Drowning My Tears In A Coke

This is my little Ginny, 3 years ago, sending Tay off to first grade. She followed her sister all the way up to the doors and was sad when she couldn't go in.

Now here she is today, super excited for her first day in Kindergarten.
I can't say that I was happy... I bawled like a baby all the way to the school.

Of course Reese had to get in on the action and wear a backpack too.
Had she not needed a nap so badly, she probably would have put up a fight when I didn't let her follow Ginny into the school.

This is Ginny with her neighbor and friend, Tyler. They enjoyed the playground until the whistle blew for school to start.

Before the teacher took them in, she taught them how to do the "I Love You" sign in sign language. Ginny didn't quite get it down... she's just holding up an arthritic claw.

That girl never stops making me laugh!

And off they went. They wanted to make sure that I got a picture of their backpacks. I love the fact that Ginny does not mind hand me downs. Taylor used that backpack from kindergarten through half of 3rd grade. Lucky for me, it still looks practically brand new.

And Last, the PTA had a "Kleenex Party" for all of the kindergarten mom's. Reese quickly forgot about Ginny as soon as she saw the mini muffins and juice.

So that was my crappy afternoon. It is almost 2 in the afternoon, my 2 older kids are at school, Reese is napping, and I'm sitting here at the computer crying. I should be cleaning my bathrooms or mopping my kitchen, but I'm too sad right now.

I cry every year on the first day of school, but for some reason today has been especially hard. Maybe it's because I went through so much crap to get Ginny here, I don't know. All I know is that I only have one kid left at home and I'm not ready for Ginny to grow up.

Oh well, Homeschooling her would do more harm than good, so I guess that I have to get used to sending her off every day.

Boooooo! (maybe more like Boo-Hoo)!

Aaawwww, Nuts!

I love Ginny! There is never a dull moment with this kid.

Last week she was playing catch with her Dad. At one point the ball hit her in the head, to which she replied, "Oh man, you got me in the nuts!". After DJ finally stopped laughing, he vaguely explained what "nuts" are.

Well, yesterday she asked me if boys can ride bikes. I told her that they could. After a moment of thinking, she asked me how they could sit on the seat. I had an idea where this conversation was going, but I asked her what she meant anyway. She wanted to know how the heck they could sit, without sitting on their "nuts". I told her that they just do, so she said, "Oh, do they just kind of hang there and rest on the seat?"

Yup, that's about right kid!!

Besides her recent obsession with nuts, she is bound and determined to see a baby be born. When she found out that the neighbor was going to the hospital to deliver her baby, she asked if she could go and watch. I told her no, so she went on to say that she was really good friends with Kim, so she should be invited to watch. Again, I told her that she wasn't invited. Well, the next day she asked me if I was going to have another baby. When I told her no, she asked, "Don't you want to have a boy?" I told her no. "Don't you want to have another girl?" No again. This prompted a 10 minute discussion on how it's not fair that she is 5 yrs old and has never seen a baby be born. Fast forward the next day... "Hey Mom, I'll bet Aunt Cassie will let me watch her have a baby."

I don't think that will happen, but if anyone wants to invite Ginny to join them in the delivery room, just give her call. That would really make her day!

Also, Ginny had her Kindergarten evaluation yesterday. After it was done, I asked the teacher how she did. Her response was, "She did Okay." She then went on to say that all kids are born with so many different gifts that get unwrapped at different stages.

I've tried teaching her, she just doesn't care. We call her the party girl. When I tried to teach her to count past 30, she informed me that counting is only good for playing Hide and Go Seek, and that you don't need to count higher than 30.

Atleast she's got her charm!

Our Trip To The Oregon Coast

The view from our balcony



4 of the 7 girls

Reese wouldn't take these glasses off... I thought that I was going to have to buy them.

Am I crazy? Probably.

Last week my younger sister Laurel and I , loaded our 4 girls and an extra niece into a van and drove up to Oregon. Our older sister Natalie moved up to Salem 5 years ago for her husband's law school, and is there to stay. I hadn't been up to see her yet, so off we went. We were able to stay at the beach for a couple of nights, and crashed at Nat's place for the rest of the week. I had to post a million separate posts to highlight the trip, so keep on reading... there's lots!

Between the 3 sisters, we have 7 daughters and 0 boys. Laurel is currently prego with a boy, but that doesn't count. My poor bro in law Neal was a great sport and kept us all laughing. It takes a true man to deal with 10 girls for a full week. I'm sure that people thought that we were stylish polygamists. We even considered doing the traditional Poly hairstyles.

Here are a few things I learned:

1. My niece Addy can sing "Old McDonald" over 20 times a day...EVERYDAY!
2. A bad enough migraine can make me almost pass out in Walmart and barf in my sisters toilet. (I will never be able to eat popcorn shrimp or chicken from Walmart's deli again)
3. My niece Abby, who turned 1 while we were there, almost makes me want another baby (Almost).
4. Addie likes to wake up at 6 every morning. Not so fun when you and your 1 yr old are sharing a room with her. Good morning sunshine!
5. Waking up to a 2 yr old rubbing your boob is kind of weird. I guess she likes them.
6. Ginny will do anything for a laugh! See Laurel's blog here //http://brianlaurelking.blogspot.com/2009/07/highlight-of-trip.html for an explanation.
7. Having 3 nieces live out of state makes me miss out on alot... they are all so hilarious!
8. Going on vacation for a week, with all 3 kids and no husband makes me need a vacation... from the kids!
9. I missed DJ a TON!!
10. DJ doesn't know how to work the washer... he was wearing his old ratty underwear when I got home. Atleast he was wearing some, right?

What an amazing week we had! Thanks Nat and Neal for putting up with us for a week! I can't wait to go back.

Tilamook Cheese And Ice Cream

The Crazy Dairy Farmer


The Cute Farmer

Laurel the farmer and Addie the Cow... she's even got the Moo thing down

Ginny and Tay

Neal, Kate, Abby, and Sarah

You can't go to the Oregon coast without stopping by the Tilamook Cheese Factory, or Cheese Land, as Addie liked to call it. They have 38 different flavors of the yummiest ice cream. I couldn't choose just one, so I got 3 different flavors... Sooey!!

We got to see them make cheese, which is always pretty cool . We then had to stock up on cheese curds for the rest of the trip... Yummy!

Strawberry Shortcake For Breakfast

Dang this is good!

Hands off kid, this is mine!

Who WOULDN'T like to have a ginormous bowl of berry shortcake for breakfast?

We went to EZ Orchards first thing in the morning and payed a visit to their shortcake stand. It was so darn yummy! They give you a huge shortcake biscuit cut in half, with a ton of yummy vanilla ice cream, a bunch of mixed berries, and whipped cream on top. That's my kind of breakfast! I will definitely pay a visit to EZ Orchards next time I visit Oregon.

Mmmmmmm, Berries!

I love berries, especially fresh ones. My girls do too. We loaded up all of the kids and took them to a berry farm to pick our own blueberries and blackberries. For about $1 a pound you can pick whatever berries are in season. We took home about 5 pounds of berries and put them on vanilla ice cream. The next morning we made crepes and filled them with berries and whipped cream... YUM!!!

I haven't weighed myself since coming home, but I've probably gained about 10 pounds. It was totally worth it!

The Carousel

Ginny, me, and Reese

My little sister Laurel and her girl Addison

(and her baby boy in utero)

Addison

This is my (2 years) older sister Natalie, who hosted us on our trip. She is with her 6 yr old Kate, and 1 yr old Abigail. In the back you can see Sarah (11), Addison (2), Taylor (9), Ginny (5), Me (old), and Reese (1).

Thank goodness for my sister and her awesome camera! I kept forgetting to grab mine so I had to rely on her take pictures of our adventures.

We took the kids to this really cool carousel by the Willamette River. All of the horses are hand carved and painted. They are really pretty. Reese especially loved it.

After our rides we went outside to drink our Coke's and we witnessed a guy being drug off in handcuffs by 2 police officers. After they put him in their cruiser, we told my 11 yr old niece Sarah to go ask the cops what he did. Of course she did, she always does our dirty work, and they told her that it was personal for the guy (AKA he exposed himself or something sick like that). Never a dull moment with my family, that's for sure!