A Successful Month

We ended Thanksgiving weekend ahead of the game.

All of our trees were up and decorated, the lights were on the house, St. Nick treats were packaged and ready to go, and I had made some major progress on the ol' Christmas list!

I was feeling pretty optimistic about December......that's when things usually start going down hill for me.

Not this year though!

I did still slack off a bit during December--my cockiness is almost always followed by laziness--but I just nixed the less important Christmas fluff and still managed to mostly stay ahead of the deadlines I'd given myself!

I'm counting this December as a success--although I'm prepping for a better one next year!

Taking No Chances

Ben's taking the boys hunting in the morning.  

When I got home from work I went in to give each boy a smooch and tuck them in. 

Everyone had their hunting clothes out and ready to go, but Henry took things one step further.....

In the event that he oversleeps--unlikely!--he is apparently prepared to roll right out of bed and into his gear.  (He's currently sleeping in all of his thermals!) 

Put that kid in a duck blind and he's in HEAVEN!!

Eyes on the Sky

Ben took the boys hunting on Sunday. 

It was a spur of the moment decision--much to the boys delight!

I decided it was high time I jumped on the hunting bandwagon, so I tagged along.  Other than when Henry took me to the duck blind a few years ago, I've never gone.  (I don't even know how I can call myself a Pracht!)

I had the VERY BEST TIME with them!   

Sadly, the very next day I found out that the farm had been sold.

I knew it was coming, and that's part of the reason why I decided to head down there with the boys--sort of a "now or never" kind of thing--but I almost think my little hunting trip made things even harder for me.

There are just so many things I'm going to miss when that land is gone. 

We're all really sad, but you can't fight progress so we'll just have to make the most of the few months that we have left.

Chin up!

Feelin' the Rumble

The boys cub scouts sold popcorn today at the Toy Run--a motorcycle rally.

I loved it!

(Not the selling part--that part makes me cringe--but all the bikes!  Oh the bikes!)

I just love that loud rumble when a bunch of them ride past.  Plus, that whole biker society thing sort of fascinates me.  It's true.

The boys sold quite a bit, today.  

Henry was especially good salesman.  Very polite and not pushy at all--my favorite kind of salesman!  Actually, all of my boys are very good, but Henry didn't once whine in my ear that he was ready to go.  So....a gold star for him!

Luke, however, was the only one to score a donation.  

The guy walked passed Luke, looked at him, looked at Ben who was nearby, and said "Is that your dad?".  We all laughed because, like it or not, our little mini-Ben has to claim his dad.  A few minutes later, when the guy walked back by, he handed Luke a $20 bill and told him just to keep it! 

It's unclear whether he got it out of pity or not.

--For the record, if Ben ever wanted to buy a bike I would tell him NO WAY!  I love for them is only at a distance.

Getting His Freedom Back

A month or two ago, Josh Oliver had a girlfriend--Trinity--but he broke her heart.

About a month ago she called Ben, she's outgoing as can be and her dad and Ben are friends.  Ben said she was talking a mile a minute, but he manged to get out that Josh was being mean to her, breaking her heart, and that he threw a corndog at her at lunch.

Oh my!

When I talked to Josh about it later he said that he did in fact throw a corndog at her and half way implied that he was in fact being mean to her.  When I pressured him about why he would act like that, he said....

"I just want my freedom."

So....I didn't think I'd be at this point with any of my boys yet.

I explained to him that you should always be kind to girls--certainly never throw food at them--and that it's okay to not want to be someones boyfriend, but if you are the one doing the breaking up, you should do your best to be as nice as you can in attempt to not completely break their hearts.  

I also told him he was going to give himself a bad reputation and then it would be hard to get a girlfriend when he really wants one.  I don't think he really cared about that point too much.  He's not actually girl crazy yet. 

Every time I would see Trinity at school, she would sadly give me the report on how Josh was treating her.  It took about three weeks before she told me that he was finally being nice to her again.  

I could ring his neck.

Josh better not have another girlfriend anytime soon.  He's way too moody.

Pumpkins and Spook Houses

Generally, pumpkin carving gets left until the very last minute at our house.

I hate to carve them too early, but then every year during the week of Halloween we get so ridiculously busy that we have no way to fit it in.  It always manages to get done, but it's usually a rushed job on the 30th.

This year I wised up and we did it a week ahead of time.  They were pretty rotten by Halloween, but no one cared.

Luke's super grossed out by the thought of cleaning out pumpkins and the other two boys were off of school for the day, so the three of us did all the scraping a de-gooping.  We're a pretty efficient trio!

When it came to carving, I told them that I would help them if they wanted me to, but otherwise they were on there own.  

I had no idea how many cool points that would earn me! 

Apparently Ben, who is usually the one to volunteer/be forced into supervising the pumpkin carving each year, never gives them free rein with the pumpkin knives.  I prefer the "less work for me" road, so knives for everyone it was!

After we finished carving pumpkins, and Ben got home from work, we headed out to a spook house, well forest actually--outdoor ones are always more fun!

We've never taken the boys to a real spook house, but they've been a bit timid in the little ones that they have been through.  They all wanted to go, though, so off we went.

This was a bit like Worlds of Fun for me.  I am so jumpy at stuff like that, but I put on my brave face and told myself that it's all for fun.  

It was a ton of fun, but I screamed my head off. 

At one point they came at us from the front and the back at the same time with chainsaws. Sadly, I learned that in that kind of nightmare I will, in fact, sacrifice my children in an attempt to get away.

Ben carried Ollie most of the way and he apparently just kept laughing--a scared/awkward laugh, not a funny one.  

Henry was ready to throw in the towel about 1/3 of the way through.  He managed his way through, although, he really had no choice.

Luke was the perfect amount of scared.  I tried to keep him close by me, because I figured if I was going to shove anyone ahead of me, he would be the least traumatized at the end of it all.

It was really a good time.  The boys are still making fun of me for all my screaming.  They have all apparently forgotten that they were also terrified.

They better watch out next year.  No one ended up with nightmares so I can up the anti!

Fun on All Saints Day

The boys are off school today for All Saints Day--yay for Catholic schools!!

We went to church at the crack of dawn, and I decided to give them the rest of the day as a free day.

They have been gorging themselves with Halloween candy--I told them they better save all Paydays for me!--raking leaves, having races on the driveway, and of course playing electronics.  

I have been excitedly trying to knock out a mountain of laundry--seriously, I have no idea how anyone still has clean clothes to wear--and catching up on other bits.

I was going to try to fit in a flu shot for the boys, but lucky for them we have to go across town to get them, and I just don't have it in me to run errands today.  I'll save that little gem of an outing for another day!

Another Halloween on the Books

This year Josh convinced Gigi to make him a dog costume. 

She was less than excited about making it.  I had previously banned any sort of fleece costumes from coming in the house, so she ended up turning an old bear costume into a puppy costume.  She offered to put spots on it, but he said no.  It probably would have helped!

I think he's the only one in love with it.  Either way, we finally got the puppy out of the way so hopefully next year he will move onto something else!

(This is Josh's new default pose.  I don't know how we ended up with such a cool kid!)

Henry was a hunter this year.

It was a real stretch for him.

He wore this exact same outfit when he went duck hunting on Sunday.  He did make his own bow out of a stick and some of my bakers twine.  He was hoping to carry his real bow, but I nixed that pretty quick.

He actually ended up wearing a Jason mask just to spook up his costume a bit, but I think that just confused people.  

Also, that is not a purse he's carrying it's a case with his binoculars in it.  Oddly enough, Grandpa John, who was the one who gave him the binoculars and case a mere two weeks ago, was the one who asked why he was carrying a purse.  Apparently he's getting senile!

Luke went the zombie route for the second year in a row.

This year, though, he lacked the ripped up clothes and makeup, and took the easy route of a mask and Halloween shirt. 

He worked in the haunted playground at our church's Trunk-or-Treat and took a quick spin around the trunk's at Gretchen's church, but otherwise he didn't actually need much of a costume.  He completely ditched trick or treating this year and instead opted to watch a spooker about Dracula.  

He missed out!

Not really, though, because he still some how ended up with a bunch of candy!

I've Lost Them to Minecraft

The boys discovered the fascinating world of Minecraft a year or so ago.

I knew very little about it other than it was mostly non-violent and it was a pretty widely "mom-approved" game.

I have since learned that is one of the most addictive, life consuming games that the Jonker boys could ever play!

When they first started showing me how it works, I was surprised at how simple the graphics were--such a throw back--but they really can do some pretty fancy stuff with it.  

I still know know nothing about it, but it has to do with building things and zombies are somehow involved.

This summer I was working a TON plus still trying to make progress on our house--I just keep adding to my list--so for the sake of getting some sleep and being a bit productive, they sort of had a free for all with electronics.  

They loved it! 

By the end of the summer, I was so sick of electronics.

I put a ban on all of them when we went on vacay to the lake, but otherwise I held my tongue and let them finish out the summer in electronics heaven.  

Once school started, though, they were limited to the weekends.  Ben gives them 20 minutes on school nights if they get homework done, but otherwise they are put away.  

It was full on withdrawals for the first few weeks.

It has since leveled out a bit....a bit.  I have to keep them busy on the weekends in order to keep the electronic time at bay, but give them a little downtime and they are likely to be attached to something.

They still take it super serious.  One time Josh Oliver caught fire to a massive building that it took Henry a whole day to build.  It was a little touch and go for awhile whether he was going to survive the wrath of Henry when the damage was discovered.  I'm not even kidding.

I think I should probably stop fighting the games and just learn how to play.  We might get some pretty good quality time out of it.  If nothing else, I might understand what they are at least talking about when they tell me about them.

Sadly, though, it's just not my thing.

--Josh has just informed me that Luke was actually playing Survival Craft.  I asked him what the difference was and he said, "The difference is actually everything."  So......good to know!

--Also, that is in fact nail polish on Luke's fingers and a furry slap bracelet.  It's the cool thing to do and apparently the way to impress the ladies these days!

Anyone Thirsty?

For the last three or four days, Henry has been talking about making his own flavored water.  

It didn't quite register to me what he was talking about until a few nights ago when I came home to this in the refrigerator.

That, it turns out, is peach water!

The next day he offered me a glass and a run down of his recipe.

It involved a pitcher of plain water, 1 cup of cocnut water, and a cut up peach.

Aside from the visual grossness of the pitcher, and it's lack of  ice cubes, it actually didn't taste half bad.  He said that he thought he should have gone with 1/2 cup of coconut water instead of the full cup.

He's got to figure out a way to strain it, though.  I don't care how good it tastes, I had a hard time getting my serving drank!

*     *     *     *     * 

Gillian's turned 12 years old on the 11th.

She was born on THE 9/11.

I had to go into work for a bit before meeting up with everyone for pizza to celebrate, so I asked the boys to make a card for her.

This is Josh's:

Sorry that happened when you were born, Gillian.

Love, Josh

Ben said that he originally wanted to make her the Twin Towers.  It's unclear whether that meant drawn on paper or made out of paper!  Ben talked him out of it so he went with a simple cross.

I appreciate his sympathy, but next time I will suggest a more upbeat approach!

(Henry drew her a very tall and lean birthday cake with a candle on the top.  Ironically it looked VERY similar to one of the towers.)

Also, I was thinking back to when I found out about it--like everyone else.  I stopped in at Target to get a roll of film--since clearly I was going to become an aunt that day!--and saw it on the T.V.  

I suddenly realized that it's only been 12 years since that happened, and yet, my kids would have no idea what I was talking about if I told them I was getting film for my camera.

It was a strange realization.

Learning Who We Are at World's of Fun

Before school started back up, we took the boys to Worlds of Fun.

The last time we took them, the boys weren't old enough to venture out of Snoopyland.  This time, though, they were all tall enough to ride all but a few of the really big rides!  In other words, this was the first time that we actually got to go to Worlds of Fun.  Oh the thrill of the roller coasters!

Before we went I figured that things would work out like this:

• Luke--pass on nearly all the big rides--he's not ashamed to be a chicken!
• Henry--completely fearless on all the coasters and big rides
• Josh Oliver--I figured he'd be a bit timid about the biggest rides.  Whether he went on them or not would depend on his mood. 
• Ben--never passes up an option to ride a coaster
• Me--generally I'm a chicken, but I felt brave and planned to go on one or two of the coasters and then sit out with Luke on the rest of them.

The first ride that we went on was a spinning ride (in the picture, I feel like I should know it's name!).

Things started going south for me as soon as it started spinning and I got suctioned against the wall.  I thought for sure I was going to throw up.  Once it started going vertical I really thought I was going to die!

When the horrible ride finally came to an end, it became apparent who was in the "good times" group and who made up team"pansy".

The three boys ended up riding that thing probably 10-15 times throughout the day!  They couldn't get enough of it!  I thought for sure Luke was going to regret going on it, but he loved it!  Ben, who also thought he was going to lose it, and I happily sat on a nice stationary bench and watched them! 

The second ride we headed towards was the Mamba--a roller coaster!  That was the one I was planning on riding.  I was a big talker until I saw just how massive the initial drop was.  The closer we got, the more I realized that I don't actually care if I'm a chicken.  Luke and I sat out while the other three went.

After that ride, Ben discovered that he's not a young as he used to be!  It was a little rough on the ol' neck!

I went on on another ride with the boys that was inside a building so we didn't really know what we were getting into.  Ben was smart and sat out.  Once the ride started, I knew I was in trouble.  It was like spinning overload!  It spun in a circle like a top, while the whole thing rotated around the room.  And, as if that wasn't bad enough, it started going up and down in a wave motion.  Luke was the unfortunate one sitting in the seat with me.  It took everything I had to not throw up all over him.  IT. WAS. BAD.

After that I sat out on any remotely motion-intense ride!

Surprisingly, Josh had no hesitations about going on the big rides.  He totally loved them!  Henry, on the other hand, was very leery about them.  I don't think he really wanted to go on most of them, but he always end up tagging along behind Ben and Ollie at the last minute.  Sometimes you just have to suck it up to be one of the cool kids!

When we went over to the Oceans of Fun side, Ben took Luke and Henry down one of the slides.  Josh wanted to go down one of the tube slides--it was on my list of manageable rides!--so I went with him.  Unfortunately, Josh and I made it through our line before the other boys did and he wanted to go down the scarier, non-tube slide that the other boys were going down.  As much as I didn't want to go down it, fear that he would chicken out at the top and the fact that he's only six, meant that I had no choice but to get in line with him.  

The stairs leading up to it were scary enough for me.  It was just so high!  When I got to the top and saw what I actually had to do, I was TERRIFIED!  You have to stand inside this capsule/coffin and wait for them to push a button so the floor drops out from under you and then you free fall for a second before you hit the curve of the tube.  

Josh Oliver had no issues climbing into the capsule from hell.  I pulled a Henry and put on my brave face.  I survived it, but I certainly wasn't doing it again!

Surprisingly the one ride of the day that Josh and Henry were both really afraid to ride was the water ride where four people sit in a ginormous tube and twist and turn their way to the bottom.  Super tame!  They were so scared we were going to fly out of the top!  It seemed a bit ridiculous after all the other rides that they rode!

At the end of the day, I was a bit surprised the way things worked out.

• Luke--the smartest chicken of us all because he stayed off of any ride he knew would terrify him.  In the end, though, he was way braver than I thought he would be!
• Henry--not as brave as I thought, although, he never actually sat out on any ride.  Clearly if his friends all jumped off of a bridge, he would quickly follow!
• Josh Oliver--apparently he's the one to take to an amusement park for a good time!
• Ben--still an good time boy, but he definitely has his limits.
• Me--a huge weenie!  The wave pool was about all I could really handle!

It was a super fun day!  Crazy hot, but fun!!

First Day of School--take two

We had a much better start on the 2nd day of school!

Teeth were brushed.  Bellies were full.  We got a picture!!

I think we were all ready for school to start.

The boys missed their friends; I was desperate to get my life back on a schedule.

Give us another month or so, though, and we'll all be desperately waiting for our next long break from school.  It's so much nicer with everyone at home!

*     *     *     *     *

Luke and I have been riding our bikes to his school in the mornings--so far it's too hot to ride it home.

It's the best!

It's about 2 1/2 miles away--not too far, but a ways.  

I get a lot more conversation out of him when he has nothing else to do!  Actually, I still get a fair share of one word answers if I ask about school or other "boring" topics, but it's still good quality one-on-one time!

Sometimes we even make a pit stop at Gran's house for a quick chat with her!  A bonus!

Unfortunately, as happy as he is for me to let him ride his bike to school, he's less than excited to be seen with me at his school.

He won't let me go past the crosswalk with him, and a time or two I've stayed on the side street while he went on.

I don't blame him.  It's just the age that he's at.

Plus, I volunteer at his school and drive on all of his field trips, so he can't completely shun me!

One day I'll be cool again!  

One day!  

Off to a Good Start

Today started off less than awesome.

Despite Ben and I both having alarms set, we completely over slept....AND it was the 1st day of school.

Great.

We all bolted out of bed at 7:15.  On a normal day, that would give us a semi manageable time frame since school doesn't start until 7:50, but it was the first day so I would have preferred "more than enough" time to just "manageable".  

The real kicker, though, was that Ben volunteered to be at the school at 7:20 to direct school traffic.  So.....a mad dash it was!

I'm pretty certain every one managed to get their teeth brushed, but I'm pretty sure a boy or two missed breakfast.  Forget about obligatory 1st day of school pictures.

So much for a lovely send off, but we all made it out the door in 10 minutes--with minimal stress no less!  

It was the silver lining to our morning!  

*     *     *     *     *

Later, when Ben and I were back in our calm, quiet, kid-free house, Ben said he didn't understand how he could sleep through his alarm because he set it up so that he had to answer a couple of math problems before it would turn off.

For a split second I was super impressed that he managed to answer them in his sleep, but then he said that he forgot to save the new setting.

It was a good plan!

As for me, I got off work late and didn't make it to bed until 2:30.   That seems like a semi-valid excuse for ignoring my alarm.

We'll do better on Monday!

Superman

Gigi bought Josh Oliver this shirt at the beginning of the summer.

He loves it.  

I'm not a fan.

I haven't "hidden" it in the back of the drawer, yet, so I deserve a little bit of credit.

He's lucky he has a fun grandma! 

A Late Night at the Drive-In

This is how things look when we stay for all three movies at the drive-in!

Berry Picking

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Dawn and I took our kids to pick blackberries!

(For the last few years I have been meaning to track down an orchard to go to, but apparently that simple step was just too much for me!)

Fortunately, Dawn did all the leg work and said she'd already set up an appointment for us to go if we we wanted to join them.  

She's great like that!!

Before we started picking, everyone got to try one blackberry so that we could see how delicious they were.

Luke about died!  

The thought of putting a fruit anywhere near his mouth is just too much for him to handle!  After a little coaxing I finally just enjoyed his for him.  Will he ever come around?

Picking berries was so much fun!  I kept thinking about all the delicious things I would make with my little black gems!

Unfortunately, we got a little overexcited and picked way more than we needed.

In the end, we had 10 nearly full buckets.  Ten buckets at an average of two pounds each is A LOT of berries!!

They are so delicious, though!  I love having a freezer stocked with them!

I'm excited to go again!  I'm going to shoot for at least once a year, but I would love to get to pick something else this year!

  

Twelve

Nov 2010

Yesterday was our 12th Anniversary!

It kind of snuck up on us this year. 

I realized it was coming up a couple of days ago.  Ben didn't until late Sat night!

I meant to remind him about it.....I swear!

*     *     *     *     *

With that being said, I absolutely love where we are with our marriage.

We've definitely gone through various stages in our relationship, but we seem to have settled nicely into the "comfortable phase".

I think this phase gets a bad rap as boring, but really it's fabulous!  It might not have quite the excitement as the early years, but it's great in it's own way!

The baby phase was probably our toughest.  We were so sleep deprived and grouchy.   We were in a bit of a survival mode.  Parenting came before everything else.  I did love those years, but looking back, I'm glad we are on the other side of them!

About the time Ollie hit 3 or 3 1/2, though, the fog of babies seemed to lift.

It was like, "Oh!  Hello!  Nice to see you again!"

I don't think either one of us realized how much we had lost each other until that point.

Now our lives have calmed down, and we've gained back a little chunk of ourselves.

It feels like we go out on dates less often than we use to, but we're okay with that.  We use to need dates to save our sanity, now they're just a bonus!  We've always been pretty good at making our own little dates out of nothing, anyway!

Plus, Luke's old enough to watch his brothers if we want to run a quick errand together--without kids!--and sometimes that 15 minutes is worth more than an entire night out alone!! 

Really, though, it's just so lovely being settled.  Settled is what I strive for! 

Starting out, I would have never guessed that this would be one of my favorite anniversaries, but really it is!

I love where we're at with our little family!  

And I'm still completely crazy about the tallest boy!!

Camping

Henry and I went on a two night Cub Scout camp out at the end of last week.

I was unbelievably nervous about it.

I've never truly camped out--certainly not on my own--and the first day was going to have a heat index of 110.

There was a huge potential of it being a total disaster.

I went in with a brave face and an open mind and I totally LOVED IT!!!

(It helped that I got a shower every night!)

Ben told me it's a good thing because next year all three boys will probably be going to camp so I'll have no choice but to go at least once!

Mother's Day at the Waterfall

For Mother’s Day, I requested a trip to Chase County.

I just love that place!

It was rainy and cold when we got out of church, but we decided that, at the very least, it would be a nice drive.

We also decided to take Magdalen along.  We didn’t think we could handle both dogs, and, since Maggie’s the one who really needs to lose weight, she lucked out and got to come!

It rained the whole way up there, but just as we came up on the entrance it stopped and the sun came out!  Perfect timing!

The waterfall is always the highlight of the lake.

It’s so peaceful and secluded, and so fun to explore!

The boys were suppose to bring an extra change of clothes and shoes for the trip.  Henry did not.  What he did bring, though, was a bucket with a string tied to it so that he could attempt to catch some fish.  

I should have known his “fishing” would turn out bad.

Just before we were leaving he fell into a big watery mudhole and lost his flipflops. 

He dug around and found one, but the other one seemed to have been eaten by the mud.  He was kind of upset about the whole thing, but it really was kind of comical.

After about 10-15 minutes of digging he gave up and headed back to the car shoelesss.

It was a long trek back to the car, with patches of rocks along the way.  He survived it, though!  

Once we got Henry cleaned up and pieced together an outfit for him (Luke’s shorts and jacket along my flipflops), we headed down to the lake for a picnic. 

  

It was lovely!

We ate our food and then the boys played by the lake for a bit and then headed home.

Even the drive there and back is beautiful! 

I love going through all those tiny old towns! 

I could not have asked for a better Mother’s Day—mud and all!

I feel really blessed to be raising those three crazy boys! 

I absolutely adore them!

(I adore Henry, too.  He was just stuck in the mud when I handed the camera over to Ben!)

Hand-Me Downs

We've done some passing down of electronics at our house.

It's a sign that they are all growing up.

Luke decided that he wanted to buy an ipod touch--pricey.

He wanted one so that he could listen to music and play games on it.  I also think the cool factor played a part in it.

At the same time, Josh Oliver decided that he wanted to buy a 3D DS--also pricey.

He's not the best saver, but he had birthday money burning a hole in his pocket.  

Luke offered to sell his DS to Ollie in order to fund his ipod purchase.

Strangely, I was really sad that realize that Luke didn't care about his DS anymore.  It doesn't seem like that long ago that he was desperately saving up to buy it.  

It took a bit of convincing--I don't know why because he was getting a really good deal--but finally Josh bought the DS and all the games for $100.  

It was a steal!  

And, he was super happy about how much he got!

Next it was time to tackle Luke's ipod.

The thought of him spending so much money on something like that made me cringe.

I suggested that he ask Ben if he could buy his old phone from him.  It could do everything he wanted but was even cooler because it was a phone!

Ben sold it to him for a mere $50!  (a little expensive, but it was a fair price in the bigger picture of things.)

It was really a win-win all the way around.  

Both boys got what they wanted, I didn't have any more electronics come into the house, and we ended up with some bonus money in our activities fund! 

Another First Communion

Henry made his First Communion two weeks ago.

It was a big day!

He got to read one of the petitions during Mass.  

He was excited, and he did great!

(Luke got to read one at his First Communion, too.  Lucky boys!)

I didn't realize how big his suit was on him until I started looking through my pictures.  

It really bothers me.

He deserved a well fitting suit.

He ripped it off just as soon as he could, so I guess it doesn't really matter anyway.

He still looked handsome!


I am so unbelievably proud of him!

He is becoming such a great Catholic!