Memories last a lifetime

What a flip flopped week. Thursday started out horrible...as in, super-busy, car insurance mini-disaster, soccer practice rained out, straight from work to a Pampered Chef party...luckily, I work from home and the party was across the street! And Friday, was fantastic!

Friday, I got to watch one of the neighbor girls and it was so fun to watch her pretend and play. She did discover the Baby Alive doll and how it went potty. When the kids got home, she was anxious to show them. She squeezed the water into the doll's mouth and kept pulling the diaper down. The doll suddenly shot out water across the room and nailed my arm! That created a lot of laughs!

The girls were playing with pretend jewelry and I had the idea to set up a jewelry store. I told them each to go get a purse from Sofia's room and we set up shop, playing for hours. There were several quotes I wish I could remember. At one point, the boys came out and Darius pretended to "rob" the jewlery store. He thought it was funny, but I advised against that type of behavior. So, instead, the boys started shopping at the jewelry store when it "went global" according to Cole, and we set up outside. The jewelry gave the boys super powers.

It was such a great days since there wasn't a lot of fighting, really none actually, and we only watched The Princess and the Frog and started Aliens in the Attic, but got too busy playing jewelry store.

We only had one soccer game this morning and then Sofia plays tomorrow. And next week is the long awaited debut of Darius playing basketball for the first time. We waited until he showed an interest in it and he finally said he wanted to play. So, Ewan will coach yet another team. For the next few weeks, soccer and basketball will overlap and Sofia is starting a cheerleading class for the next month or so. It's pretty much going to get chaotic at the Auguste household. But, it's going to be lots of fun and I am looking forward to it.

For those that don't have kids, you do not realize how quickly this time flies. Honestly, it is so scary. So, we do what the kids want to do and there will be plenty of time during the years when they don't want anything to do with us. We can't do it all, but we enjoying the balancing act, and still trying to have some down time at home with each other. We feel so thankful for what we have been blessed with and despite the stress and chaos of our busy schedule, we are making memories that will last a lifetime.

Psalm 78:4
We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.

Thank Heaven for Big Brothers :)

I completely dreaded the days of kindergarten after two years of preschool and having to wake Sofia up. She is not a morning person. Her hair was a mess, she wouldn't wear socks, wouldn't wear panties. It was basically a total nightmare. I dreaded it the 3 days a week that I actually had to get her ready. So, all I could think about was the fact that at the start of kindergarten, I would have to do it 5 days a week!

Luckily, the Happy Morning Gods have shined upon us. Everyone wakes up without a fight. The braid has kept me sane. Undo it in the morning, no tangles, beautiful hair. Thank you Lord.

Despite the few tears at school at the end of the last two days, Sofia is really enjoying it. I have gotten two different stories from two different kids, trying to explain why these tears occur. Apparently, Sofia thinks the school day is just a little too long. When they are getting rounded up to head in the gym to get on the bus, Sofia breaks down and is ready to go. But, never fear, Big Brother to the rescue! Mrs. Switzky goes to get Darius to come stand by his sister. He really is a great brother. On the first day of school, they were eating breakfast and out of the blue, Darius patted Sofia on the head and said, "Have a great first day of school Sofie." It was so sweet. No one was talking and that's what he had to say. He really does love her, even though he chooses to "beat" her up sometimes, or take her things.

So far, the start of the 2010 school year seems to be a success. Only two days down. We'll see where this new adventure in life takes us!

Have a Schlitterific Day!

Okay, so the Negative Nancy attitude that some people have about Schlitterbahn can just stay home. There's a reason that I only have pictures from our mini-vaca include everything BUT Schlitterbahn....we were too busy having fun!

Friday night started off at the Holiday Inn Express, where we discussed what would be served at the complimentary breakfast, where Kids Eat Free. Hmm. Does that make sense to you? I am not even a breakfast person, but was fascinated with what stuff they might have. I knew there would be no bacon and waffles, and Ewan was convinced there would be. No bacon. No waffles.

We went to the T-Rex cafe on Friday night. Been there before, but Janel hadn't and it's kid-friendly. Sort-of. Unless you're Sofia and you're afraid of everything but water. It was delicious and we ended up celebrating Sofia's birthday there. Why not? I mean, give the girl a cookie and some ice cream. Fun times.

Walked around Legends for awhile and got the kids some shoes at the only store that was open at this time. Played in the fountains. All around, a great time. But, still just leading up to the point of the trip....SchlittTrip 2010!

Long story short, I bought our tickets on ebay (Thank you Stacy!) and the deal was too good to be true. I was just sure we would get to the gate and have to slap down the credit card and pay another $130 on top of the $58 that I got 4 tickets for. Yes, 4 tickets for $58.00. Total. So, we paid less than $15 bucks a head. But, after actually going to Schlitterbahn and experiencing the most awesome attraction...

The "Wavy River" (that's what we renamed it) and, the Shawnee North "Lazy River" is now renamed Lamo River. Things will never look the same there again. It can't be called Lazy River anymore because you can't be lazy there, you actually have to do some work to get yourself going. The "Wavy River" (actually called the Torrent River) will do all the work for you, however, it is fun to position yourself against the outside wall in order to catch the full height of the wave. I could go on and on about this, but I will stop. Just go experience it for yourself.

And, if this day wasn't already amazing, Shelly and Nelly took us to an amazing Jamaican restaurant, G's Jamaican Cuisine.Un-believeable. I like food and all, but when I take a bite and start making noises, it's pretty darn good. Brown Stew Chicken. Out of this world. Sofia of course got chicken tenders and fries, but those things were awesome too. So, she says she's going back and getting the same thing. Whatever. Suit yourself, I will be branching out and trying some more Caribbean food. I told Ewan on the way home that regular food just doesn't taste good anymore. There's no flavor explosion. These island people know how to cook. No air conditioning in the restaurant. You walk in and feel like you walked straight into a place on the actual island. You can't beat that. Darius just walked in from riding his bike and randomly started talking about G's. We had authentic Jamaican "pop," Kola Champagne and Cream Soda and they loved it. Obviously. They can't stop talking about it.

So, 11pm and we roll into the driveway. A fantastic time had by all and SchlittTrip 2010 was a HUGE success. We missed the rest of our Caribbean Crew, but we're not leaving you behind next time. No crew member, or wife or kid left behind!

It's 12:45am and I am blogging...

Long boring day, what am I still doing awake? Sofia is on the couch next to me, snoring. Darius is laying in his bed, coughing, as usual. And, I should be in bed. Thursdays are now my Friday due to my latest work schedule, so I guess I am just taking advantage of my awesome 3 day weekend.

I seriously wish I had something entertaining to share, but I just don't. I am topping off this boring day, with a boring blog. I guess that would be starting off this day with a boring blog. Maybe I will wake up and have something important to share. A cool dream or something. Until then, goodnight. :)

Isn't it Ironic? Dontcha think?

Well, we live in Kansas, so I suppose rain at the most inopportune time is VERY likely. What goes better with fireworks than water? i.e. rain.... Actually, I can think of MANY things that go better with fireworks. The pool, water slide, horseshoes, water balloons. Everything I had planned for the Caribbean Night/Birthday/4th of July/Anniversary celebration. It felt like we were staring at the rain all day long, waiting for it to stop. It would sprinkle, pour, sprinkle, pour. Repeat.

The dominoes went on. The music went on. The food, went on and on, and on. The rain went on. Watching the radar, eating some more, playing in the rain. Rain seemed to be the guest of honor, and then, finally, a ray of hope.

The rain stopped just in time to go load up on fireworks, return home, get dark and light them off. It was definitely a memorable time for me at the fireworks stand. Sloshing around in mud, and somehow, I was the only who left with mud splattered up the back of my legs, all over the back of my shorts and squished between my flip flopped toes. I wish I had a picture of this lovely sight. My husband sent me straight to the shower when I got back. Apparently, this mud mess didn't look quite right on my rear.

We had a slight mishap with the neighbors firework falling over and everyone ducking for cover. I did run away and slipped in the garage falling on both of my knees, but did go back to try and snatch up my kids. By then, I think the scare was over. But, when you have shots firing all different ways and you don't know where the next one is going, things turn into chaos mode. The important thing is, I remembered to go back for my kids, even if it was slightly after the fact. Oops. I think everyone was a little weary of lighting anything...for the next few minutes.

Sofia survived the noise and she actually enjoyed herself, despite needing a nap "right now" in the middle of the day. But, Grandma Pam let her sleep on her lap, and then she was good to go.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from the evening. Sometimes you are just too busy to take any pictures. And somehow, I woke up to a clean house, all of the dishes done, not many fireworks outside to clean up and everything back in it's place. Thanks to all of our wonderful Carribean crew guests, WU family and my Mom and Grandma for helping keep things under control and picked up throughout the night. The 1st annual cul-de-sac 4th was a fun and exciting one, despire God's little rain display. But, he was generous enough to open up the floor just in time for the lightening of the fireworks. Isn't it ironic? Dontcha think?

Time for an update, just to say I blogged today.

Wow. There has been absolutely nothing to blog about lately. Nothing really interesting, besides all of the sickness at our house, which is definitely not fun to blog about. So, I will spare you the details. I could have been blogging about the Hammers successes, but I didn't want to jinx them. They did end up with a 1st place finish for the regular season and are now in tournament play. I am just going to let them have fun with this. In the end, they will still get a tropy for being first place in the regular season. It's been a long few months, but I know Darius has had a blast!

But, today is a Happy Birthday day. Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband. The beginning of July is big for us....July 1st - E's birthday. July 3rd - our anniversary (7 great years!) and then of course, July 4th - Independence Day!!!! And, for us, that means, food, friends and fireworks.

Apparently, we have a family tradition of staying at home on the 4th of July. We're not allowed to go anywhere. People can come to our house, we just can't go to others. I do appreciate that my husband gets these things in his head, and they mean a lot to him. So, this year will be a big collaboration of celebrations.... the birthday, the anniversary, Caribbean night and the 4th. I think I may actually be leaving something out, but that doesn't matter. The show must go on.

This will be our first year of having the 4th at the cul-de-sac and we are excited. I was kind of hoping that more of the neighbors would be home so we could have a big outdoor party, but it sounds like some of them will be out for awhile. I wanted to share our bakes and rum cake! But, we will still have a great time. Regular Caribbean night activities will resume in August, just before school starts. Wow. That is so crazy to even think about. So, let's don't.

We did kick off the week on Sunday with a great day at Phil's house. There were blow up water slides, a bouncer, the trampoline, the pond with paddle boat and diving board, and of course food, friends and fireworks. The 3 key F's. Unfortunately, Sofia was sick and didn't participate much in the evening. She had to be rescued by her Grandma Pam Cockerham. Thank Goodness for Grandma's to come and save you. I am sure she was feeling much better after some TLC from her. She was like a new kid when we went to pick her up. And, also a big thanks to Lisa for the Motrin. It was truly a lifesaver that night!

So, the countdown is on. Only 2 more days until the 4th of July. Happy Birthday America!

Take me out to the ballgame....

Am I seriously about to post this? Really? Admitting that I can't get enough of watching the Mini 7's play baseball? Wow. Who am I?

So, around February, some of you may have read my posts complaining about all of the baseball practices and how I hate baseball anyway, and Darius isn't going to like it, blah, blah, blah... Well, I take it all back.

The Hammers have been working so hard and have been pulling out wins all season. It has been so much fun to watch them work together and get excited to keep winning. They have been told that they can't assume they will win, and I think they all realize that, and that is very important, since they are currently undefeated. I don't even like to say that out loud. They seem too little to be keeping score and standings. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or bad thing. I haven't decided yet.

Win or lose, I will be proud of those Hammers and how well they have done this season. We've got three days straight of baseball coming up, and I actually don't mind. (And, I'm sorta tan from being forced to sit in the sun for two hours at a time, days in a row.)

Go Hammers!

CBN Memories

According to Darius, Caribbean Night has been one of the best things ever invented since moving. This is supposed to be an exclusive event and I could get in trouble for sharing so many of the details, but I just can't help it. There are so many memorable quotes, photo ops, candid kids and grown adults, just having a great time.

Darius woke up this morning and said...

"Could you please just play the Ragga Ragga song?" Darius had a great time dancing around the entire house and this was one of his favorites, although he has already complained about not letting him hear Justin Beiber. Hmmm....

Then, he walked into the kitchen and shook his head and said, "Man, this Caribbean Night, all we had was meat and grains and cheese. That would be a milk product." I guess he forgot about the cheese balls, cupcakes, cake, spinach and artichoke dip, Twizzlers, hershey kisses, some secret food that the Committee wouldn't share and cheesecake that never even made it out.

Now, the girls just float around the house. You don't hear much out of them, but they have their baby dolls and push their strollers. (Since there is so much space) And, baby Sean is up and walking. I can't wait for him to start talking!

This Caribbean night was particularly special due to the graduation of three of the committee members. The 4 members of the Caribbean Committee are now all proud alumni of Washburn University. Congratulations to 4 SMART BODS!

Darius walked up to one of our newest Caribbean Night regular, Janel, and said, "Ya know what?" Janel acknowledged him and Darius said..."My Dad's a Master." Now we're all just trying to figure out what he is the Master of.

The 4th of June

So, yes, I may be a little early for the Fourth of July, but in the world of blogs, changing your template is kind of a pain. Who has time to search for a new template when there are so many random things to be blogged about.

I labeled this the Fourth of June, because, that is just around the corner, and then, one short month from then, will be...the Fourth of July.

I don't have anything really exciting to post about, except that I am preparing for a special day tomorrow. It will be a Caribbean Committee graduation celebration extravaganza. Also, good luck to the Hammers! We will miss the game due to Ewan's graduation, but it was easy to choose which was more important. I love watching those Hammer's, but I will love watching my husband even more. Hey, I'm lucky he is even going to graduation!

The Tornado Saga

Well, anyone who has ever read my blog probably knows that this isn't the first tornado dream and certainly won't be the last. If I had the power to block out these terrifying dreams, I certainly would do so.

Last night's episode occured out in an open area similar to the cul-de-sac we live on, but Ewan and the kids and I were actually together, which is a rare occurence. I don't know why it is so much more comforting to have Ewan there in terrifying situations, especially when he thinks tornadoes aren't a huge deal, but, he was there, and I was glad.

This wasn't as long as some previous tornado dreams, but we were all outside playing. Darius was riding his bike when we spotted one tornado. I was motioning for Darius to find this little hole that we would take shelter in. The ground was white, the hole was round and about the size of a frisbee. Darius was able to get in feet first, and I was halfway in when Ewan pointed out another tornado on the other side. He was reaching for Sofia's hand and then I woke up, so Darius was the only one in this strange shelter.

We live outside these days, and the surroundings were familiar, but we are usually surrounded by our neighbors and neighbor kids. In the dream, no one was around. It was quiet and still and then the wind picked up and the tornado appeared.

Since I was awake and couldn't sleep after the dream, I made the mistake of googling tornado dreams, which surprisingly, I have never done before. Of course, there were lots of different interpretations...chaos in your life, the possibility of being uprooted to a new place, etc... but I still attribute these dreams to 1) my fear of tornadoes since I was little and 2) my kids. I started having these recurring tornado dreams when I was pregnant with Darius and for awhile, everytime I had a tornado dream, I thought I was pregnant. I always had such detailed dreams while I was pregnant with both kids, so, naturally, I put the two together. I now know that if I really was pregnant everytime I dreamed about a tornado, we would have outgrown this house long ago!