i am losing control

of my house.

fruit flies have taken over the kitchen, dirty underwear and socks have taken over the laundry room, clean clothes have made the couch their own (and are not giving it back) toys are everywhere. I mean E V E R Y W H E R E!! tools and scrap wood roam free due to the on going construction. anytime i need ice chocolate chips come out. (frozen of course) thanks to my son ike. i cannot open the freezer without an avalanche of junk falling down on me. the frig is growing stuff on the shelves and i have no useable space on my countertops. I HATE LIVING LIKE THIS!!

i need to take back control! i own the house, the house should not own me. so help me i will be back on top by friday.

How I Spent the First Day of School

This is what happens when three boys share a room. Like the bed? Loren made it for us. I love that it comfortably sleeps four. The boys are always having someone stay the night and floor space is not always an option.
anyways, this is a summers worth of mess. i was not going to put the work into cleaning it until i knew they would be out of the house for at least 7 hours.
I found a disgusting amount of dirty underwear, stiff socks, lots of bananna peels that were beyond moldy and just stiff. tacks, those ones hurt to find. millions and millions of Legos, silverware, plates, cups (no napkins, but then again they don't even use those at the table. why would they use them in their room?) candy bar wrappers. have no idea where they got the candy bars. bag full of baseballs, and lots of sheets and blankets that jumped ship from their beds.

And after a mere 6 hours of work i found a bedroom. wierd.

Added some decor that we found on the side of the road. totally legit!!

and a cork board for them to completely ignore and throw their papers all over the floor anyways and leave me to find the tacks.

I give this clean up job a month. then i will back to screaming at them to clean their room.

Do you believe in Magic

Ike and the neighbor boy started a magic stand. the set it up and the end of the block and apparently drew a in a few spectators. they mainly had card tricks and the shell game.

i was stunned when they came home with some change. that was until i read the sign ike made.

For those who cannot read a ten yr old boys writing can probably still not read their husband's writing either. anyways it says, "No Tips Intended" "Magic" "Here no price. Tips please, Money to go to help children's diabetes"

THERE WAS NO INTENTION OF HELPING CHILDRENS DIABETES!!!
i was very embarrassed and also a bit amazed at the inginuity. needless to say, i shut down the stand.

OUCH!!

For those of you who know me know that this is not an unusual picture. i hurt myself alot. Not on purpose mind you, but i am always covered in scratches and bruises. (i tell people my husband beats me but after they get to know him they realize it is probably the other way around)

anyways, for those who don't know me that well, i am a klutz. i am not grace personified. granted i tend to do alot of stupid things, and that does not help my accident prone nature. And some day if you are really attentive i will tell you how i lost a fight with a pile of jump ropes. (they are not a benign as one would like to think)

so to cliff dive you first have to climb the cliff. the base tends to be a tad bit slippery (think of something being covered in snot) so the start up can be tricky. and then of course let us not forget that there is no climbing gear, just a swimsuit and water shoes (thank goodness i had those) and lots and lots of jagged rocks. my whole goal was not to fall into the water. sure i wanted to jump, just not fall. falling is just not as fun. i slipped only twice, which is really good for me. but on the second climb up i did this to myself.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, now i realize that it was not. i cannot cross my legs. i did not realize how much i do cross my legs while sitting. i am now blatenly aware. it will heal soon and i will off in search of more cliffs to jump off because as the ol saying goes "If your friends all jumped off a cliff, would you?" Yes mom, i would.

the perfect license plate for the newly divorced in your life

K- so i saw this at the marina as we were loading up and i HAD to have a picture of it. It is a totally sweet rig and the plates just put it over the top. my good friends lisa and nicola were my models of why you would want "NO WIFE"

when i get my sporty little car my plates will say "NO KIDS" lol

Cliff Diving ( the proof)

so here are the cliffs. the water was so clear you could see all the boulders at the bottom. it was deceptive. this is me on jump #2. i did only 3. Ike did 4. litle fink always had to one up me. ha ha
Lisa was brave too. she did it once.

So the cliff was about 20 feet high. the kids were less than excited. Ike is stading next to me and Lisa is in front pointing.

First dive

fun at the lake

i have a new calling in our church. i am in the Young Women's. which i found really quite amusing because usually they ask really nice people to be in there. anyways, we had a lake activity and i went along so the yw would get a chance to know me (that is not always a bad thing) and i would get a chance to know them. i took the boys up with me too.

tubing fun. the boys thought it would be lots of fun to go fast so they could listen to me expand their language skills.
Jakey on his very first tube ride. he loved it.

Forbush, Daniel and Ike just after there tube ride. I love their hair in this picture.

Jakey jumping off the dock. (This is my favorite picture of the day)

Lisa vogue(ing) on the hammock

oh Sebastian.....when will you learn not to mess with the Master?

So Brinn's son thought it would be fun to scare me while painting Kiani's room. I tend to totally zone out and he took advantage of that and scared the crap outta me not once, not twice, but three times. therefore....he had to be taught tough love.

i figured he was just jealous of all the time i was spending on Kiane's room so i did a custom job in his room too. in hot pink of course!

Kiani's room

So brinn (aka princess, princess) and paulino's daughter is comming home from hawaii. they have a rental so i could not do anything too crazy on their walls. her favorite colors are black and hot pink. so i figured.....hibiscus. i bet you were thinking the same thing! i hope she likes it. it is a suprise for her.

been busy

i know it has been awhile since i posted, and it has family members worried. i am sorry. see i have been so busy i have had to alot pee time just to keep my bladder from exploding. but i think todoay (hopefully) i should be caught up. it seems that if one is gone for a week you have two weeks worth of catching up to do. i am tired of it. i have not had time to read. i need my reading time. ALOT! but i will not allow myself to have it until all my chores or done. ( or i would never get anything done and would read all day long)

now onto my new problem. i don't like sugar. it is not a sudden thing, but has been slowly building for the past 4 years. when i am preggars i don't like chocolate. it would just taste waxy on my tounge and by the end of each preg. i had no sense of taste left. i could only eat by texture. very blah.

now my list is....

chocolate (any kind)
cookies
sugary cereal
brownies
cakes
candy
reeses peanut butter cups (verysad)
popcorn
white cheddar popcorn (very very sad)
ice cream

this is a very sad list. i loved all these things for so, so long. now they either taste gross and grainy to me or just flavorless. WHAT IS NEXT!! i love to eat. it is something of a hobby to me. i see it more than just a way to get nutrion but also very, very enjoyable.

so my family is suffering because there is very seldom sweets to eat in the house. hey, if i can't enjoy it why should i buy it? i need to make an effort and get some cookies in the jar so at least they will have something to enjoy after school.

Meet Spider Man and Lazy Bones

After the snake got away..........Dan and the boys ( who have been hounding me for sometime) got lizards. at first i was not all the excited. i don't like pets that i cannot catch when they get out. but i must admit, these guys are so cute you cannot help but love 'em.

they are armadillo lizards. very social and love to be held. they don't bite and best of all they only eat a cricket each once a week. i can totally afford that. this is as big as they will get and they should be with us for 10 yrs.

Reneer "Special" Olympics part Dos

We had a blast bringing this back. The last time we had the Reneer Olympics grandpa ralph and grandma anna were up. that was many, many years ago. we were all about the same age as these kids here. but after all the fun we had this will definatly be an annual event.
we had doughnut eating on a string. Dad won that event with Blair comming in a close second and i finishing third.

This is Carlos and Rachel's little girl, Gracie.

Then we had a bike course and Anna donated her pretty princess bike for the competion. The little ones did great but as the kids got bigger it got harder. Dad came in first ( only because he was the oldest and we took pity on him) Daniel came in second but he was the only big kid who sat and attempted to peddle. Blair introduced the standing/peddling style and also showed up a lovely back flip. sadly we do not give extra points for stunts. Ella, Mark and regina's girl, came in with the fastest time.

Uncle Carlos helping Maria get through the course.

Carlos and Regina has a slight difference of opinion about his race out come but i think they settled it in a very reasonable and mature manner.

Kathryn looked so cute on the bike i had a hard time just posting one picture of her. the bike was just her size. in fact, i may buy her one for christmas.

Carlos trying to re-create Blair's stunt. But alas he only did a wheelie.

Here are Bumski and Grandpa with all their grandkids.

Then we had a whipped cream/bubble gum game. you had to find the piece of bubble gum and blow a bubble before anyone else. NO HANDS!!

Not suprisingly we managed to turn it into an all out war. Lou was a smartie pants and wore a mask to keep the whipped cream out of her eyes. Keaton won. ( Mark and Regina's kid)

Ben ( in the blue shirt) was smart and just blew the whipped cream out of the way.Once again Reg and Carlos had a bit of a disagreement but being the mature adults they are they were able to work it out. thanks for the great example for the kids.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATHRYN!!

well we got another one in the books. this one was trickier because they can acctually put the cars in the garage. so we saran wrapped the bike.

i drew a lovely picture of Kathryn hiking over the hill but alas it was too big to take a picture of.

you know we love ya gal!!! hope you have a great day!

2nd Annual Reneer "Special" Olympics 2009

This is the soon to be famous whipped cream fight.

i have lots of pics to post too. but i wanna get this one up right away. there are people waiting on this. we are talking life and death here people!!

camping at outlet.

This year was my ten year anniversary of camping with the kiddlets. It could not have been better weather. we have had our share of thunder and lightening storms, torrental downpours, and days and days of rain but this year we lucked out! sunshine all week long. Not too much in the way of wildlife sightings. over the years we have seen moose,bunnies, deer, and snakes. luckily no skunks or bears. I am very lucky to have kids that love to camp with their mom. they have to put up with alot being my kids. we had some friends come up and visit a few times and met up with the rest of the Reneer family on friday at Luby Bay.

Home Sweet Home for the next week.

Anna with Aunt Katie

Putting up the tarp over the table. It always rains on us.

Dad playing with the kiddlets in the Priest Lake

The evenings were spent playing games.

Every year we go out for ice cream one night.

Just relaxing.

Here's Johnny! (warning! if you are afraid of snakes, skip this post)

This is Johnny Dazzles. His close friends call him Johnny. Ike was so hoping to find a snake on this trip because he dad said he could keep it for a pet if he did. I DID NOT KNOW THIS!! i state this loudly because i am the one that found the snake a caught it to show to the kids.

There have been very few times in Isaac's life that i have seen him this happy.

I found him at the beach. At the time he was eating his dinner. I did not know that was dinner in his mouth. He quickly dropped it and peed all over my arm.

This was Johnny's dinner. It's a bat. YUCK!! it laid on the ground attempting to flap and fly away. Sorry this is such a cruddy picture. but i was not willing to brush off said bat and pose it for a picture. i was just worrying what kind of dieases this bat was carrying and if the snake had contracted any of said dieases.

Johnny only was with us for a few days. he made his escape on saturday. needless to say the boys were crushed. i sorta missed the little buggar too. at least i don't have to worry about him getting loose in my house.

And so it begins.

The following conversation took place outside one of these.

A stranger approached the outhouse while Dan was using it and Jakey was outside waiting.

Jake:You can't go in there. My Dad is in there.

Stranger: Okay.

Jake:He usually takes a really long time.

Stranger: Okay.

Jake: It smells really bad when he is done. He usually has to light a match.

Stranger: Lucky me.

Jake: No, you are not lucky. My dad did not bring any matches.

Stranger: Laughing quite hard.

Poor Dan was stuck there listening to this conversation about his bowel habits and not able to to defend himself because it was all too true. The worst part was having to open the door look at this strange man in the eye and know that he did leave that outhouse worse than when he found it.

whew!

so, so much to blog about. i have not forgotten you all. i will fill you in as soon as i can close the laundry room door. we are drowning in dirty underwear and smelly sleepingbags ( i think it was because of the lack of underwear)

Off to the woods

I have been taking the kids camping since Daniel (13) was just a tot. I love to camp. Don't get ideas of grandure in your heads. I am a lazy camper. there are no dutchovens simmering away. there are not even hot breakfasts (unless you count instant oatmeal). I am there to relax and waste lots and lots of time lounging on the beach reading a book.

Last year was a very first year without diapers. THAT IS HUGE!!! we have camped through micro tornadoes, thunder & lightening storms, torenchal downpores and gloriously sunny weather. we are prepped for it all. I have learned that a campers best friend is duct tape. there is nothing it cannot fix.

On our adventures and hikes we have seen lots of bunnies, a few snakes(ike brought one home last year that had been run over by an RV. It was so flat we had to add it to his collection), a moose,(luckily it was a female) lots of deer, but luckily no skunks.

I don't like camping around other people so we go to an out of the way spot (outlet bay) and we can have it pretty much to ourselves during the week. i take off before all the crazy weekenders show up.

anyways, i am sure i will have enough stories when i come back to keep me blogging for at least a week.

ADIOS AMIGOS!!