Truck meets hair...

So, my little girl was playing with a truck. I love it! I am so glad. I never wanted girls who only played with dolls, or boys who only played with trucks. Now, this truck was the kind that you could pull back, and then it would drive by itself. This truck happens to go fast, and it also happens to have great traction. It's a great truck.

My little girl has long hair. Somehow, this great truck ended up wrapped all around her hair. I had visions of cutting her hair to get the darn thing out. Thankfully, I only had to unwrap it from the wheel, it came out. There weren't even any tears!

strategies for remembering names.....

Sometimes when you are outnumbered by your children, you might find yourself mixing up their names. You might be trying to talk to Connor, for example, and you might say "AlWyattSmokeyMittens... CONNOR". Or even when you are trying to talk to Aisling, you might say "ConnorWyattMittens... AISLING". It happens all the time. Well, here's an idea. Get yourself a label maker. We got ours off of Amazon.com. It wasn't very expensive. (Well worth it, I think). Put the kids' names in the label maker, and have them wear their names. Really, it works. You can't go wrong.

Overheard at the dinner table...

"The lady who gives me my hot lunch", says Connor,
"is waaay older than grandma.
She's 28".

Cupcake

Just what we need, one more creature to take care of. I am so weak. We have a fish now. His name is cupcake. Don't ask me how I know it's male, I just do. Connor wanted to know, so, he's male. Cupcake is a Japanese Fighting Fish, a Beta. I only hope none of his Japanese Fighting Fish opponents know his name. "Cupcake" doesn't really instill any fear.

The athlete

So, now soccer is the sport. Another reason why we cannot get into a rhythm with school! Soccer is every Tuesday or Thursday, and every Sunday. Connor loves it. It makes me remember loving it very much too. I don't remember playing soccer at this age though, he's quite young for it!! He does things like play tag on the field, or roll somersaults. Why not? open air, beautiful weather, great grass... besides, the ball is like WAAAY on the other side of the field! Mind you, the entire field is about the size of one half of a regular soccer field.

They don't have goalies at this age yet, although you can see that Connor does play quite the intimidating defense man.

First day of school!

Wow, I cannot believe what a huge transition it is to go to kindergarten. I mean, for me. He's doing fine. He loves it! I am having a very difficult time getting everyone up and out the door on time in the morning. We need better systems. We'll get there.

Here are some pictures of the first day of school. We are in a family including a preschooler, a kindergartener, and a fourth grader.

Camping, again. No burns this time!

So, we had our third annual 'family' camp week from July 31-August 5. This is a week where several families, depending on the day, get together to camp. We've had the same place for three years in a row now. We camp at Lake Groton, at Stillwater State park. We can actually get to the lake from our campsites. The kids can play in a little bay area while we are sitting around camp. It's the greatest campsite I have ever been to! Unfortunately, they were booked for next year, so we won't be able to go there again. No worries, we have a new place. This is the most wonderful trip, and the kids (and adults) look forward to it all year long. There are at least 8 children under 10, depending on the day. It's amazing how they are able to play together so well. Take kids with no TV or anything for a week, and it's so fun to see their imaginations! This year we were able to go fishing, and we also rode in our new canoe. It's always an amazing blast. Words cannot describe how much fun we have there, or how special this trip is to all of us! This group of friends, is really more like family, and my female friends are really like sisters. Get 4-5 sisters together and you can picture the camping trip! Here are some pictures.

Here's a little bit about the pictures: Connor fishing off the pier; Connor, Aisling and a friend splashing at the bay at our site; the beach, this is across from our campsite. In years past we have biked there. This year we took the canoe across the lake; Connor and Aisling at a little shelter built by the CCCs which is at the top of Owl's head, a little hike we do each year; Al and Aisling fishing; Aisling eating a s'more (and glowing for some reason); Connor splashing at our site; Aisling nursing her baby and reading a hiking book; Al washing dishes; the Frugoli family at Owl's head; all the kids at the top of Owl's head (we had two more one day when some friends came to visit. Ages from left to right: 5, 2, 3, 6, 10, 9, 5, 9, 5. Great mix! and last, our tent city! We have four tents right there, one tent in a lean-to out of camera range. we also have one lean-to devoted to food and cooking, and one devoted to playing (stage...).