other basic staples) I feel a bit better about our food supply down in the storage room. Top off the night with the boy's t-ball trophy ceremony and my Relief Society recipe group party here at the house and that equaled a very, very full day.

Friday the 13th brought even more birthdays. My little brother Jeff celebrated his 25th birthday. He and his wife Sarah will soon be heading to Milwaukee where he'll begin medical school at the Medical College of Wisconsin. It's quite the set up since my brother Brad and his soon-to-be wife Jana will be there too. Brad will start his 3rd year of medical school on July 1st. Happy Birthday Jeff! Later on Friday we got word that Rich's sister Heather welcomed a new baby girl in Mesa, Arizona. Little Ava Ngaire Woolley joined older sister Kamae and brother Jackson. Congratulations!!

Friday evening Rich and I attended the senior dinner for the radiology residents at Spindletop Hall. I had to laugh since this was my second time going to a dinner in the two years we have been here at UK. I met all of the leaving residents for the first time that night and finally got to put a face with a name of nearly all of the attendings. I often wonder if they think Rich has an imaginary wife and family since I have gone years without meeting them.
Saturday, June 14th came with a heavy heart. We said good-bye to our dear friends the Madsens. Eight wonderful years have been shared here in Kentucky and many more when you add in the time at Stanford. While we are so happy Josh has completed his medical training, personally we think Clovis, CA is just too far away from Lexington! Rich drove down to say good-bye and move, but I was stuck here in Lexington with a full plate of kid business. We can't wait until we can fly out and see them in their new home in the near future.

While Rich was in Louisville, Josh and Matt went to a friends Ben 10 birthday party. Straight after we all went to the their t-ball team's end of the year party. There was great food, a water slide and of course a game ball for each player that had been signed by the coaches. Josh and Matt had a great time in t-ball and will now move up the ranks to coach pitch. Sounds like work will be done on hitting this summer to prepare!

After the party we rushed home, packed up the kids and took them over to the Badger's for their second real sleep over in their lives. (The first being at the Underwood's when I was in labor with the girls.) Jonni and Eric had so graciously offered to let the kids spend the night with them so Rich and I could get on our airplane at 6 AM to Louisiana and not have to get them all up at the crack of dawn. Somehow they fell asleep after we left at 11:30 PM and the entire crew got to church ON TIME at 9 AM. Impressive. Thanks so much Badgers!!!!Sunday brought Father's Day (post to follow). I got a quick call to my Dad who and the rest of the family were on their way to an Alaskan cruise. Rich and I got such a rare holiday treat. Some time alone. The first time away from the kids together for more than 24 hours since 2004. Rich and I got to New Orleans around 11:30 AM and Rich presented his research at the SNM nuclear medicine conference at 5 PM. He did a great job and I was very impressed with his knowledge about various CT scans and PET scans when used in detecting non small cell carcinomas in the lungs. Back in the Bluegrass, the Rosenhan's picked up the kids from the Badger's and stayed at our house Sunday night until Monday afternoon when we got back. Thank you Branden and Tiffany!! (New Orleans post to follow)
Happy Birthday Mom on Monday June 16th! I swiped this picture from my sister-in-laws blog. They celebrated her big day on the cruise ship with a fancy cake. (Thanks Sarah!)Monday night we went down to Red River Gorge with the Badgers (see previous post). Gorgeous!

Wednesday night means swim meet for the dudes. This one was an away meet at Palomar. The boys did a great job.
Thursday- A night out on the town with the kiddos since Rich was on call. Qdoba just hit the spot. Brynn was CRAZY wild so we ate beyond fast. Rich was too busy for us to bring him his food. No fun for him! He had to enjoy his food as leftovers on Friday.Friday night we went to the Kentucky Horse Park for the house staff party. More good food, friends, a pony and hay ride. (Post to follow). Totally Kentucky.

Saturday temple trip to Louisville. Our bishop has got this thing down. Set up baby sitting in the church (which happens to be our old church we attended for six years!) across the street from the temple and then treat everyone to a pizza dinner after. Rushed home since Rich was on call over night.
Sunday Matt gave a talk about the temple. Rich was gone, I had to teach young womens, so Trey filled in as helper. Matt did such a great job, they asked him to give his talk in the primary program. He was glowing!! That night we went to the Hatch's for dinner. They have been so kind to invite us and our brood over for waffles. Their backyard is amazing and the boys spent an hour catching crayfish in the small stream. Matt caught two by himself. On the ride home Matt said it was the "Best day of his life!!" Oh, and requested I post a photo of him on the blog.

More Randoms:

It took Brynn only three days to get my little car seat buckle contraptions undone and unfastened. Today she opened a childproof bottle of Zyrtec. She has amazing dexterity, especially for a two year old. I also have found her trying to swig the milk from the gallon carton and 2 liter of Sprite and trying to get a few swallows of my make up remover (mainly water and oil) but I don't think she got any of that down. She's still keeping me on my toes.

I started reading a great new series: Fablehaven. There are currently three book published, two are in paper back. It's children's fantasty story and on the New York Times best seller list. The author Brandon Mull is LDS and lives in Utah. His bio at the end had me laughing when he stated 'For a couple of years, he lived in the Atamac Deset of Northen Chile, where he learned Spanish and juggling. He currently lives on the side of a moutain above a prison with his wife and two children.'

Part of the boys homework for the day was to measure parts of their body. After we had completed the list, I thought it would be fun to weigh the kids as well. Brynn: 27 lbs. Kaitlyn: 31 lbs. Matt: 51 lbs. Trey: 66 lbs. Josh: 74 lbs. I was SHOCKED that Josh outweighs his twin by TWENTY THREE pounds and has eight pounds on his two year older brother. There is a reason why Rich's nickname for him is 'Little Bear.'

Today after swimming we grabbed some food at the McDonald's drive thru. My SEBB baseball discount card has a deal for buy 1 Big Mac, get 1 free. I hadn't eaten a Big Mac in at least a decade so we tried it out last week and most of the kids thought it was pretty good. Today, Josh said he'd like another one. Once the sack of food entered the van through the window Brynn started screaming "MAC" over and over again. I just had to stop and laugh at her. It was so random that she knew I had a Big Mac in the bag. Once we got home she dug into the burger with zeal and gobbled up most of it. She's a huge fan of pickles.... and the box the burger comes in.On Saturday night my house looked like this: We had rushed to and from Louisville, I dashed to the little Walmart for much needed food before Rich left to be on call. I was tired. I didn't want to do the dishes, or mop the floor, or put away the food. So didn't for about half an hour. And then the mess got to me. I set the timer and made all the kids help until it was CLEAN. 32 minutes later it was gleaming. It's it amazing what we can accomplish when we all pitch in. The only real disaster I found was out on the deck. My brand new box of Fruit Loops with marshmallows had been dumped out on the deck and stairs and mysteriously ALL the marshmallows were gone. Maybe it was sugar fairies needing a fix, but I have my guesses.....

And last but not least on the crazy, scary long post is my Matt. Last week he came with me to run errands while Rich (post call) and the girls slept and Trey and Josh played inside. Anytime we go out just the two of us, he calls is our 'special time.' And he's right. It is so nice and very important to get one on one time with your kids. I had a list of errands to run here and there and he happily tagged along. Our first stop was to Old Navy to return some shorts. We ventured over to the boys section to check it out. Matt soon spied this awesome green jacket and shirt. If you know Matt, you know he LOVES green. The shirt was on clearance for $2.99 and the jacket was $12.99. He eyed the jacket and told me how cool it was. I told him to try it on. It was a perfect fit. When I told him he could get it and the shirt his mouth nearly dropped open. It was so cute to see his surprise. As we went on to the mall and Target he kept telling me how he couldn't wait to get back to the van to see his jacket. He even asked if he could wear it, but the temperature was hovering in the mid-90's so it was a bit out of the question. He wore this outfit for two straight days while in the house. What a cutie. It's amazing how if we just stop and take a moment and give ourselves to our kids, how much happiness we reap as a reward.