kids update

i am always amazed at how brilliant my son is, its almost scary. he just gets stuff. i was complaining about what blake was watching on television the other day i.e. mma for a week in a row and he didn't want to watch "bones" (can you believe that?), so avery said that we could just both watch his show and that would be fair i.e. back at the barnyard. he was particular about which one he wanted to watch and there were 10 recorded. he was explaining to his dad how to get to the 8th one so he says, "go to the last one and then go back 3." what 6-year-old explains how to get to 8 in a sequence of 10 like that? it always makes us laugh too when we hear anna from the other room say, "avery we've watched this show 100 times." i don't think she's figured out that she's the oldest yet and that she should essentially have the remote and not him. avery's been reading "the magic tree house" books. we started in order and he is on the 9th one. after the first 2 he asked, "are they all about the magic tree house?" i explained that they were and he has been so excited about each new story that he wants to read a whole one every night, this takes at least an hour, and sometimes i try to talk him into cutting it short (what mother does that?). i was talking to megan on the phone the other day when he came in and wanted to read, i told him that he had read an hour the night before, so he was good. he then continued to whine that he wanted to read. i didn't think much about it until megan said, "your kids are so weird." i of course got defensive immediately until i realized that she meant most kids are whining because they don't want to read and avery was whining because he wanted to. they are a little weird i guess, but i wouldn't change them for the world.

anna has been obsessed with the baby, asking constantly if she's moving. i don't know why but i have a hard time sharing those little moments with anyone. its something i really have to work at. it has gotten a little easier with each pregnancy to share little things with blake that i am thinking or feeling and the changes happening to my body. it has been kind of weird to me to have a 10-year-old that wants in on the intimacy of it all. i think it has brought us closer together because i am not always able to connect with her. she is so different than me and has always been comfortable in her own skin that it is almost feels like she doesn't need me most of the time and i have to take a step back and realize that she does and its my responsibility to be there when i'm needed.

pomegranate salad

i have been a little worried about thanksgiving this year because since being pregnant i have had to avoid any sort of high fat dairy products and most other dairy products too (thank goodness i can still eat frozen yogurt). i really won't miss the pies too much, but the pomegranate salad is one of my favorites. we don't make it in our family with raisins and nuts, its just fruit, pomegranates, and heavy whipping cream with sugar. anyway, i found on the simply, healthy, tasty blog a recipe for whipping cream made out of coconut milk. i know i have seen this before but was a little leary because i can be a little picky when it comes to alternatives to what i'm used to, but after trying this whipping cream today on my peeled pomegranates, bananas, and apples, i'm sold. thanksgiving will not be ruined!!

on a lighter note....two new additions

we finally got something to put our tv in. i hate shopping for furniture and worst yet is actually having to spend money on it. our tv has been sitting on our coffee table for over ayear now and i decided that i wanted to get something up a little higher so i started shopping craigslist (because i can do this at home and find great deals). i finally found something that i liked that wasn't too big for the spot i had. anna had the best time organizing all the movies alphabetically into the dvd holders (she has a little ocd). it has been nice to have the tv up out of the reach of all the toddlers that toddle through our living room and the kids have to sit back a little farther from it because if they lay down too close they can't see it. hopefully, this will save their eyes. you would think with a 52" tv that they would be able to sit back a little bit, nope!!

blake got sick of having our shoes strung all over by the back door and so he had ben learned build us this handy dandy shoe rack. the kids made a quick habit of putting their shoes in it while their mother's were still thrown in the laundry room. just a funny little story: the other day i looked high and low for my shoes in the usual places first i.e. the bathroom, on the treadmill, in the laundry room, by my side of the bed, wherever is the most convenient. determining that they were lost for good and that the dogs must have taken off with them, i walked by this handy dandy little shoe rack on my way to look outside and guess what was in it, my shoes. someone had put them away for me in the most inconvenient of places.

our dogs maliciously killed

on saturday, October 3rd 2009 right after our soccer games, my dad was out front working on the tractor tires when he came in and said the neighbor came by and said that he saw 2 dead dogs that looked like ours down by the road (1 was his, 1 was mine). i jumped in the truck with him and sure enough cam and sissy were lying dead on the side of the road 20 feet off of henrie road. he was airing up the tire on his tractor so he missed the whole thing. an emu was running around the neighborhood and they had chased it off, being herding dogs, they were just herding it. they were not in the road mind you, they were in the dirt and you you could see the tire tracks of someone that intentionally drove off of henrie road 100 feet from where they lie to hit them and then drove back onto it. they were killed immediately, you could even see where they rolled for a second when hit. this was all within a 5 minute window from the time my dad said they chased the emu off until the time that the neighbor came over to tell us that they were dead. we were all so upset, we raised cam from a puppy and have had sissy since before avery was born. you have never seen anything so sad as your little 6-year-old boy digging a hole with the backhoe, helping his grandpa put the dogs in it, and with tears streaming down his eyes in the wind, sit on the tractor and fill the hole back in. the kids cried, i cried, and my dad cried for these animals that we had grown attached to. i wanted to find the person who did this and show them what they had done. i can't believe how malicious some people can be. avery wanted them thrown in jail and it is hard to explain to a 6-year-old that in the eyes of the law the value of an animals life is not held as high as that of a humans, but to my little boy, there is no difference. he says that he saw a black van hit them, but it could have been a blazer or a tahoe or something too. he is quite sure that it had some sort of lights on the top of it. i just want somebody to take responsibility for this and to apologize to my kids. for the life of me, i can't think of one person that i know that would kill a dog so maliciously without a second thought to the consequences. any ideas?

school and life update

well, life has been pretty crazy lately with school, soccer, music lessons, and just the everyday chores that never seem to end. avery has had 2 soccer games and made 2 goals the first one and 3 the second game with the score being only 3 to 1. he has turned into quite the little hustler which has been kind of expensive because last year we told him if he made a goal we would pay him $20 and our money was as safe as in the bank, but this year, before the first game thank goodness, i could tell that he had really improved and revised that to $20 for the first goal and only $5 for all subsequent goals. it still has cost me $40 so far and the season has just started for him. they made all girls and all boys teams this year and it has really stepped up anna's playing. i am her coach again and have always been since kindergarten so i guess i really notice what a difference it has made for all the girls not to be competing with the boys for the ball. it has been hot during their 11 o'clock and 12 o'clock games and i just keep pouring water over their heads and sending them back out to run. blake says that it is my job to get them in shape, but its kind of impossible with once a week practices, but i did check out some books and dvds from the library to improve my coaching skills. i absolutely enjoy the kids and my only complaint ever with coaching is the parents and their typical complaints of "she never takes her kid out" and "why isn't she doing this." my answer to them always is "here's the whistle." no one wants to do it, but they always will critique what you are doing.

blake is putting in another 18 acres and has spent every spare minute out in the dirt, this is bad first: because he isn't babying me and second: because it also means a lot more laundry; he doesn't get this dirty at work, what is up with that?

the kids are doing great in school and the very first week avery got the student of the week award and by the third week of school anna had already reached her 100 point reading goal. she is amazing!

i am getting huge, but my midwife says that i measure right where i am supposed to (not in my butt, but in my stomach). we are still trying to decide on a name, this is difficut for me and blake because we like such different names. she is starting to be a lot more active which puts my mind at ease, that and reading "childbirth without fear" has helped too. i can't seem to read enough lately, you name it, i've read it, the good with the bad. i have been sick twice now this pregnancy where i thought i was going to die, which is really rare for me. in fact, i have never had the flu until this week when i got every symptom. i need more sun i guess and blake says "water" because i always tell him that water cures everything, i might be wrong.