Robot Rally

Grandma sent robot masks. This is very appropriate because David John is fond of running up to the microphone at church and saying, "I am a baby robot" in a very good robot voice. It kills the primary children every time.

Running Scared

For the second year in a row, we helped out with the Zombie Run 5K. Technically it's a walk/shuffle/run. Anyway, I wasn't as involved with the planning as I was last year, but my boys and I, along with some friends, dressed up as zombies to scare the runners. This year, Tobias was old enough to help out so he also got zombified. Here we are ready to scare:

For the record, my boys did my makeup which is why I look more like a member of KISS and less like a zombie. Although, now that I'm making that comparison, maybe those two things aren't so disparate after all. Both are definitely creepy. I guess the primary difference is that zombies place a high value on brains.
Anyway, the boys had a blast hiding in the park behind our house and jumping out at runners as they came by. Like last year, some could not control their giggles at the sight of so many tiny zombies, especially Tobias. Others, I think, were genuinely creeped out by the idea of undead children. My friend Amelia thinks that next year we need to set up a cornfield behind our house for the kiddos to run out of. That would be pretty awesome. Then we'd really have them running scared.

Sorry, So Sorry

Poor Gabriel feels criticism intensely. Any slight correction to his behavior often ends in tears and then a sorry note. While I wish he wouldn't take things so hard, I do adore the sorry notes. I thought I would share two of my favorites.

I can't remember what either of these notes was apologizing for but I remember chuckling when I saw that this one had check marks. Gabriel's first grade teacher gives check marks when things are correct, so the check mark has replaced the heart as Gabriel's symbol of love and approval.

I also love what he wrote on the bottom. I'm pretty sure that last word is supposed to read "best" but it absolutely looks like "bust". Having nursed five children, if someone tells me "Mom's are the bust!" I'll take it as a compliment.

Here is another popular Gabriel writing technique: rainbow writing. It's adorable as is his spelling.

I am so glad you appreciate my "kooking". I hope that you still like my kooking when you are a teenager and having a kooky mom can be embarrassing.

Thank you for the darling notes, Gabe. I'm sorry you are stuck with me for a mom, so sorry.

One Point Five

Last month Tobias hit 18 months. The good news is he now old enough for nursery! The bad news is that his naughty antics have definitely increased. He still isn't talking much. He tends to learn a new word, use it for a week and then drop it. For the record, his first word was "trash" which he pronounced "ash, ash". He also enjoys making up his own sign language which more resembles baseball signals. His sign for drink consists of three movements involving both hands and one ear. He's a handful that's for sure. Here are a few personality shots from the last six months:

He loves his technology, a little too much.

He can happily cycle through iPad pages all day.

Also, he loves to pretend he's playing Angry Birds.

He can't get enough of the pool. Bobbing up and down and playing peek-a-boo with the senior citizens is his favorite.

All of his brothers are in gymnastics and sometimes he just can't stay off the mats.

No, this isn't a horror film. It's just pasta for dinner.

Who needs a stick?

We can finally put him down during his naps, but he likes to sleep in strange positions.

Did I mention he LOVES books? I think he was trying to combine his love of swimming with his love of books by creating a book pool. Shortly after this photo, all of the children's books were relocated to some higher shelves in the basement.

This is the "I'm going to jump off the coffee table!" face. He jumps off the coffee table a lot.

Woo-hoo! Just landed on the couch. 

"Wanna see it again? I can do this all day."

I don't even remember what he wanted but I think I gave in. Just look at that pleading face.

Tobias prefers chapter books to his board books. The chapter books make a more satisfying sound when he flips through them. Also, what more comfortable place to read than suspended between the couch and table?

Can you tell that he had chocolate chip pancakes with powdered sugar for breakfast?

Yep, his Grandma spoils him but so do we. He located his own binky, laid down and started rubbing his ears. Time for a nap. Sometimes I wish I was one and a half.

Harvest Time

So, our garden did finally decide to produce. Not a ton, just a little bit but that's okay. The joy the boys felt each time they found a little vegetable to bring in from the garden was worth all the effort. Have you ever seen such beautiful food?

An Open Letter of Apology

Sometimes, I feel totally overwhelmed. Sometimes, I feel like I am failing, just failing. Sometimes, my house is messy, my kids are out of control, my to do list has become so long that it is now a mobius strip and is, literally, unending. Sometimes, I just don't know how to get ahead or even just catch up. So, until I figure that out I am going to make myself feel better by issuing apologies for the things that I should or should not have done. Maybe if I can just get some things off my chest, I'll feel better. So, uh, here goes:

To the plants in my garden: I am sorry that I did not nurture you properly. I'm not sure if you need more fertilizer or if you just needed better soil, or if you need counseling but apparently I have raised you with a fear of having a family. I promise your children will not be as difficult to manage as my children. You've already put down roots, like physical roots, so it would be okay, really, to bear some fruit. Don't be afraid to make the commitment. I'm sorry if I haven't been supportive enough. I am also sorry if I did not express enough appreciation for the one radish and handful of basil you have produced so far.

To the random man at Walmart: I am sorry. Just really sorry. I had no idea that when my son walked in the general direction of your cart that he was planning to stop and purposefully sneeze all over you and your food. If you would like copies of his medical records to prove that he does not have any communicable diseases I would be happy to provide them. It was just seasonal allergies. Besides, you'll have to cook all of that sausage anyway and any germs should be killed in the cooking process. Frankly, if you are planning to eat all of that sausage yourself then that the sneeze is the least of your health problems, but it still was very very wrong of him to do that. I have had a long talk with him and I am hopeful that there will be no more sausage-sneezing in the future...... maybe. Your look of disgust was, unfortunately, a big incentive for him to do it again.

To Tobias: I am sorry that I took too long to prepare lunch for you and that your hunger drove you to bite through an entire stack of tortillas... while they were still in the package. I am grateful that none of your brothers noticed the little bite marks out of each quesadilla that I served them. I will try to cook faster next time.

To my neighbors: I am sorry for the screams issuing from my house. We are not filming a horror-movie, nor am I abusing my children. Please do not call CPS. I am just cutting their hair.

To Elijah: I am sorry for ruining your life by cutting your hair. I realize it was your ambition to grow up to be a rockstar/fringe spiritual leader/hippie/the next Samson/hairstylist and I have likely destroyed your dreams at the tender age of 6. I understand, completely, why you feel you must scream as though your very soul were being ripped from your body when, in fact, I am just removing some dead cells. So sorry.

To the random Walmart employee: I am sorry for the doing a double take in your direction the other day. I know it was terribly rude of me and that you might have felt embarrassed when the five little boys in, under and hanging-off of my shopping cart also looked. It was just that you were wearing extremely tight leggings that matched your skin tone EXACTLY and it took my brain a moment to process what I was seeing. I apologize. I cast my eyes down in shame, also to avoid seeing what I thought was a half-naked person.

To David John: I am sorry for failing to have appropriate supplies for your sea monkeys. It broke my heart to hear your conversation with your brother:
D: Sea monkeys do not have birthdays because they are sea creatures and sea creatures are not borned they just grow.
E: But they hatch out of eggs. When they hatch out that is like their birthday.
D: Yes, but sea monkey still cannot have birthdays because you can't put a party-hat on a sea monkey.
I should have anticipated this and found a supplier for sea monkey party hats. I know you were feeling bad for your sea monkeys' lack of birthdays.

To my readers: I am sorry for the lackluster state of the blog this summer. I have been searching for the cause of the drop in quantity and quality and have a working theory involving potty-training, accidents and bleach. In the last two days alone I have sat in, slipped on, and waded through bodily fluids. This, combined with the fumes from the clorox wipes and intense cleaning sprays has caused a semi-permanent cloud of chemicals through which coherent thoughts cannot traverse. I am sorry, so sorry.

Kaleb Kapers

This was our third year hosting my awesome nephew Kaleb in the summertime. He is extremely helpful in wrangling in our five guys. He always seems to be here for his birthday (poor kid) so he has to settle for a cake that I can actually make. Angelfood cake with strawberries? Check.

Kaleb can pull faces with the best of them. No wonder he is my boys' hero.

We spent a ton of time at Dickinson's new outdoor pool while he was here. I have pictures of all the boys enjoying the fun, but Kaleb was off on the water slides most of the time so I don't have any swimsuit footage of this cute 12-year-old. He'd probably be embarrassed anyway. As his Aunt, I am a pro at embarrassing him.

Someone is very proud of his swimsuit body.

David John took great glee in getting his brothers with splash guns.

Gabe took to wearing his life jacket and hanging out in the deep end. Oh yeah, he is big stuff.

Elijah is a water bug as long as he has his goggles.

Jami couldn't get enough of the kiddie water slides.

He also loves the great outdoors so we spent a whole day hiking in the badlands. We checked out some binoculars from the ranger's station and brought a picnic lunch. Every time we go to Teddy Roosevelt National Park I can't believe how beautiful it is and the wildlife is awesome.

Gotta love the view.

I love how the binocular strap is blowing in the wind. Kaleb couldn't get enough of them. There may have been a few scuffles over use of those binoculars. Next time, we may have to bring one for everybody.

Benjamin loved pretending to get stuck in cracks. Unfortunately, there were some middle-aged women hiking behind us. Every time we stopped to play, they would catch up and I would get "the look" when my children pulled stunts like this.

"Mom, can I roll down that hill?" Nope. Sorry kiddo. 

Gabe is getting ready to go "rock climbing".

I love this picture of Tobias, but the lady hikers informed me it was very irresponsible of me to be far enough away from him to take this picture.

Elijah likes balancing on the rock formations or following a seam.

I don't usually do selfies, but every once in a while I figure I should provide hard evidence that I exist, that I'm not some third-person omniscient narrator for my children's lives.

The boys were all interested in this field which had a tree, flowers, grasses and an assortment of cacti.

It was the middle of the day in summer, so we didn't see a lot of large wildlife during our hike. On our drive out however, we found the herd.

The buffalo calves were still pretty little and they were walking right past our windows.

This guy is taking a dust bath. It was super cool to watch!

I didn't get a good shot of the fight that occurred between two bulls because I was too frightened they were going to run straight into our car, but here is one of the guys skidding to a stop after running at his nemesis. The whole experience was pretty incredible.

As always, his visit ended far too soon for my boys so after we took Kaleb to the airport in Bismarck we hit the charming little Bismarck Zoo. Oddly enough, the animal my boys were most fascinated by during our trip was a little bird eating crumbs in the picnic and play area. Go figure. At their request I have at least ten pictures of the little sparrow and almost none of anything else in the zoo. At least I got a shot of four of my monkeys on the zoo train.

We enjoyed the train ride, but we had to wait a while before the train actually left the station. Tobias didn't even want to stick around for the photo. He jumped off the bench (notice the space in the middle) and took off running while I was trying to take the picture. I had to chase him down several times before the train finally started moving.