Raging Readers!

The library reading program has started up again! We visit the library once a week to record our books in the reading logs and to watch the weekly program they put on.

Miss Mayhem is doing her part in the reading program by pulling random books off the library shelves while they put on their programs (and the older kids watch)

The older kids get a big kick out of watching the programs the library has put on. Zoo animals, clowns, and scientists have shown up so far. Next week- reptiles!

Miss Mayhem mostly tries to escape from Tired Mom and run into the stage area of the shows (in the pit at the base of those stairs). She's only made it all the way once!

This is a pic of the scientist guy distributing bubbly stuff to all the kids.

Miss Mayhem also enjoys the attendance prizes that the kids can win in the weekly drawings. Both kids won sunglasses the last time!

Also- Holy adventures in a water park with Danger Boy and Kid Catastrophe! The older kids were finally strong enough swimmers that Tired Mom felt comfortable enough to take them to Raging Rivers. Danger Boy got to ride all the rides, but Kid Catastrophe was still a few inches short for the giant swirl pool ride.
      
Kid Catastrophe was reluctant to go on the water slides at first, but Tired Mom pushed her down the first small one (on a tube) and after that she was hooked! She did manage to flip a tube about an hour after we got to the park and hit her head going down a slide. Did I mention how she got the nickname Kid Catastrophe, and why it's stuck with her all these years? She was little gun shy after that, but after going down a few times on Tired Mom's lap, she went on her own again.


Danger Boy was not afraid of anything! Tired Mom was not sure she wanted to go on the swirl pool ride a second time since it was a rougher ride, but Danger Boy was all for it. Danger Boy did not even mind that he went in the water at the bottom head first one time. He was all for it no matter what. Kid Catastrophe was a little bummed to wait at the bottom, but we only went on it twice in four hours, so we did not make her wait too much. 

We mostly rode on the long blue water slide as it was the smoothest ride and the most fun. Although, it was the hardest climb to the top! We also spent lots of time in the wave pool enjoying the ocean like waves over and over again. All in all, so much fun for Tired Mom and the older kids and definitely an experience we will have to repeat over and over again at least once every summer. After checking out the toddler section, Tired Mom might even take Miss Mayhem next year as well!

Miss Mayhem on Life

 Miss Mayhem says:

You must always look cute when smearing food all over the tray of your high chair. It makes Tired Mom go "AW!" and makes Paranoid Dad do this cute growly thing. Fun for everyone!

 In the garden, you must always wear you cutest hat and sun dress.  You spread your arms like this to make sure everyone knows how very very cute you are.

Relaxation is a very important part of life. A soft chair, a comfy pillow, and a good thumb will help you along with this.

 Did I mention how important the thumb is?

 When you loyal fans insist on taking your picture, try not to be too surly, even if it is the 50th picture of the day! Enough already mom!

Accessories are a very important part of any outfit. Leis, ruffly skirts, sunglasses, and spakly shoes all add flare. Shirts are entirely optional though.

Never forget to smile at everyone and say Hi! and Bye, see you! as well. Maybe someday everyone can be as happy as a toddler like me.

Last Day of School, Bittersweet!

Ah, the last day of Kindergarten for Kid Catastrophe, and Danger Boy was a little over a week ago. So sad to say goodbye to Mrs. B and Miss T! We will miss both of them for different reasons.

Mrs. B was so nice to my little tender hearted girly girl. She kept me apprised of any "crying" incidents as Kid Catastrophe has a hard time keeping back her tears and her feelings are very easily bruised. The start of the school year also take some adjusting for her (it did in preschool as well). Despite dealing with her emotions, Kid Catastrophe still very much loved going to school everyday. She would often tell me about all the things she needed to tell and show Mrs. B when she got to school. Mrs. B's clothing, hair, and other attributes were often discussed in our home as well. She must have been a sensitive teacher for my little sweetheart to love her so much. Kid Catastrophe was also worried that Mrs. B would miss her and the other kids this summer.

Miss T was our youngest teacher yet for Danger Boy, and methinks Danger Boy had his first teacher crush this year. He would often talk about Miss T being a very pretty lady (something he has never said before about anyone that I know of). He also liked to talk about her being married soon (this summer). Miss T told us how helpful DB was in class (he gets that compliment often) and what a joy he was to have this year. Danger Boy always does well in school, but he does not enjoy it as much as KC seems to.

We will miss both these teachers!

If You Can't Reach Us, We're Outside....

It's that time of year again! The time of year where where Tired Mom spends several hours a day on yard work and gardening while the kids play (and sometimes help). We have no answering machine, so the phone just rings and rings when we are outside. 

The lettuce bed is already overflowing, the squash seedlings have popped up, and the little tomato plants are all planted. The bell pepper seedlings that were started indoors are starting to harden off outside. The kids are working on some marigold and sunflowers they are growing from seed (marigolds also keep away harmful insects, along with scattering orange peels and planting some lavender).

This was a fun pic that Paranoid Dad took. Danger Boy may be making the point that yard work is MURDER!

   

 Kid Catastrophe is showing off the mask she made during a library craft day. We are also going to be doing the Library Reading Program again this year.

Miss Mayhem begs to play outside all the time, so there will be no complaints about our outdoor lifestyle. She screams "TOY!" and points at the front yard every time I try to make her come inside from a car ride somewhere before going outside. The older kids are most helpful by playing with Miss Mayhem as she wanders all over the yard. We will check in when we can, but if we don't it's because we are outside!

MISS MAYHEM IS TWO YEARS OLD!!!!

Once again, who let another one of my children age another year? It just does not seem possible that Miss Mayhem should already be TWO YEARS OLD. Sigh. Miss Mayhem has definitely been living up to her name the last few months with her constant toddler antics. She seems to be taking a page out of Danger Boy's playbook with her constant urge to run into the street. Tired Mom is often very tired indeed at the end of a long day chasing after her active little toddler. Miss Mayhem has also taken to crying not just when hurt, but also when she's mad. She gets mad at least once a day. Toddler moods are often mercurial though, and she usually snaps out of it pretty quickly. This is a picture montage of Miss Mayhem's second year of life:

 

Random thoughts by Paranoid Dad (or the wife made threats about my lack of posts)

My kids are great...

The Easter Bunny ;) brought them candy. I got, w/o solicitation, 3 Kit Kat bunny ears, lots of Mr. Goodbar minis and a Krackel mini. (KC had- again- w/o solicitation actually already advised me days before that I would be getting some of her candy when the Great Spring Fertility Beast thumped by.)

I started an Escrima class at the YMCA. In order to facilitate Tired Mom's Saturday AM recuperation sleep, all three kids had to come with daddy and go to the Y childcare. No complaints, no crying. In fact, one of the ladies advised that Danger Boy was helpful and courteous. W00t. (Right, Miss Mayhem did not have a lot of choice or chance to balk as she was woken up right before we left so she may have been dazed.)

Danger Boy can tell you what individual martial arts go into making Kajukenbo. (He even did it for my instructor at my last promotion.)

Kid Catastrophe can- w/some help- tell you where Kaju and TKD are from geographically. (One requires Paranoid Dad to do a bit of hula and mention Lilo and Stitch. The other requires reference to a sister from church from the Republic of Korea.)

Miss Mayhem toddles up and bangs against/hugs me when I come home. Usually has her thumb in her mouth.

When the DB and KC are on vacation and staying up in their room a bit more in the AM, they will wave at me and blow kisses from the window when I go to work. (Oddly, Stoic was at least at the window in a similar manner the other day, but w/o the wave. It still seemed like "Bye, Dad" to me though.)

MM charms people where ever she goes and people are especially impressed with her fearless jump in the pool skills.

MM also appreciates a soft furry animal. She will gratefully rub her head against said cat or dog and love it.

Yup, they are great.

Dangerous Rivers, Crazy Wind, and Other Adventures in a Nearby State Park

Danger Boy, Kid Catastrophe, Miss Mayhem, and Tired Mom crossed the mighty Mississippi River in search of adventures! And, a State Park that Tired Mom had a hankering to explore since she had just learned of its existence a few hours before. So, the super family crossed this bridge.
In search of this trail in particular (but we made several other stops along the way, and afterwards). This State Park was only about 15 minutes from our house (still amazed I had never heard of it). It seems that the trail I was in search of was only made 8-9 years ago, so that might account for that.
We saw fields and fields of this particular kind of yellow flower all over the park. I think it might be native to the Missouri area, or a particular kind of goldenrod I read about once (called Ohio goldenrod).
Confluence Trail leads to Confluence Point, which is a really beautiful place where the Missouri and Mississippi River meet up. It's kind of a scary place too though with two raging rivers meeting at the same point, and in general looking like the kind of place a toddler could drown very easily. So, Miss Mayhem got to stay in the jogging stroller in order to preserve Tired Mom's nerves.
Danger Boy and Kid Catastrophe had a great time throwing rocks and sticks in the water, and looking at the tumultuous waters, which were made even choppier by it being a very windy day. The picture below was taken right at the exact moment when Kid Catastrophe's hat almost flew into the water, and Tired Mom had one of those "heart attack" moments where I knew Kid Catastrophe was going to trip over her own feet and into the water trying to get after it. Because, you know, Danger Boy is the one getting as close to the edge as possible, but Kid Catastrophe is going to be the one to fall in! I managed to scream something "mommish" at the top of my lungs (which I can't remember, I probably blocked it out) and Kid Catastrophe did not fall in. We left shortly after that, I can't imagine why.
In the below picture, you can see where both rivers meet (Mississippi on the left, Missouri on the right) and the little island ahead of the confluence.
After driving back the 4.3 miles of gravel crap road we had to drive to get to Confluence Trail, we visited the bird sanctuary area. We mostly saw geese, which Danger Boy was told he would not be able to pet and that geese could be mean if you got to close to them. He still spent a good 10 minutes trying to sneak up on some geese so he could pet them. He finally came back to me and said dejectedly, "Mom, you just can't pet geese." You think?

Kid Catastrophe and Miss Mayhem did not seem as interested in the geese. Miss Mayhem was pretty obsessed with the gravel on this part of the bird sanctuary area. This might have been because I had not let her out of the stroller before then. She was mad with freedom!
They had these lookout binoculars near a trail called Two Pecan Trail. Too bad we did not see any birds in this area to look at through them!

There were several areas/trails that went right by the river (which was another reason Miss Mayhem stayed in her stroller while we walked trails).
My favorite trail was the one that started here at the marker for Ellis Island (peninsula) that juts out into the Mississippi River. It started out as gravel, and then turned into a lovely wide mulch path. I think I will go back soon and go trail running on it. It was gorgeous!
Here's a great picture I took of the mulched part of the Ellis Island Trail.
After 3 hours of exploring the State Park, Miss Mayhem took a nap in the stroller (on the Ellis Island Trail, our last stop before going back home). It was funny that one of the reasons Tired Mom got a wild hair to get out of the house and explore was because Miss Mayhem had refused to take a nap, and would have been a real bear the rest of the day if we had not gotten out and done something!