Our family vacation

We had so much fun! My mom and dad rented a house on Lake Gaston, and my sisters and their husbands and babies all came, too. There were a grand total of eight adults and 7 kids (6 and under). And one dog.
The pictures:
Dancing to "Silly Songs With Grandad"

My boys

Last day boat-ride

Katie driving

My kids named this place "Fun Fort Island". Wonder why...


Our tie-dye adventure

The results! No, just kidding...that's Joy's tie-dye (thecolorfarm.com)

Cutie Evie and Micah

Gwenn drawing with sparklers

Jon drawing a heart

Evie and Melody

The boys caught this fish WITH A NET. 37.5 inches.

Off for our tubing adventure
Katie's the only kid who actually liked tubing.
This was the favorite activity of the week.

The soundtrack of my childhood

I so totally loved this show. It's a little trippy now, huh?

Late-breaking news! My "MOTY" award called into question!

Today was a good day. It was a semi-stormy day, which means that the OBX battened down hatches, bought a lot of beer, and waited for "Hurricane" Hana. Which never really happened, FYI. I'm certainly thankful that we were spared, but at the same time, it's really hilarious. However, we did experience some sound-side flooding, severe enough that downtown Manteo flooded deep enough to kayak on the streets. That's ALWAYS a good time. Jon received a call at home from one of the town commissioners about the flooding, and he went and made sure the roadblocks were in place. Then we had a hurricane party with the rest of the Full Moon Cafe crew.
All of our children were splashing the street, wake-boarding, kayaking, getting entirely soaking wet. (Mine, at least, were clothed.) However, at one point, an older couple waded through and saw my three children splashing around in the waterfront "garage". They immediately chastised them (although I was about 20 feet away and COMPLETELY supervising them), saying, "That's NASTY, children! There's all kinds of germs in that water!" When my kids kind of ignored them (not rudely, just not really paying attention to strangers), they said, "Well! I guess no one really gives a crap what their kids are doing!" Let me tell you, people, Mama Bear ROARED to the surface. Well, I should say, Snarky Bear. I called across the sidewalk, "Actually, we DO give a crap! We're all good, thanks for asking!"
Seriously, people. Raise your own kids. I'll raise mine (and make them shower when they've swum in sound water, thank you very much). However, I did get to see said couple a few more times during the evening, and every time was able to get a comment heard, something to the effect of, "Well, it's a good thing I'm MOTHER OF THE YEAR! AND I NEVER LET MY KIDS SWIM IN THE SOUND!"
Good times, good times.

Finally!

Finally, Melody (my sister) has a blog. You should totally read it.
It's linked under my favorites at the right.

First day story

So my sister Gwenn and I often joke about our "bad mommy moments", in which we tell each other to "pass over the 'Mother of the Year' award". I had one this week, but I would like to point out that it was ENTIRELY not my fault, and I should, in fact, get an actual Mother of the Year award for pulling through as I did. (What's that you say? You say that the trophy already belongs to Sarah Palin? That I'd need to revitalize a completely corrupt state government whilst managing my five children gracefully? Well, in that case, I concede. I heart Sarah Palin.)
Anyway, due to another "MOTY" moment last winter, I forgot to fill out an application for Abbie to attend the pre-school her siblings had attended until the last minute. Of course, at that point, they were full, even though they give first priority to siblings and members of their church. I resigned myself to teaching her at home with the other kids (which would have been fine, I'm sure). However, after the school had their parent orientation in mid-August, it became apparent that there were spots opened up, and Ms. Shon offered us a spot for Abbie. I sent Katie around the corner to pick up the packet of papers I needed, glanced through them, and set them aside. One thing I DID notice was that on the top of the contract, it said, "School starts September 3, 2008." Great. September 3, 2008, is a Wednesday, and Abbie only goes Monday and Tuesday, so I figured she'd be starting a week after Labor Day, on Monday the 8th.
Guess again! Evidently, the September THIRD thing was a typo, meant to be September SECOND. It was caught by a parent in the meeting, addressed and promptly forgotten about by Ms. Shon. (Who I adore; don't get me wrong. She just forgot to tell me.) So I'd only gotten about half of the supplies on Abbie's list and NOT ironed the sweet little dress I wanted her to wear on the first day, along with cutie little side-by-side French braids. I just HAPPENED to be out on the porch asking Jon something about 8:15 Tuesday morning when I saw my friend DeAnn drive by, headed toward the pre-school. I thought, "That's odd; I wonder why she's going there TODAY?" (This thought was, of course, accompanied by a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that I'd managed to screw this up.) I immediately called her on her cell, and said, "Pre-school starts NEXT week, right?" She said, "No, it's today!" I muttered an expletive that I won't write here, and ran in the house, digging through the pile of papers that was sitting, inexplicably, on top of my dryer. (I say "inexplicably" because it's completely ridiculous that that's where most papers end up in my house.) I found the paper in question, saw the bold and black type that proclaimed, "School starts SEPTEMBER THIRD" and called her back, wailing, "I've got the paper RIGHT HERE! IT SAYS TOMORROW AND THEY DON'T HAVE SCHOOL TOMOOOOOROOOOW!" DeAnn (annoyed I'm sure at my whininess but also trying not to laugh at me) said, "Yeah, that's a typo...Shon told us about it at the meeting...oh yeah, you weren't there!" So at this point, Abbie is awake but not dressed, fed or brushed, I'm in my pajamas, the papers I need to fill out are un-filled-out, the supply list is not completely shopped for. It didn't even occur to me to say, "Oh, well, Abbie, you'll just have your first day next week." Even though, of course, that's what she was planning for anyway. It didn't occur to me to just skip it. No, this MOTY raced around the house like a complete madwoman, trying to find an outfit that wasn't totally wrinkled or stained (note to self: need to weed through Abbie's clothes again), stuffed a peanut-butter waffle in her face while filling out papers and our friend Krissy (who was visiting) attempted to tame her mop of hair. We then RAN out the door (oh, yes, I did get dressed, but barely) and made it to pre-school around the corner.
Total time elapsed from the time I saw DeAnn drive by to the time we got in the door of school: 21 minutes. I am a goddess.







Two days later, she started gymnastics again. What a hoot!

This one's for you, Gwenn!

Gwenn shared this link with me yesterday. Since then, Jon and I have probably watched it a combined total of eight times or so. My PERSONAL favorite part is where he mutters "zap" after he talks about being "zapped" by his Friend, Jesus. I know Gwenn's pretty partial to the whole Mountie line. I think Jon's hooked on the "He touched me deep inside"...seriously, the whole thing is just a mess. Last night, we were talking about it, and I said (bitterly, I'm sure), "These people were on TV! AND PROBABLY GOT PAID!"