Somthing tells me this was a bad idea...

Part of Jared's very glamorous ice cream job is once a year getting "new item" samples. While the culinary delights of next year's new products will get a post of their own in the near future this post is about the OTHER delights contained in this shipment, namely, DRY ICE.

I am sure that if any of you have known Jared for very long, you will recall his rather colorful, law-breaking-really-stupid-but-never-caught, stories about dry ice "experiments" during high school. As amusing as these stories are, I often remind him they are only funny because he still has all his fingers, and have warned him of the dangers of regailing these stories to our boys. I am afraid that today is the day we officially planted "seeds of stupidity" to be sown in the future by our boys. I fear I am an accomplice as I didn't don the "Fretful Mother" hat as I probably should have, because, even a woman of advanced maternal age enjoys an occasional adolescent moment.

It all started with making "fog" in the garage, then a video of the "experiment", and finally, the finished product. Oh Boys!
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"Your mother must have been quite a slave to your education, Miss Bennett..."

I can't believe I am the same person who thought life was going to get easier with my children in school. I don't know if it's just the sheer quantity of children I now have, or the fact I have to have 4 of the 5 in 3 schools in 2 counties, 5 days a week. (Please don't ask me to repeat that, it's late) That being said, I actually am very happy with their circumstances. Jack brought home an assignment for English the other night that I don't think I could have tackled until I was a junior in High School. He is feeling the pinch of higher expectations, but that pinch sent me spiriling into depression my first semester of college, so better to get over it when you're in 6th grade, right?
I have definately entered a new phase of motherhood. It is good. I mean, the whole handful of toddlers was NOT my forte. I need people that can use a toilet independently. (Although, I suddenly appreciate the value of having my most pressing appointment be naptime.)
On the other hand, I have always had a certain disdain for people who always whine about being "so busy!". The implication of that response has always made me feel that somehow what they are doing is so much more important than what I'm doing, and they'd love to share it all with me, if I was important enough to spend time explaining it all to me. Similar to the way I feel being late is like saying, "What I was doing was more important than being here, with you."
So, I am bravely resolving to not whine. If you had told me a year ago that I could have my children in the type of schools they are now, with the only tuition being "my time" to transport them, or volunteer at the school, I would have jumped with joy! So here goes.
Someday, hopefully, a great distinguished person (such as Lady Catherine Deberg) will say to one of my children, "Your mother must have been quite a slave to your education."
And they will reply, "Yes. Yes she was."

Chatty Susie

Susannah was being so terribly cute and chatty in her swing the other day that I just had to grab my camera and take some video. It wasn't until watching it back however, that I realized it made me a little motion sick. Hopefully, it won't overshadow the cuteness of her babbling! You might not be able to hear all of it, but Olivia was busy translating what Susannah was saying. All I really managed to catch was something about her wanting to jump off a diving board? As a side note, in the last 2 days her mohawk (or "mo-hog" as Olivia says) is finally getting long enough that it's beginning to lay down. Well, okay. Tip to one side. She can also turn herself completely around as she lays on the floor. Sigh. She's growing up so fast! Enjoy!

Die Fly.

I am hoping it is not just a symptom of slothful housekeeping that my house is fully infested with flies. Regular black flies and fruit flys by the hundreds. I got so completely grossed out yesterday at the inability to effectively rid them from my house that I broke down and made a trip to the Farm and Fleet this morning. I came to the register with 6 of these attractive pest dispensers. Apparently, my being "dressed up" compared to the regular AM Farm and Fleet crowd prompted the cashier to inform me that these were "really ugly". (How did she suspect I wasn't hanging them in the barn?) I told her I didn't care. I was desperate. I must admit I am surprised at my sadistic delight in walking by each of these and spotting yet another fly permanently incapacitated. I can hardly wait till they fill up! Of course, we will have no company until they are taken down, but boy do I feel relieved to finally be the aggressor! Die Fly!!!!

The Ice Cream Man

I always remember thinking my dad had the lamest "career" for career day. My kids, do not have the same problem. As you can imagine, cruising around in a little car like this makes you very popular with the grade school set. It does almost as much for your image as having a genuine "ice cream bunker" full of ice cream in your garage! Of course, Jared only drives this for a week at a time a couple of times of year, but boy, is it a good time!

Blessed Baby!

Well, we figured since Susannah is 3 months old, we had better get around to blessing her. (And you thought we were just thinking of changing her name again...) We kept hoping that maybe some of Jared's family could make it, so we kept postponing it, but we decided it's been long enough. It's a good thing we did, because that blessing dress was getting a little short!

Luckily, our friends from Chicago (who now live in Milwaukee) came to spend the weekend with us. Thanks John and Natalie! It was so fun to see you!

Susannah was an angel for her blessing. So sweet. Equally sweet was how reverent and attentive each of her siblings were during her blessing. It was so nice. Wishing each and every one of you could have been there with us. It is so hard to pass these milestones without you. But here's some cute pics for you to enjoy!

Official End of Summer

Well, it happened a 9 days ago, but I need to post a milestone. These are pics of the last days of summer (quite literally) here in Minnesota. We went to the Beach at Lake Minnetonka, and Ethan wanted to be buried in sand. (So cute) Then we had a "breakfast picnic" from McDonalds with every bee in Waconia at the park on Labor Day. Then the BIG first day of School! Aren't the boys handsome in their uniforms! So happy with the charter schools, and doing lots of self-talk about how great it is to have a "captive audience" for all the time we're spending in the car together! Really, they LOVE school. It's only been a week, and Ethan already has shown me Asia and the Indian Ocean on a map, and told me about Pompeii. Spencer thinks big multiplication problems are "fun". Jack's favorite class is Latin. Yeah, I can do this! And of course, Olivia is having a lovely time as well. She just misses her brothers. A lot! That's all for now!