Day 71

Getting the school supplies organized the night before school starts, and Madeleine asks if it's okay that we use the notebooks with the coil binding since they weren't on the list. I told her that her teacher said it's okay, she's not fussy about their notebooks. Madeleine paused for a second and said, "Mom, were you a fussy teacher?"

Why, yes. Why do you ask??

Day 70

Putting the crib away - Evan has been sleeping in his tent for almost a month now and there's no reason to have it around anymore. *sigh*

Day 69

It's HEEEEEERE! This will keep the kids busy for a few hours.

Day 68

Took my 3 girls to one of the best animated movies I've seen in a long time - but I could be biased just because I have 3 little girls just like the ones in the movie. It was a lot of fun!

Day 67

Teeny-tiny cheeseburgers, the kids begged to have them. But they weren't nearly as tasty as they were cute, out of eight, there were 4.5 of them left over for Dad.

Day 66

I've been really doing okay with my decision not to send Annique to Kindergarten this year - but then a letter arrived from the Kindergarten teacher and she was just so excited. So, we'll meet with the teacher just to see, but I am still pretty determined that it's best to give her an extra year for everything growing up. Not just Kindergarten - but all of the other things she's going to do in the next 12 years or so - why not let her be a year older for all of that? I just don't know.

Day 65

My niece Ada came over to play - tomorrow she'll be on her way back to Germany with her mom and they'll be there until hockey season is over in the spring. We'll miss her a lot - Evan is just getting to be the right age to appreciate having a friend his size to play with.
Dorks!

Day 64

Madeleine is too old to play Disney DVD Bingo, but she is happy to call the numbers. The Wii broke, and so the kids are rediscovering their board games.

Day 63

Sometimes I feel like the Bilibos are out to get me. Today, they seemed to drag all the blankets and pillows from every corner of the house and left a trail of them all down the hallway, because none of the children would take responsibility for it.

Day 62

School shopping woes: from the top, 32-page scribblers, four in a package for 25 cents, middle, 80 page scribblers, three in a package for FOUR FREAKING DOLLARS, and 80 page scribblers with forbidden coil binding, fifteen cents each.

Of course, the list calls for the 80 page, non-coil bound scribblers. Twelve of them. And I have two girls so that means we'd need 24 of them, which means $32 on scribblers, which is more than I have spent on all of the rest of their school supplies combined.

I will propose to the teacher that my children can bring a gazillion 32 page scribblers, or they can bring 12 coil bound scribblers. I hope she'll understand. :)

Day 61

In trouble again - a-salt charges pending.

Day 60

Ceci playing tile rummy with grandma and Grandma Silver, with Auntie Lauri coaching.

Evan gets to play tile rummy with the dominoes.

Day 59

At the lake, you have to make do with whatever birthday candles you can find. We thought 17 was too flattering for a 33 year old.

Day 58

Wine and chocolate fondue for the ladies. The kids believed there was booze in the chocolate so they didn't get any. The men noticed all the traffic between the two cabins and came to investigate, but we didn't let them have any either. Ripple chips dipped in chocolate is also quite good.

Day 57

Tortured artist - his own mother doesn't understand or appreciate his work.

Day 56

Gluing the head back on a golden cat full of earrings. All in a day's work around here.

Day 55

I can't do anything in the kitchen without help. I know can openers are sharp, but it's better than letting him at the stove, and he's smart enough now to know that playing with the pots and pans or in the plastics drawer isn't 'helping' - and he wants to be involved.

Day 54

Sleeping in the tent is going very well - I point his projector at the tent wall and it shines through like a movie, and he just cuddles up and goes to sleep. No more crying or fussing about it. And the best thing is, he can't get into any trouble until I take him out in the morning.

Day 53

Evan helping pick tomatoes in Grandma's garden at the lake.

Day 52

Evan attempting to master the Bilibo. I got these for the kids for Christmas about 4 years ago and I don't think a day goes by when someone isn't spinning around in them. Or trying to.

Day 51

We bought the girls some sparkly 'treasures' from Treasure Island. They've been wearing them around the past few days and I am really taken with how much they sparkle when the light hits them. I tried to get a picture to show how they catch the light but I have no clue how to run my camera so this is the best I can get.

Day 50

Back to reality - a garage full of windows and insulation for the cabin. Time to get busy working on that again!

Day 49

My son rifling through my make-up bag. I think he has a future working for Border Services.

Day 48

We were so tired on the drive home that we took a detour through the ditch. Scary, but we ended up back on the road and safe at home. This piece of ditch grass hung out on our antenna for several miles as a reminder of the close call.

Day 47

Dawn in Las Vegas and we've been up for 3 hours already. We're getting ready to board the plane to fly home.

Day 46

We didn't get to see a show last time we were in Vegas, so this time we went to see Love at the Mirage. It was pretty incredible but they don't let you take pictures inside the theatre so this picture and two plastic drink glasses is all I've got to show for it.

Day 45

We spent a lot of time at the pool at TI - it had a DJ and spring-break type of atmosphere - even on a Sunday afternoon everyone was dancing and partying and the pool was packed with people. We cringed at the cost of drinks ($12 or something for my small one, $18 for that bigger one) but after one or two of those decided it was well worth it. Just charge it to my room! So much fun!

Bonus picture my husband will kill me for posting:

Day 44

This is how Friday night in Vegas looked to me. The heat caused my eyes to feel like someone had sprayed pepper spray in them, so I took my contacts out and put them in 2 plastic glasses at Margaritaville, and then we stayed for dinner and a bucket full of beers. My eyes didn't get any better and I couldn't see through the tears and the burning -plus I'm blind without my contacts, so my husband had to steer me through the crowds on the Vegas strip. We stopped at Walgreens for eye drops and Benadryl, and I was in bed with an ice pack on my eyes by 9:30. The next morning, my eyes were practically swollen shut. No more contacts for me!

Day 43

First night in Vegas and this is the best meal I had when we were there - rainbow rolls and soup that I can't remember the name of at Khotan. Our table overlooked the pirate lagoon at Treasure island so we got to watch the whole Sirens show at eye level with the mast on the pirate ship.

Day 42

We woke up at the lake early in the morning, made pancakes for everyone, kissed 2 kids goodbye, loaded up and headed home. At home I did a pile of laundry, cleaned up the house, dropped off the other 2 kids at Memere's, and then we started the 4 hour drive to Bismarck where we bought a few things for the trip and all the kids' school supplies at Wal-mart. So this is at about 11 pm after long day, and we're settling in with some pizza and beer for the start of our second honeymoon - off to Vegas in the morning!

Day 41

Dog got dirty, so he needed to have a bath in the lake. He swims really well, but always towards the shore.

Day 40

Annique getting ready for her first tube ride.

Day 39

Another truckload of lumber arrives for the cabin, work starts again tomorrow.

Day 38

All day I am itching from these bites on my arm. What the heck is biting me? So itchy. I tried AfterBite and Benadryl, and wondered whatever this thing is that is biting me, I should try to find out because I'm obviously allergic and swelling up.

Notice the bite pattern? Turns out it's my SON.

Day 37

For Auntie Sissy's birthday, we put a candle in her breakfast muffin, sang Happy Birthday, and called it good. :)

Day 36

He wouldn't stop dragging chairs over to the stove while I was cooking supper so I just set him up with his own pan and veggies and that kept him busy for a few minutes.

Day 35

My big girls are avid readers, this is their bookshelf with the books they've been reading so far this summer. They also have piles of French books, and of course another bookshelf full of books at the lake.

Day 34

Cecily's birthday party - Happy Birthday to my 8 year old girl!

Day 33

Pioneer day! Evan enjoying his first ever pig-in-a-blanket.

Day 32

Yesterday was the last day of swimming lessons. The girls did really well and didn't just pass their levels - they each passed three levels! I'm glad they're becoming strong swimmers considering how much time we spend at the lake.

Day 31

Annique was having a meltdown because her dad left without her. Then, she found a butterfly.

Day 30

This will either be the best or worst idea ever. Because my son crawls out of his crib constantly, I think he should sleep in a tent. The tent we have is huge so we're going to try it out in the living room and see if he will sleep in it. If it works, maybe we'll get him a kid-sized tent for his room. I'm scared to have him getting out and wandering around at night, and he has a hard time getting to sleep when there is so much he could be doing/seeing/exploring. The tent will hopefully keep him safe and comfy and bored enough that he'll go to sleep.

Day 29

Madeleine snuggling my nephew Mathias.
Jealous?

Day 28

We went to visit our cousins who are camping at Assessippi Park, and we learned how to make the best cinnamon buns I've ever had in a big dutch oven with coals from the campfire.

Cecily learned that the really good stuff is what is left in the pot after you dump the cinnamon buns out.