We missed our Goyles, but the Sunshine made it all worthwhile!

'Tis the season for Ken's trip to Palm Springs with the Minnesota Lawmen softball team.  This was the last year they'll be having it in Palm Springs, so it was really nice that it could be 106 degrees to help us with the departure!  Next year, the World Police Softball Tournament is going to be in Las Vegas...holy moly...so it should be an adventure.  Ken and I have talked about 25 times about going and just never have spent the money or time to go.  We were lucky to have Kara and her friend Chris to join us.  They were able to stay Friday thru Sunday and we had the best time.  I snapped just 375 pics of them to share with everyone back home. ;)  Hey - if you're going to be really overly obnoxious with a camera, be that way around a couple models and you get by just fine...

 I love all the funny ladies that are married to the other lawmen players.  We only get together a couple times a year at these tournaments and a few other events, but it's always lots of fun and very entertaining.  They try to get me in trouble from time to time...I can't hang!...but, it's a good time none-the-less.

Ken played very well - even though he got a bad cold before we left.  The team ended up in 5th place, so not too shabby.  Of course, they were frustrated with their finish.

Thankfully, when we arrived home and the girls were returned to our care from Orange Papa and Gramma's, they did not cry and say they wanted to stay with them!  Huge thanks to Heidi and Kyle, as well as Orange Papa and Gramma for taking care of our sick little buggers.  Back to work...ugh...

Dorks...My kids are total dorks...

My little sassertons have provided me much entertainment and much stress in the last couple weeks.  Here are a few of the highlights...

I HAVE A WIENER   At Cub the other day, I was trying to just grab a few things.  One of these things was bread.  First, you should know that Macy and Jorey no longer want to ride in carts, they like to walk --which translates loosely into sprinting through the store, yelling, taking things off the shelves, and ultimately just giving their mom a panic attack --but, this was such a night that I figured they could walk.  I was up for the challenge.  While I was perusing the bread aisle, in search of our fave potato bread, I hear Jorey say (in a low voice), "Hey Mom, I've got a wiener."  In shock and disbelief, I just kindof looked around - looked into the terrified face of the 20ish-year-old boy stocking the bread aisle, and said, "Come on.".  She then proceeds to just grab the front of her pants, kindof bunch them out, walk with her legs together so it stays bunchy, and then struts along saying it again!  I had to laugh inside, but wondered what that poor fella was thinking...2 year old, telling mom she has a wiener?!?  He probably thought I was some sort of freaky crossdresser or something...I still can't figure out where that came from and I hope it never comes out again.

MY DAYCARE BOYFRIEND DOESN'T LIKE THAT SHIRT The other day, I'm getting Macy dressed and she tells me that she doesn't want to wear the golf shirt that I'm trying to sell the idea of wearing.  She says, "No, Mom, Liam doesn't like that shirt."  I say, "Well, how about this one" (a very similar style, just different colors) - She says, "No, Mom.  I'm not even lying.  Liam does not like that shirt.  She kindof gets a little whimsical look on her face and says, "Really, Mom.  It's true.  He just does not like that shirt."  I tried to inform her that boys shouldn't tell us what to wear and we can really do whatever we want, so if she likes the shirt, she should wear it.  She was not convinced and chose to please Liam that day.  I didn't think much about it until her daycare teacher, Miss Mandy, told me that Macy and Liam have a love-hate relationship where they play and hug one minute, and then fight the next.  I brought up the discussion we had the week before, and Miss Mandy confirmed that Liam hates button shirts so much that one day when he spilled on his shirt and they tried to put a clean shirt with buttons on him, he threw such a fit, he wore a girl shirt home!  It seems he's still her #1.  ;)

She also informed me the other day that she would like to go on a honeymoon (because Shrek and Fiona went on one and I told her that when you get married, you get to go on vacation with your hubby and celebrate and they call it a honeymoon - true enough, huh?) - So, she waited 2 days until we were going to Target and she told me that she would like to marry Liam and go on a honeymoon with him.  She then informed me that she would only marry him if he wanted to marry her because otherwise that wouldn't be any fun.  She's so smart....

Last Saturday, Ken was down cultivating his hunting land for the big hunt...Oh, brother...and the girls and I took a rainy day trip to Lookout Ridge in Woodbury.  It was fun and I ran into a friend-of-a-friend that I'd been out with a few times.  She had her kids there, so it was a good time.  It's a huge, tall, indoor climbing thingy with big slides, tunnels, a jumper, and all sorts of fun stuff.  I did see Macy's evil side when a girl was sitting in one of the tunnels and Macy asked, "What are you doing there?!  Get out of the way!"  I couldn't believe it even came out of her mouth!  So, we stopped, had to have a chat, and then continued on our way.  Now, if you can picture this, these climbing zones are built really sturdy for (big butts like me), but they're small enough for 2-year-olds to get up and around.  Imagine how much we held up traffic when we had to apologize to the scorned young girl, have a life lesson, and then maneuver all 5' 6.5" (yes, that's 6.5") of me up the little zones, while cheering Jorey on because she just wasn't so sure she wanted to keep going.  Once at the top, we all went down the dark & curly slide together and laughed a lot.  It was so much fun.  We stayed for about 3 hours and got our $5 worth and went and rested.  We spent Sunday cleaning our nasty house...it's almost like the cold, rainy weather has prompted a necessity to clean.  Some in my house are probably happy to see that.  I have anxiety!  Oh, well...

Here are some shots of our adventures.

This picture was WAY at the top of the big tower...I was sweating and breathing hard after getting up there, had about 4 12-year-old boys up my butt, but we were taking that picture...so glad I did.  Look how happy they are! 

We were trying on our winter gear last night because both girls were supposed to have a field trip to an apple orchard today...yuk!  So, we were trying to prepare with boots, umbrellas, mittens, winter coats, etc.  They were both so excited to try on their stuff...yep - kindof dorky...wouldn't have it any other way.

Patrick Harrington

Our prayers go out to my friend, Dan.  He lost his dad to a terrible farm accident on Monday.  Here's the article:
Corn bin incident claims El Paso area farmer
A 75-year-old rural Ellsworth man died Monday afternoon after he became trapped inside a corn bin while it was being unloaded. The victim was identified as Patrick H. Harrington.
Authorities were notified of the accident at the Patrick and Margaret Harrington farm, W3593 610th Ave., town of El Paso, at 1:55 p.m. The farm is located about a mile east of CTH BB and five miles south of Hwy. 29.
Ellsworth firefighters and EMS personnel "worked tirelessly to empty the corn bin and locate the missing man" for nearly 90 minutes before he was located, according to Pierce sheriff's deputy Robin Kivel.
Efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead by Medical Examiner Sue Dzubay.
A medical helicopter from Life Link was also summoned to the scene and its staff assisted with the rescue attempt.
Dzubay said Harrington had been working with several semi-drivers, unloading the 18,000 bushel bin throughout the day. A driver had just repositioned his truck and exited the cab to discover Harrington missing. After a short search around the farm, workers discovered a pole inside bin, leading them to speculate that Harrington may have gone inside in an attempt to free a blockage near the bin's base.
There was about 4,000 bushels of corn remaining in the 36-foot bin when the accident occurred.
The incident remains under investigation, Kivel stated in a press release.

  It was a terrible accident and one that will likely be very difficult for Pat's wife, 8 children, 17 grandchildren, and, I think, 4 great grandchildren, to come to terms with.  I attended the funeral on Friday.  One of Pat's daughters got up to speak about him and made everyone laugh and cry.  She did an amazing job of portraying the man he was.  One of the grandsons, when asked what he'll miss most about his grandpa, answered - "Well, just everything..."

Orange Papa got a new hot rod!

Let's just name him "Pinky" for now...
But papa has plans to overhaul him and make him a bit less fruity looking.
Natalie, Kenzie, and Mommy are excited that Papa has a new hobby - his garage was full of furniture and it had nowhere to go. 

Here he is!

BTW - as I'm writing this, Jorey is talking to her baby...
"Get in your bed right now..."
"I'll lay with you for just a minute"
"Take your shirt off..."
" 'Cause you pooped..."
"...ya, you pooped..."
"You're naked...That's why you have your jammies on...you have to take a bath, 'cause you pooped..."
"You get in your bed right now.  This is the last time I'm telling you...."
       I'm wondering if this came from yesterday, when we had to discuss how this was going to go down about 38 times in 2 hours...could it be?

Today, they were lucky they're my most loved goyles...

"You're gonna miss this.  You're gonna want this back.  You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast...these are the good times.  So, take a good look around.  You may not know it now, but you're gonna miss this."   --That song is perfect for today...listen as you read...great stuff and I'm sure it's true because I'm already missing them as I write this.  It's hard to have to be the one that teaches them lessons and tries to keep them from being brats...all the time. ;)
Here's how today went for me...

6am - Jorey arrives in our room - wants to sleep in our bed.  After 30 minutes of digging her toes into my stomach...must love the squishy toy?...she falls asleep.
7:40am - Macy arrives to join our bed.
8:00am - Cartoons come on in hopes of 30 minutes of silence...no can do.
8:20am - Fighting over everything in a toy bin - Jorey touching Macy - Macy punching Jorey - Jorey punching back - both screaming and crying that it was each other.
9:00am - Mary Ann asks me to join at the Farmer's Market
             We discuss going next time - I would have to bring girls - in Jammies - Decide they will wait for us
              to join.
10:00am - running quite late - grab some cash - Macy and Jorey are fighting over water...it's water...it's not worthy of a fight, but I guess it's probably necessary to fight over it because that's the kind of day we're going to have.
10:45am - Arrive at Minneapolis Farmer's Market - it's not a farmers market like anything I know - rather, a compact zoo of tight twists and turns...I have my double stroller + 2 goyles...slight anxiety.
11:00am - Hit the bathrooms - get many dirty looks and nearly take out appx. 20 people with stroller trying to get it up the ramp and park it to get in 3 stall bathroom.
11:15am - Make it into potty - Tell Macy and Jorey 32 times each - 'Do not open the door', while I'm going potty...they both unlock it one time.
11:30am - Find Sr. - he has mini donuts...sweet.  We finish his and have one order of our own + fresh squeezed OJ...spill donuts one time into the bottom of the stroller - that was partly my fault.
Noon - start wandering - wander a couple places trying to keep up with Mary Ann's hunt for the perfect Mums. - Lose her 2x - then, gather the girls and try to take a short walk through.  Get another 8 dirty looks, topped off with a woman who wanted to walk past us and had to wait the .0817 second for us to pass...loudly she says, "Damn Stroller!" - I feel like I want to start a fight with her, but that would be wrong...but would feel so right.
12:30pm - I decide there's not much I need and really should get my ginormous stroller out of the maze, so we head out to our car - that is parked on a curb because it's the only parking spot I could find.
1:00pm - finally have my sugar & cinnamon dunked goyles cleaned up and put in the car.
1:30pm - see Jorey falling asleep - ask her if she's sleepy.  "No, I am NOT sleepy!"
1:40pm - Jorey's sleeping in her car seat.
2:00pm - Arrive Home - Put kids to bed.
2:10pm - Go remind girls that they're supposed to be napping.
2:20pm - Go remind them again - Macy tells me she has to poop.  - OK, go.
2:25pm - Come to help Macy wipe, see brown stuff on carpet - ask what it is - Informant tells me "Jorey wiped her poop on the floor".  Jorey confirms that this is true. 
2:26pm - Change Jorey's Diaper - Get Carpet Cleaner - Clean Carpet - Discuss that we don't dig in our pants and wipe poop on the floor.
2:30pm - Put both girls back to bed.
2:45pm - Remove Jorey from Macy's room - warn of pending spanking
2:50pm - Remove again - apply light spanking
2:55pm - Remove again - apply 3 spankings -
3:10pm - Go to [still screaming] Jorey's room and calm her down - share with her that when I say it's nap time, it's nap time.  Rub her back a little bit, and give her hugs...let her know that I love her and that it's not OK to go in Macy's room when it's nap time.
3:30pm - take lounger chair on the deck and try to close my eyes for 20 minutes.

3:50pm - hear Jorey screaming 'Mommy' from the top of the stairs - tell her to come down - get told that she can't come down because she has too much stuff - baby, blankie, lion, etc.  Tell her, again, to come down.

4:15pm - Macy's up and wants to play in the pool - way too late for that.  Have discussion about how we could have played in the pool if they listened, but they didn't, so we just can't.

5:00pm - Take babies and strollers for a walk around the neighborhood.  Argue most of the time about whether or not they should or should not crash into one another - sometimes fun, sometimes not.

6:00pm - Put Mighty Joe Young in the DVD Player and relax with a nice TV Dinner. 

7:00pm - Dinner's done, talk about snacks - Macy says she wants to pick first, then Jorey wants to be first...sort it out.

7:30pm - Jorey wants to watch movie on the couch with Macy, but Macy says she can't because she stinks.  I ask Jorey if she pooped - 'No, I did not!', so who knows...maybe she does stink, but I thought she smelled fine.

8:30pm - Dad's finally home and I'm loving the silence as he puts them to bed.

9:15 - I'm going to take a bath!

Oh, I do love them, but today was a tough day for all of us!

Rewinding just a bit - Macy got some make-up kits for her birthday and she invited auntie Natalie and auntie Kenzie over for some make overs...here are a few shots of their unwavering beauty.  :)  Mackenzie had a large clump of orange 'sauce' on her eyelid for about 20 minutes...so funny.  

A Night Away

I scheduled myself a night away for Saturday night, up to my friend Melissa's house.  Ken was at his national softball tournament in Oklahoma (where they took 2nd place!  Woo Hoo).  The girls had 2 babysitters.  Auntie Natalie and Auntie Amy.  Natalie came over on Saturday, while the girls were napping and then had them outside, playing in the pool for much of the afternoon.  When I checked in on their status the next day, I was informed that Macy offered a standoff outside.  She was NOT coming in the house, so auntie had to carry her in.  I can only imagine that scene and the standoff by my sassy 4-year-old!  ha ha.  Following that, Amy came over on Sunday just in time for Macy to get a sliver in her foot.  Yellow Papa and Gramma came pulling in shortly after this sliver went into her foot, in order to assist in getting it out. 
Sometimes, I feel bad that our babysitters are tortured, but mostly I just giggle to myself at what it must have been like to argue these points with them.
I'm so thankful that we have these adult and stable babysitters that are willing to help out - for free - I'm not sure a 12-year-old would survive the madness.

Speaking of madness, I never did put any of the pictures of Macy's birthday party festivities on here.  We invited her entire class of 26 kids over to the house, + a few friends and a couple cousins.  We ended up with 24 kids under the age of 5!  We started with the madness in the jumper, tried a water-balloon toss - they didn't get the concept - was I really thinking they would?  Yes - but, clearly that was just one of those moments that I need to pull my head out of my a$$.  After that futile attempt at the organized toss, though, we did offer an all-out assault on Ken.  The kids had a blast throwing the balloons at him and then if he caught it, he'd throw it back at him...craziness.  We had pizza, ice cream, Mary Ann's fab cupcakes, and then played pin the slipper on Cinderella, which also resulted in many kids wondering why Macy's crazy mom was putting a towel over their face so they couldn't see...good times.  Here are some photos of the event.  We had a blast and Macy and her friends sure did, too. 

I think all the little kids in her class are going to want to conduct an all-out assault on Ken next time they see him in a vulnerable situation!

Fry Family Fun Weekend

Following a cold and windy KFFW, we went on another adventure up at the Leyk cabin.  (uncle Dave's wife's family) for some Fry Family Fun.  Kara was in town from California, so she got to join in the 100934875th game of Lightning...We played that game for about 3 hours before playing 3-on-3.  We were low on activities in the cold, so that's just what happened.  I'm so out of shape I nearly perished 3x...OK, not really, but it seemed that I may! 

Macy and Daddy had so much fun on the jet ski.  Every time he took off, you could hear the loudest giggle out of Macy.  She just loved being out there.  (sharp contrast to 2 years ago when she screamed and cried the whole time he took her;) 

Jorey and Macy both loved being on the pontoon.  They would sit right along the sides with their lifejackets on and just watch the water and eat snacks.  Surprisingly, they both ate lots of beef sticks and beef jerkey...who knew they'd eat that.  Macy also ate a ton of walleye and northern...who knew?!  I'd whipped up the EZ Mac so they would eat...no need. 

They both loved sleeping in their sleeping bags.  Jorey even made auntie Heidi take a nap in our room with her when Heidi volunteered, because she 'needed' to sleep in her sleeping bag.  They were so cute, I had to take a picture. 

Macy also surprised the heck out of me when she held the leach and was happy to do so!  I'm thinking this crazy face was taken before that --otherwise, she has leach in her mouth and eyes because she had a series of dorky faces.  What a nerd.

Auntie Kara was brave enough to volunteer for the first tube ride...though, she got on the tube from the boat and was not too keen on getting wet...funny...it was rather chilly that day.  She succeeded in staying on the tube the entire time!  Ken, then, threw me off 2x and I just about lost a portion of my swimsuit both times, so I had to give up.  It was quite a rush, though. 

It was a lot of fun had by all the Frys...especially the two youngest!  Thanks Sara, Dave, Dona, and Jim for hosting!