Happy Birthday, America!

We finally made it down to the lake this year!  It took us until the fourth of July, but we made it!  We got down there Thursday night.  Mom and Dad were already there and we headed to Cookies for dinner.  We then headed back and went to bed.  The next morning we got up and headed to the boat.  We got caught in one HECK OF A RAIN storm!!!  It was raining so hard that it hurt!  When we got back to the dock Peyton said that she made some good life-time memories…..ones that she is gonna share with her kids some day.  HA!!  So I guess getting pelted by rain was worth it if it was a life-time memory for her!!
We headed in and took naps.  The Schuettes then got there and we cooked and ate dinner.  We then headed to Pontiac to watch their fire works.  It was a decent show and the kids enjoyed it!  The next day we spent ALL DAY on the boat.  Everyone had a good, good day!!!  Jack finally officially got up on skis and loved it!  All three kids loved the tube and couldn't get enough!  Once we got back to the house that night and ate dinner nobody wanted to go back out on the boat for Theodosia's fire works.  So we watched those form the deck….and it was just fine!!!!
The kids and adults had a great time and we are looking forward to our next trip down…..

This picture made me laugh.  We had to wait a little bit for a table at Cookies the first night, and I look over all three kids are "reading" the paper…...

 The beginning of LOTS of fun!

 Lots of skiing……….

Lots of tubing……..

 AND LOTS OF PLAYING…...

 And flipping…..

WCC Swimming 2015

Well swim team season has been wet and cold!  But it hasn't stopped them!!  The kids have had swim practice every day except two……and they've all been troopers!!!

Peyton has had a pretty solid season.  She swims consistently every stroke except breast stroke….that's not quite her gig, but she does very well in all the others.  She usually comes home with a  handful of ribbons.  Her and her friend Kate continue to be neck and neck on most races.  It's a friendly competition and they are always happy for the other one when they win.  They are good for each other.    This weekend is the championship meet so we will see how she does.

Jack has had a good season as well.  I'm super proud of him for all he has accomplished.  Swimming doesn't come easy to that boy but he works his tail off and has come a long way.  I explained to him at the beginning of the year that he had to move up in age this year.  Last year he got a participation ribbon every time he swam.  This year he had to bump up and they only give ribbons to the first three places.  I was realistic with him and told him he probably wouldn't win much for ribbons this year.  A few swim meets he opted out of and had some golf and wii time with Dad.  Then towards the end of the season he was ready to take on a meet.  HE WON A RIBBON!!!  He got a 3rd place ribbon and I was sooooo happy for him!!!  He was super pumped…..and it was well deserved.  This boy has worked hard and he actually enjoys it now.

And he is off……...

 Super proud of his ribbon….so am I!!

 Getting tagged in on a relay…..

And now SHE is off…...

Now for some backstroke…..

And now for some butterfly!  She loves to swim this stroke, but it sure does wear her out!

Zeke and Peyton Look-A-Like

This has got to be one of the funniest pictures I've seen in a while.  I was flipping through my phone after spending the 4th down at the lake with Mom, Dad, and the Schuette's (including Zeke)…..and I found this gem.  Peyton sure does love her some selfies!!!

Mom and kid roadtrip to KC

The kids and I got sick of the rain and took off on a little adventure.  We headed to Kansas City on a Sunday morning.  We went straight to the Kiewiets and spent the rest of the day and evening with them.  The next morning we hung with them until about noon and then we headed to Great Wolf Lodge and met up with Momma and kids Riggio.  The kids had a great, great time playing in the water park all day!
Maddie was able to do all the big slide (except one), as long as she rode in my tube with me.  This is awesome, as we could all wait in the lines together and all slide on the same slides.  Jack did not ride any of the slides that go dark.  He's not a fan of slides that go dark.  He also wasn't too sure of the biggest ride there either.  I finally convinced him the next day to ride it and then he loved it.
The kids and I had a great time, we will definitely be going back to Great Wolf and spending more than one night….it wasn't quite enough as we didn't get to do any of the other things the hotel has to offer!  It was a good getaway for a dreary summer!

To ER or not?!?!

NO WAY!!!  Not with this one!  So, I'm downstairs and hear an incredibly LOUD thud upstairs.  Peyton starts SCREAMING, I mean SCREAMING, like she's dying, saying, "MY HEAD, MY HEAD!"  I sprint up the stairs thinking something has went really wrong.  I find her on my floor holding her forehead.  To speed this story up a bit, she basically fell off my bed and hit the corner of my nightstand.  She then felt her head and felt blood and a "hole."  She is coo coo crazy when she gets any kind of wound.  So, she is panicking, so I put pressure on it and get it to stop bleeding.  I then put a band aide on it and act like it never happened.  When really, in my mind, I thought "this could probably use a stitch or two"…..but there was no way on Earth I was taking coo coo crazy girl to the ER.  They'd have to sedate her just to look at it.  Not worth it…..a scar would be better.

Mike then gets home from work and he takes the band aide off to take a look.  He decides to try and butterfly it, so that she will hopefully have lesser of a scar when she's a teenager and cares.  Holy crap!!!  It was a site.  She was scared to death……like she was going to have some major procedure or something over a flipping butterfly band aide.  She's got such anxiety!!!  Mike finally got it on and then had to redo it because she was sweating too badly by the time he got it on.  Shew!   What a fun Friday night!!!!

Trying to explain to her that this is not a big deal, it's actually just a BAND AIDE!!!

Now she's got Maddie freaked out by all the drama!

Now for the best part of the story!!  WHY DID SHE FALL OFF MY BED???  Because she was on my iPad making funny pictures of herself.  She made one that she thought was so funny, that she belly laughed and rolled off the bed……LOL   So, later I asked her to show me this funny picture, and here it is:

Don't know if it's quite so funny for all the trauma or not!!!