The Ice Cream Truck

Yesterday the kids slept until 9am!!! No kidding. They were so exhausted by the week we had with cousins and camps that they finally caved and slept late. We decided to have a quiet day doing stuff around the house. The kids were banned from TV and called outside to help with yard and garage work. Then........the air began to fill with the music of the Ice Cream Truck. Remember that music? And around here you can hear it from miles away because there are fewer houses and the wind blows the tune with it. You can't tell where the truck is - the kids stand outside waiting for a glimpse of the truck - then they see it way up the road in another neighborhood - will it come to us? - how long will it torture them as it mills through streets that aren't theirs? They stand on the edge with money jars and jumping to make sure maybe they could be seen. This time a green truck with a kindly couple went so far as to drive up the road a mile to make sure the driver knew there were 4 kids waiting in anticipation of the drivers arrival...........

Swap Time

What we did during the last day of the Great Cousin Swap -

Thinking....

This is a real flower from our yard - cool eh?

So I am thinking about making Me In Motion and No Mo-Skee-Toes one blog. BigGuy is interested in the blogs, but not enough that he blogs as he said he would. No big bother, but Me In Motion is my thoughs disconnected from the families or BigGuy's. Mo-Skee-Toes is primarily all just family stuff (although it is also all my views) so I was thinking maybe I would just merge the two and have this blog be all mine about the family and my thoughts. Any opinions?

Summer Fun

This is what we did on Juneteenth...

Henry's Faire

Well, we suppose this could have been any English Faire - not specifically Henry's, but since I have been reading books about Henry's 6 wives (poor girls) it fits as being a fair. They had families who came from York, Scotland, the 1200's, the 1800's - there were folk who were from the woods (elves, fairies, pixies - these are all different just ask them) - there were maids, lords, Kings, Ladies, tree men and weirdly there were characters that didn't really belong - a scarey Ninja, a few women who looked like they were going for Cat Woman and then various other odd getups. However - we had fun. We tried on elf ears, hats, horns, used bow and arrows, watched jousting, lost a child for 20 minutes (Spidey - he didn't leave us the rest of the day), learned how a household in 1200 ran and also their townships and how they supported one another (very interesting), we learned what the men's under drawers look like and ate foods that I am pretty sure Henry did not have at court. It was fun.

Off to Camp

Well, yesterday we packed Spidey and Babers off to visit with family in STL. They are now basking in the attention of their AuntB, Nanny and cousins. We are certain that they are in child heaven! Today BigGuy and I took SuperStar and our niece, CuznK, off to camp. The camp in within about 30 minutes of our house - but it may as well be on another planet in these girls eyes. They were nervous, excited, scared, elated, sad and overwhelmed. CuznK dealt with her nerves by talking a lot (totally not like her AT ALL!!) and doing MadLibs. SuperStar dealt with her nerves by being kinda loud, bossy and goofy. At one point she started to cry over a croissant (yes, that french pastry) - that is when I figured she was definately nervous. She clung to us in line as we checked her in - CuznK even stood holding my hand - so they were "not so sure" about what was going to happen next. We stood in line, a moth fell in love with me, we checked them in, we had them screen for their health (they looked at their hands, the bottom of their feet and checked them for lice - now weirdly it seemed like the same checking they do to prisoners, but I did not mention this to the girls). After that we went back to the car - got all the luggage (and that meant one bag for each of us to carry) - went and found their area - they are in the Sunset section of the camp - and unpacked them. It was very sweet. After we wandered a bit around camp, then they noticed their camp buddies were gathering together with their counselors, Hugs and Driftwood (I am worried about Driftwood), and they kinda left us. BigGuy and I wandered and I gave him the tour of camp. We went back to the girls, gave them hugs and kisses and then since they didn't seem to need us any longer we wandered away. They are going to have a Great Time!!

Happy Juneteenth!!

Are you familiar with Juneteenth? Until a year ago we had not heard of the holiday, but while searching for things to do in our new town we stumbled across this celebration. One that is very important to our history, most especially the African American community in the US. Here is some history from Wikipedia -

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is an annual holiday or holiday observance in 27 states of the United States. Though the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued on September 22, 1862, with an effective date of January 1, 1863, it had little immediate effect on most slaves’ day-to-day lives, particularly in Texas, which was almost entirely under Confederate control. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived on Galveston Island to take possession of the state and enforce the emancipation of its slaves. Legend has it while standing on the balcony of Galveston’s Ashton Villa, Granger read the contents of “General Order No. 3”

The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.

That day has since become known as Juneteenth, a name derived from a portmanteau of the words June and nineteenth.

Former slaves in Galveston rejoiced in the streets with jubilant celebrations. Juneteenth celebrations began in Texas the following year. Across many parts of Texas, freed people pooled their funds to purchase land specifically for their communities’ increasingly large Juneteenth gatherings — including Houston’s Emancipation Park, Mexia’s Booker T. Washington Park, and Emancipation Park in Austin. Juneteenth celebrations include a wide range of festivities, such as parades, street fairs, cookouts, or park parties and include such things as music and dancing or even contests of physical strength and intellect. Baseball and other popular American games may also be played.

The holiday originated in Galveston, Texas; for more than a century, the state of Texas was the primary home of Juneteenth celebrations. However, one small community in Arkansas (Wilmar) boasts that its celebration, called "June Dinner" has been consistently observed and celebrated, except for one year, since approximately 1870. Since 1980, Juneteenth has been an official state holiday in Texas. It is considered a "partial staffing holiday" meaning that state offices do not close but some employees will be using a floating holiday to take the day off. Twelve other states list it as an official holiday, including Arkansas, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Alaska . In California, Governor Schwarzenegger proclaimed June 19th "Juneteenth" on June 19, 2005. However, some of these states, such as Connecticut, do not consider it a legal holiday and do not close government offices in observance of the occasion. Its informal observance has spread to some other states, with a few celebrations even taking place in other countries.

As of June 2008, 28 states, as well as the District of Columbia, have recognized Juneteenth as either a state holiday or state holiday observance; these include Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Delaware, Idaho, Alaska, Iowa, California, Wyoming, Missouri, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Colorado, Arkansas, Oregon, Kentucky, Michigan, New Mexico, Virginia, Washington, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Vermont, and North Carolina.

What will you do to celebrate?

Another Count Down

Girl Scout camp is in 4 days. SuperStar and her cuznK are dropped off at 1pm. SuperStar is sooooooooooo excited that I can't add enough "o's" to SO in order to express it. For a week she has been begging to get help in packing her bags. We had misplaced our packing list so we headed up to the GS office to get a new one (and then promptly found the other one as soon as we walked in the door - kid you not, it was tacked to our family calendar wipe off board and you see it as soon as you walk in the door. Sometimes I am too organized for our own good!). The list detailed a few things we needed so after picking it up we headed to Target. SuperStar was way cute - we went to the toiletries area where they sell those travel size things. It has been awhile since BigGuy or I have had single size needs for anything - they have a lot of cute stuff in that area! SuperStar was scrutinizing colors, types, smells, wording on the package even! Another shopper just watched her smiling - SuperStar stopped to explain why she needed all these things and how excited she was. They chatted about GS and what a great opportunity for the future it is for her. Spidey and I entertained Babers.

Once home we took the items, the list and started packing. There was A Lot of stuff needed! Shorts, shirts, long pants, long shirts, PJ's, 2 pairs of undies a day (to which SuperStar went into a long monologue about "what in the world could we need two pairs per day - that is 12 pairs! What are people doing with their undies?". Then there was bug spray, lotion, sun lotion, flashlights, rain ponchos, a tshirt for tie dying, a tshirt for autographs, a journal, a book for autographs, bags for treasures, bags for laundry, bags for trash, and on and on. We got it all matched, rolled (a packing trick many know) and placed. Then we started to address the Tuesday night Cowgirl Costume - SuperStar sees her costume as a vest, jeans, her hiking boots, a bandana and a long sleeved black shirt. Only we don't have a vest. She thinks we need a vest - talked about the vest for days - talked about shopping for the vest - talked about how I could sew a vest for her - asked about extra fabric to make a vest - finally we took one of my shirts and cut it down to fit her as a vest and sew the cut edges. Not pretty, but she was smiling.

She is now completely packed for camp - 4 days early. When I mentioned how crazy this is to BigGuy he looked at me as if I were the one who was crazy because apparently it is seen that this is how I am as well. She is so a chip off the Mommy block.

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Fathers Day - 1 day late!

We had a great Father's Day. Well, since I am not a Father I suppose that isn't my place to really say, but I think BigGuy had a great Father's Day. His dad, BigGuy Sr., stayed for the weekend. Came in on Friday and stayed until Sunday night. It was a treat - he went to Superstar's volleyball game, we went to breakfast, showed him the windmill farm and then he and BigGuy pretty much watched every Cardinal's game and golf thing on TV all weekend. Although they did take the olders to the movies to see KungFu Panda.

Father's Day morning we made BigGuy's favorite breakfast - apple dumplings and egg & ham casserole. With some fresh pineapple and mango it was delish. Plus, the weather was so fabulous that we ate out on the back porch. Then they basically lazied around. We went to lunch and then they lazied around.

I think it was BigGuy's perfect day!

This One is for Miss Bogar

Sunny, our newest family member, has been romping and having fun. She and Jake are constantly on the move - although there are days that we do believe Sunny thinks he is crazy for wanting to be outside all the time - but out they go. She is a wonderful snuggler and loves to kiss. We have stopped baking sweets because Sunny was getting more of them then we were!! She loves baked goods.

Third Semester Grades

Kinda forgot about this post - the kids reminded me.

Our kiddo's did very well this semester - Yea SuperStar and Spidey!!

SuperStar got all A's again. That means that she received all A's for the entire year and earned All Honors for the year. We are very proud of her - and more importantly she is very proud of herself!

Spidey got all 3's again. That means that two of the three quarters he had all 3's and all +'s (the equivalent to all A's)!! Yeah Spidey. He is very excited to do just as well next year and have them be what he thinks are real A's.

Babers passed almost all of his swim test elements - however, he will continue to be in the same class because of his age. So that he can continue working on new skills he is being placed in a private class.

Yea Our Kids!!

Happy Anniversary

So Saturday was our 11th Anniversary!! This year our celebration was much more exciting then last year - because last year we were having all our worldly belongings taken from a large truck and left willy nilly around our new home. Very romantic.

This year we woke to our kids feigning hunger. They wanted us to come downstairs to get them breakfast - only they had already made us big bowls of cereal and juice AND sweet cards congratulating us on our anniversary. Very sweet. Then they fed themselves and Babers.

As we all sat there SuperStar said, "This is great how your Anniversary has brought us all together."

I thought how cool it was that they realized our marriage effected them and made us all a family - then Spidey said, "Yeah, if it wasn't your anniversary we wouldn't be eating breakfast together." and SuperStar added, "Yeah, usually we eat breakfast at different times, but your anniversary has brought us together."

Not exactly what I thought they meant, but still..........it was super sweet and honestly, it was the most romantic thing that happened that day.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Spidey has been owed a baseball game with BigGuy for over a year now. Last year was supposed to be his first Cards game with BigGuy alone in the new stadium. Only, we did that moving thing and it didn't happen. The summer just got too crazy with settling and such. So this spring they were going to attend a game at the local college. Only, it never happened either. So finally.............

They got to a Chiefs game!! So exciting that Spidey talked about it for an entire week. "How many more days?", "Is today the day I am going to the game?", "I can't wait to go to the game!"



Spidey has his bestest friend, CH, to thank for the tickets. Apparently, much like SuperStar, CH sold a great deal of whatever his baseball league was selling and he earned himself two extra tickets to the game. Way to go CH!! And Spidey and BigGuy were the guests invited. Spidey was so excited about the whole thing that his fondness for CH had him contemplating becoming a Cubs fan. See BigGuy and CH's parents have an on going rivalry between their teams - the H's are Cubs fans, and CH has inherited his parents fondness for this diabolical team. BigGuy will phone the H's house when he knows they are watching a game and when he knows the Cubs are doing poorly just to make certain his name shows up on their tv screen (apparently dish satellite has your phone call id stuff show up on your tv). Needless to say, Spidey's consideration to switch teams had hurt BigGuys heart a bit - I think Spidey is currently on the fence.


Fortunately for this evening event - the Chiefs are not the Cubs or the Cards (although they are a farm team for the Cubs and have a coach who is a former Cubs player). The playing field was considered neutral and everyone got to love the team together.


And as you can see - neither BigGuy nor SH seem to be any worse the wear in the friendship category. They are able to sit right next to each other and enjoy one anothers company - although, if I know BigGuy he probably accidentally poked SH a few times during the evening - accidentally of course!

Ask me about the baseball Spidey is holding - it has its own story!

First Swim

It is Pool Time again! We are a swimming family. This week started our outdoor swim season. A whole winter of swim lessons has made a huge difference and this year the olders have almost free range in the pool. There are three levels - toddler, medium depth with slide & lazy river and then the deep end with a big slide and diving board. This year Babers is doggy paddling (can you believe that?) and we can manage going to all areas of the pool - although we fancy him in the middle or toddler area due to his still scaring the pants off of adults when he plunges in (until he comes to the surface and then swims to the side - seriously he is already swimming to the side!). The first few days were a bit cold, but the pool is heated, so it made it more bearable.


Babers loves the playground in the middle of his fav pool.


and fortunately for me the olders take turns playing with the younger sib. Gives me a smidge of a second to talk to whatever friend is around.


This section - the spray fountain area is the Coldest part - this must be straight from the tap and it is freezing - the spray that floats through the air is unbearable. At least for adults.


Spidey is a total fish - and he HAD TO HAVE this swim shirt. He loves this swim shirt - he thinks it is the coolest thing ever. I liked it too thinking how much easier it would be to find a kid with a white swim shirt on in the pool - only apparently the swim shirt is now all the rage because there are tons of boys and girls in the pool with swim shirts!


SuperStar is a flash in the pool sight these days. She is enjoying the deep pool and has been making fast friends with many kids - when she doesn't run into someone from school. She is becoming a fish and a tanned beaut. I guess the Mermaids GS camp was the perfect pick for her this summer!

Treasures in the Mail

Thank You Nanny!!!

Today the kids got a surprise package in the mail - always very exciting to receive a delivery. While BigGuy and I were expecting the package (because we were let in on the secret), the kiddo's had no clue what was headed their way.

Once BigGuy was home we opened the box and there were summer treats for each child. It was like Christmas in August. They immediately had a Try-on-athon (what we call trying on many items of clothing at once) right there in the kitchen before our piano teacher arrived. SuperStar LOVED her outfits and swim suit - Spidey loved the new sporty outfits and shirts - and Babers loved his pj's so much that he refused to take them off and he wore them to SuperStars volleyball practice and then out to dinner. No one seemed to notice it was pjs.

Thank You Nanny!!!