The Year We Got That Card....

Josh made a Christmas present for us at school.

It was all very sweet until I opened the card.

Apparently he was having a rough day when he made it!

Merry Christmas!!

How We Stay Warm

Our heater went out last night.

It was a nice "welcome home from work" surprise for me!

It's been bitter cold all week so our house went from chilly to down right cold pretty quickly.

After a bit of a flip out 12 hours in, I made the most of it.  We started a fire, warmed up some hot cocoa, and spent the afternoon lounging in the living room close to the fire.

The boys bonded with each other via ipad games, I avoided electronics completely, Luke got to man the fire once Ben left for work, I won not one, but two, different board games, and I discovered that not only is Josh's new favorite band U2 (what?! love it!) but that he is also very knowledgable and opinionated about their newest album!   

Ben may be shocked to hear it, but the heater going out turned out to be a bit of a blessing.

Even after the heater was back in working order, we all stayed in the living room.  The boys worked on cartwheels and headstands, which then turned into a monster wrestling match.  I let them have free reign and, you know what, no one got hurt, no one got mad, and they clamed down on their own.

It's good to let the crazy just happen sometimes.

I'm very thankful to be warm again, but every once in awhile it's nice to have a wrench thrown in our normal routine.

The Reason Ben had Kids

The day has come when Luke has started to learn how to mow.

Ben's been waiting to pass this job on to him for a very long time!

Actually, I think Ben's just excited to pass on the backyard and the dog poop that goes along with it.  I don't know that Luke's excitement for mowing will translate into an excitement to pick up poop!

You never know, though!

The Price of a Bad Haircut

I'm overly confident in my hair cutting abilities.

I've taken matters into my hands several times throughout the years and have never once managed to come out with an even remotely acceptable outcome.  (Layers?  Piece of cake!?)  
I can manage a good bang trim, but even they look rough from time to time.

Fortunately, I wised up in my late teen years and no longer attempt it on my own hair.  The boys hair, however, is still fair game.

Henry's was in desperate need of a trim the day before school started.  Ben was golfing.  I was feeling anxious about my unpreparedness for the school year.

It did not turn out well.  At all.

I offered him a Dirty Dr. Pepper if he'd just sit there long enough for me to try to fix it.  He agreed if it was at least a large, and, even then, he was on the fence.

In the end, Ben made fun of me, Henry's hair had to be cut super short, and I learned, once again, that cutting hair is far harder than it seems in my head.  

Pulling Myself Together

Today was the first day of school.

Usually, it's a bit bittersweet for me.  Sad to not have them with me all day.  Excited to get back to an actual schedule.

This year, though, I am so very sad at the thought of sending them on their way.

We have had the very best summer--a wonderful mix of the very laziest days and incredible day trips.  

It's been exactly what I want everyday to be like.

This down-in-the-dumps outlook has led to me doing some serious feet dragging on getting things ready for the school year.  

Thank goodness for Ben!

He and the boys spent last night finishing up shopping for the rest of the essentials.  He also took the reigns this morning and made sure everyone was up nice and early and greeted us all with a delicious breakfast.  (No repeats from last year!)

I think it's just what I needed to get over the hump.

Now that we've sent them off, I'm starting to remember how nice it is for just the two of us to be at home.  

Hello, lunch dates!!

Off to See the Wizard......!

We met up with Amy and the kids last week in Wamego to visit the Oz Museum--and trade off Henry!

It's been on our list of places to meet up for awhile, but, to be honest, I didn't have high hopes for it.  It seemed a bit cheesy.

We're always up for a good road trip, so off we went, and....it was really neat!

It was all set up really beautifully and there was SO MUCH information and artifacts.  Unfortunately we had six kids who were not interested in staying close by while we read all the little blips of information.  We made them stick it out for quite a while, but in the end I think we only got to read about 1/3 of it.

The kids did have a good time roaming around the museum, though.  The big highlights were the haunted forest hallway and the, oddly enough, French subtitled movie that was playing in the theater!

I'm glad Amy talked us in to trying it out.  It was a real treat!

Lowering the Bar on Summer

Wilson Lake

I've always headed into summer with big plans. 

We were going to have a fun-filled summer full of activities and swimming, a bit of downtime--which would include games and crafts--and a sprinkle of school work to keep them on track. We'd sleep in a bit, but not too much so we could still take advantage of the morning weather.

I'd work on behavior quirks that seemed to fall through the cracks during the school year when I didn't see them as much. I also planned on working on keeping myself level headed when the fights broke out.

It was a loose, no pressure plan, but it was still the plan.

Linda and I always did a good job of keeping the kids entertained. We did the activities and swimming; although, there were days that we probably should have swapped some of them out for more downtime--for ourselves mostly! 

My downtime plans always ended up seeming like activites disguised as downtime, so we had less games and crafts and more naps and TV. The school work always felt like an uphill battle which, among other things, would take me off track on my level headedness.

Despite dropping the ball a bit, those summers were amazing! We had so much fun! I was the only one who missed the stuff the fell by the wayside.

This summer, I gave myself a break and dropped all the expectations. The goal was to have fun, take daytrips throughout the break, swim when we could and veg out when we need it. Anything else that got accomplished was a bonus!

It was the best decision I could have made! I didn't feel the end of summer guilt that I usually do and we still had the most amazing summer--our best one yet as far as I'm concerned!!

I really hate that summer is coming to an end. I really, really love having them home.

Carrying Their Own Chairs

This is a big school year the kids at St. Catherine's.

They get a permanent building!

Up until now the classrooms have been in the same building as the church--which will also be moved into an equally, if not more, impressive permanent building down the road.

The new Parish Education Center is INCREDIBLE!!!  

(I would expect nothing less considering how much thought Father Dan puts into every little detail--literally.)

We all got our first glimpse at it a few weeks ago when everyone pitched in to get things moved into the new building.

All the kids were asked to grab a chair and ceremoniously walk it over to the new building.  Henry and Josh Oliver got to be 2nd and 3rd in line!  (Luke carried one, too, but, when you hesitate to join in, no one saves you a place.  Remember that Luke!)

After all the kids made it in, the rest of the furniture and boxes just poured in through the doors.  Within an hour and a half everything was moved in and the furniture was well on it's way to being fully assembled.

It was impressive! 

The Candy Shop

We made our annual trek to Henry's Candy Co. at the end of June.

I look forward all year to their delicious Mama Henry and Papa Henry bars!  It's a tough call which one I like better, but I think the chocolate on Mama Henry's might just give it a slight lead on my love list!

While we were there they, were making hard candies, which we got to try while they were still warm.  They were so delicious!

After the candy shop we headed back to Winfield for a picnic.

We were really hoping to let the kids go swimming at the fun looking pool by the park, but they opened too late for the kids to get enough swim time before I'd have to head back for work.  

We'll have to try to get that in next year!

The important thing, though, is that we got our candy!

Facing My Fears At The Capitol

A couple of weeks ago, on our way up to Kansas City, the boys and I had some time to kill so me made a pit stop at the State Capitol.

I have NEVER been there.  

Amy assures me that she went with one of her classes, so I'm not sure how I missed out on that field trip considering I was in all the same classes only a year later.

She's probably lying.

Anyways, we were excited to do the dome tour.

We were sort of flying by the seat of our pants, so I didn't put much research into it.  I knew the times it ran and that it required A LOT of stair climbing.

In my head it was flight after flight of stairs and then suddenly you pop out of a door and into the top of the dome.  My biggest concern was little legs getting tired half way up.

I can't tell you how shocked I was when we only went up a handful of stairs and popped out a door to a view of 5 or 6 floors below me.

I talked myself into getting close to the rail to look over, but it was only a quick look!

Luke and Henry stayed glued to the wall.  My kind of boys!

The next step in our fun adventure required us to climb another flight of stairs to get above the inner dome--I didn't realize there were two.  The biggest problem I had with this was that the staircase was open on one side so you could get a REALLY GOOD view of the floors below.

I would have been plenty happy to throw in the towel at the first level, but Eli and Josh Oliver followed the crowd and headed up the stairs.

I felt like I was reliving my nightmare at World's of Fun.  I had no choice but to leave the older two clinging to the walls on the first level and follow the younger ones up to my certain doom!

Up the stairs was actually not horrible.  The dome rose up in the middle so there was nothing to look down on.  I quickly noticed, however, the unbelievable number of stairs that "floated" up to the tip-top of the outer dome.

I immediately told the boys that there was absolutely no way I was going up any higher.

NO WAY!

The climb back down the stairs to the other two boys was COMPLETELY TERRIFYING.  

Not only was it open on one side, but I had to look down to make sure I didn't trip on the stairs so I couldn't help but see out of the corner of my eye just how tiny the people were on the floors below us.  It was a turtles pace for me.

Once we made it back to the safety of the 5th floor--an actual functioning level--I decided that I need to get a grip on things and decided to take a peek over one of the balconies.

Unfortunately I failed to notice that there was a small step down about 3 feet from the actual balcony.  As soon as my feet hit that step, I thought for certain I was falling over the edge.  The kids all had a good laugh at me as I quickly got as far away from the balcony as I could.

The rest of the time we spent roaming around.  

I was so unbelievably weak in the knees after the dome tour that the stairs were killing me.  For years and years and years, I've had a reoccurring  dream/nightmare where I can't remember how to walk up or down stairs.  I just stand there petrified.  I kept expecting that to happen to me at any moment!

The Capitol Building was really cool.  Nothing like I expected.

We were in such a rush to get to the dome tour on time that I didn't pick up the self guided tour info and then I was so flustered after it that I couldn't find our way back to the visitors center--and then later couldn't even find our way back into the building because I couldn't even comprehend what the signs were telling me.

I was a mess!  

After roaming past a guy mowing the lawn a few times, he finally told us how to get back in and down to our car.

I was grateful, although the outside is pretty amazing itself!

Linda, Amy, and I are planning on going back up there with the kids.  Linda wants to see the building.  Amy wants to go so she call me a complete chicken after she bounds her way up the very top.

I'm debating on doing the tour again just so I can see the terror come over her when she sees what she's up against!

I'll probably chicken out, though!

Nice and Short

Today was hair-cutting day for the Jonker boys.

They all hate getting their haircut.  I can't handle the rag-a-muffin look--and I have the benefit of bribes of soda--so hair cuts all around!

Josh walked away with a mohawk.

A wave of panic set in when I saw it.

Sometimes Ben uses bribes of his own--like a fun style--to make the hair cuts happen, but I'd take a shaggy looking kid LONG before I'd take a mohawk'd one. 

Luckily for me, after the two of them had a good laugh--and got a few strong man poses out of the way--he went back to get the rest of it buzzed!

Down the road, when all my boys are adults with long hair, I'll know it's my own fault, but for now short hair it is!

--This is apparently Josh's current favorite pose.  Unfortunately, he shows off more bones than muscle!  I swear he eats!  

Climbing on Rocks

Linda and I took the kids on a road trip a few days ago.

Our first stop was Rock City.

Oh my heavens was it neat!

It's just a little strip of land, but it's FILLED with huge boulder concretions--actually there's a whole range of sizes, but the big ones were the most fun!

In addition to putting their rock climbing skills to the test, it ended up being an excellent place for hide and go seek!

It was either raining or sprinkling the entire time that we were there, but it didn't even slow down the kids.

Unfortunately, I made the sad choice of wearing flip flops, so other than the bit of climbing I did to rescue a couple of kids, I was mostly stuck on the ground.  I don't know what I was thinking!

 After awhile, we decided to head to a nearby playground for lunch.

Small town parks are my favorite!  They always have the fun, old school equipment--including merry-go-rounds which Amy has only recently pointed out to me are few and far between these days!

This park did have a regular merry-go-round--a mini one!--but even more exciting it had one of the stand up, swaying types that we found in Anthony!  Sadly, this one wasn't nearly as fun.  It didn't spin nearly as easily and was chained in the middle so it only swayed a little.  It didn't stop us for playing on it!

It was raining quite a bit while we "picnic'd", but the kids didn't seem to notice.  They were completely drenched by the time we finally rounded them up and headed out.

Our next stop on our day of fun, was the little town of Lindsborg--a bit of Sweden in Kansas.

We planned on it just being a little dessert pit stop on the way home, but we had a pretty fun time there.

We found a park to play at, did a bit of shopping, admired the dala horses that were sprinkled around town, and, of course, got some dessert!  Much to my surprise, I also discovered that Luke LOVES ginger molasses cookies.  I would have never guessed!

We originally planned on visiting Coronado Heights on another day trip, but since it's just outside of Lindsborg, and we were in no rush to get back home, we headed toward the castle on the hill.

The kids absolutely loved it!  Linda was not such a fan!

It was very high up and no matter where you looked, it seemed like every edge was a sheer drop to the ground below.  A bit of a nightmare for her!

Making Gran very, VERY nervous!

We completely hit this outing out of the ballpark!  Not even the rain could spoil it....I think it may have even added to our fun!

We have several more planned before the end of the summer.  We are really excited about them after this one!

The Religion Bowl

The two older boys have their Diocese Religion Test this week.

It's a pretty big deal. 

We've decided that a competition is the best form of studying--isn't it always!

The boys take turns answering questions.  If you miss it, it goes to the next boy in line.  

Winner gets a Lofthouse cookie!

It's always a tight competition.  I'm especially impressed with Josh Oliver.  He's known the answers to some pretty tough questions!

No Balloons....but we've got CANDY!!

We made another attempt at the Anthony Sunflower Balloon Fest this year.

This year, though, we decided to head to town around lunch time so we could make the most out of the day!

The big highlight was the parade!  

I always love parades, but this one had an extra bit of charm with all the small town touches.  Plus, they threw out a TON of candy which meant the kids were in total heaven!!

We roamed around town for a bit and got some carnival snacks, but the sun was scorching hot.  We decided to head to the park and lounge in the shade for awhile as the kids burned off some energy.  

The park was really unique!  The favorite was the merry-go-round/swing contraption.  We all took a turn on it!

We also took a little tour of the City Lake--also quite lovely!--before we headed to the airport to wait for the balloons.

Our dreams of seeing the balloons were dashed when the wind started to pick up and the clouds started moving in.  They never even got the balloons out of the trailers.  We let the kids play for a bit and then we decided to throw in the towel and head home. 

It was a full day--especially with the sun trying to suck the life out of us--but those are really the best outings!  

--As a side note, I also got pulled over when I was apparently making up my own driving lanes, and even the police are nice there!  

And Pinky makes Six

Well....Josh has a broken pinky.

Things started out as a wrestling match and apparently moved on to a death match between Luke and Henry.  Josh Oliver didn't get the heck away soon enough and ended up with a broken finger.

The terrible thing is that I was busy dealing with the two trouble makers for a good 15 minutes.  When I finally got around to dealing with a still crying Josh, he told me that he thought his finger was broke.

Although, after the words "broken finger" got thrown out there, the other two straightened right up and Henry, the finger bender, did everything he could to make Ollie feel comfortable.

We gave him a makeshift splint--thanks to some crayons!--and headed to the doctor this morning.  He has a small break at the middle knuckle and has to wear a splint for a couple weeks.

He's pretty excited--true to form--but he's already annoyed by the splint.

So our new total is:

• 5 broken arms
• 1 broken finger
• 13 stitches in an upper lip
• and one messed up lip that desperately needed stitches but couldn't get them

(Luke and Henry claim 3 of the broken arms.  The rest of the injuries are Josh's--his poor lip!)

Drop 'em and Run

We always have May Crowning in the middle of our evenings on May Day.

It puts a serious damper on our deliveries.

This year, though, I got everything loaded and ready to go by the time the kids got out of school.

Our list was cut way, way down from what we usually do, but we managed to five drops done before we had to get ready to head back up the church.

As a total bonus, we didn't get caught on a single one of them!

We're getting good!!

What's Your Strategy?

Board games are a favorite around here!

All year long we look forward to Family Board Game Day.  

It's an event with lots and lots of games available to try out and play.  Even better, someone will even teach you how to play it if you need help--I love that, and often need it!

We've discovered so many fun games there!

Last year when we went, the boys learned an abbreviated version of a War game.  It was way over my head, but the boys caught on and loved it.  This year they were anxious to play it again.

They are still years away from playing those sort of games on their own, but Bart, our favorite game expert, told them that Stratego would be a great starter game for them.

Henry, especially, could not get to the store fast enough to buy it.

It is, in fact, the perfect game for those war loving boys!

 Fun Fact:  

When Amy and I were little, I loved playing board games.  She loved barbies.  

We would compromise and trade off playing one and then the other.  We nearly always started out with barbies and never quite made it to the board game.   

There are definite advantages to being the oldest!

Lizard Eggs.....and other lies

Ben's a fibber.

It's an essential part of his humor with the boys.

Although they caught on to his lies a long time ago, he still keeps at it.

A few days ago, Luke and I ran to the store to grab a few things.  He said we needed eggs because Ben, who had made them scrambled eggs the night before, had said that he accidentally bought lizard eggs by mistake.

I couldn't stop laughing.

Of all the dumb things Ben says, I couldn't believe that Luke fell for such a ridiculous one. 

I'm sure Luke made a mental note so that is doesn't happen again! 

Never Too Cold for the Lake!

The weather is beautiful today--windy but warm!

Ben took Luke, Henry and Scout to the FOP lake to fish a bit and run around.

The rest of us joined them awhile later.

The plan was to just run around, but NOT get in the water.

Coop got out of the car and immediately made a break for the lake.

Ben had three wet and very sandy dogs to bathe when we got home, but it was worth it--at least from my point of view!

--Scout is a little more apprehensive of the water than the other two are.  He did, however, have a good time running at warp speed at them and skimming them just enough to throw them off balance.  They didn't seem to think that was a fun way to play!

Pinch Him ---->

The St. Patrick's Day Parade was today!

I love parades--especially that one!

Once we found our spot and got all settled in, Henry whipped out a homemade sign:

He's quite the comedian.

We've Got a Bleeder

Josh Oliver had a music program Tuesday night.

He made it through the first two or three songs and then he rushed off of the stage/altar and down the aisle covering his nose and mouth.

Bloody nose.

By the time I made it out of the pew, Josh was already at the back of the church with our favorite girl, Val--the school secretary.  

She said as soon as she saw that it was Josh, she immediately knew to get some Kleenex ready!  It's a common occurrence for him!

He sat out for several songs until he got it fully stopped, then he headed back in for the last few songs.

While we were in the back, one of the Kindergartners had to step out because of the pukes and another boy lost his tooth.

In other words, it was quite eventful!

Home Sick

Henry got sick at school yesterday.

Within an hour of dropping him off.  

That's the second time we've sent a boy to school only to have him throw up shortly after getting there.  

It's a terrible feeling--for all of us.

He was down and out most of the day yesterday.  We kept him home today to get over the last bits of it.

I dread the thought of anyone else coming down with it--especially with Spring Break coming up.