Dirk

Dirk are you there? We MISS you! Are you EVER going to come and visit? The kids want their Dirky Chicken!!!!

P.S. For those wondering...this is the famous Dirk...a great guy...to me, Jimmy, and my kids. A friend who helped us build our basement, doesn't mind if the house is clean (at least says he doesn't), teaches me ALL kinds of cool stuff with my camera, and most important is the "founder" of and official member of Camp Chaos!

You better make time to visit soon!!!

Skills

OK, we were pulling into the Lakes Mall parking lot (Sears side), when Alli speaks up. "Hey, there's Red Lobster!" Now this really isn't a big deal, minus the fact that we have NEVER ate there and never even talk about Red Lobster...EVER!!! Jimmy and I look at each other VERY confused. Can she read? So I respond, "Alli, how did you know that was Red Lobster?" "Cuz' I got skills, Mom!" Enough said, she has skills.

Two Down One to Go

We had a great weekend playing outside. What fabulous sunshine and wodnerful temperatures all weekend. I think spring is here...let's hope it stays. Part of nice weather is looking and finding bugs. I am not the mom that freaks out about bugs. It's part of being kids. The kids are good at moving rocks and planters around to find earth worms. Grosses Jimmy right out. I could care less. We are different in that way! Isaac found his first salamander. He was very proud, played with it for awhile, and put it back...even covered it up to go finds his family!!!

The real highlight of the weekend was Alli learning to PUMP! Now that may not sound like an accomplishment, but it is HUGE is our world. This coming from the girl who loves the swings and wants me to stop everything I am doing to push her ALL DAY LONG. Don't get me wrong, sometimes we need to stop what we are doing and "push our kids", but her doing it all on her own is so much better and she feels GREAT about herself too. What can be better than that? Two pumping one to go!!! I see the light at the end of the tunnel:)!

Ashley update: All looks good for the moment. She has another appointment with Dr. Golz on Wednesday. I am calling a pediatric dentist tomorrow. Not that my dentist is bad, I would just prefer to have her seen by a dentist that specializes in children. It is that crazy mom thing I have going on. Her front tooth still feels loose, but the others seem to be "tightening"! This coming from a person who has never felt a tooth "tighten".

Thank you everyone who left comments, called, and emailed. I know this is silly, but it really means a lot to know I have GREAT people in my life who care about me and my family. I really appreciate you!!!

Captain Earth

Jimmy had his first official race of the season on Saturday. I left the kids with my mom and went to do my "wife" duties. I actually had a good time, minus the fact that my husband NEVER talks to me when I am at the races. I am not really sure why I go, oh yeah, wife duties...now I remember. Anyway, I had a great time. I just kept repeating that I am a better wife at home. It gets to be a little difficult watching your husband go 120 mph around and around hoping no one hits him. And then they do...like they did on Saturday! No reason, just the thing to do while racing I guess. All in all it was ok. Everything was fixable and Jimmy finished 13th...respectable!!! I love the see the smile on my husbands face. It really does make it worth while.

To explain Captain Earth, Jimmy has a "fancy" fire suit with his compnaies logo on it (WRITE OFF!!!), so a buddy of his, I think Dirk, coined Captain Earth. For the record, Dirk is also the founder of Camp Chaos!!! Jimmy's friend Kurt designed the car and took the time to "design" a Captain Earth logo. Jimmy does not care for it, but I think it is great!!!!

One last thing, thanks again Mom for letting me be a mom and a WIFE...love ya!!!

family photo shoot

Some crazy "camp chaos" photos from Ashley's birthday.

Soccer Saturday

Today was Alli's first soccer game of the year. It is amazing what a year can do. She still does not have "skills", but at least she can follow directions and has an idea of what she is suppose to be doing. It is so much fun to watch her. It doesn't even bother her that Jimmy and Isaac are not there. Personally, I loved having Jimmy with me on the sidelines. Isaac was a little sad, but did really well at telling people "I play baseball now!" I just love those kids. Tude even managed to stop to balls from going in...maybe she was made to be a goalie...we will have to wait and see!!!
Yes, my daughter was the one in the "flashy pink pants". It is not my fault, all of our soccer shorts are black and her team color in navy blue. We CAN NOT have that!!! Needless to say, we are going shopping. It is hard to find shorts with a small enough waist to fit Al. The poor girl doesn't even own warm ups!!! Of course, even if she did, she probably would not wear them...not girlie enough.

Teeth!

You really have no idea how important teeth are until you face the possibility that you might not have them for awhile. I know in today's world there are a lot of people (people I love very much!) who need your prayers...imporant life healing prayers, but if you have a "spare prayer", I would like to "borrow" it for Ashley. Like I said, I realize this is not life altering, but it is still my baby we are talking about.

On Thursday, she was playing at Shelly's, when she got to close to a swinger. Her face, mainly her teeth, got the raw end of the deal. The pictures do not show her swollen face, but half of her face is swollen up and she has 4 loose teeth. She has a 20% chance that they are going to fall out and a 50% chance that they are doing to turn black. Basically die and will have to be removed. Her front tooth is the worst, it moved back and is very loose. I realize these are baby teeth and she will get "adult" teeth, but not for 4+ years. In the mean time, she needs her teeth!!! She needs them to eat, talk, and to smile. I know, I keep saying this, it could be SO MUCH WORSE, but it is still hard as the mom to see her like this. So if you have a moment (knowing there are more important prayers), please remember Ash and have her teeth "harden" and have everything be ok. Thank you very much!!!

What to do at 11:45 pm?

What to do at 11:45 pm on a Saturday night, when all the kids are sleeping, your husband is home with you instead of racing (it rained out!), and both of you are wide awake? Play wii and watch NASCAR racing on tv! What else is there? I know it may not sound exciting, but it really was a lot of fun just doing nothing. We played several games of wii bowling and watched NASCAR at the same time. We took a break and cuddled (I promise, that is it!). Sometimes, it is just really nice to lay your head on your husband's chest and lay there! A little while later, I was bored. Truth be told, I was getting sleepy and was afraid I would fall asleep (Jimmy, and his magical chest) and not see the end of the race, so I thought lets play another game of bowling. WARNING: WII BOWLING IS ADDICTING!!!
My husband decided to bowl out of his mind, 11 strikes and 9/spare. What is this??? I had to get my camera and take a picture. Jimmy, of course, thought I was a freak and said, "I know this is going on your blog." Darn right.

AWESOME JOB JIMMY!!!!

Notice, Kristin is not quite the bowler James is!!! I use to be better, not sure what happened:)!
Also, if you look at the "picture" of Jimmy, he looks like a cross between himself and George Michael...I think it's the shades:)!

Ash at 3

I have to admit, three looks good on you Ash! I thought everyone else might like to see what an "official three year old Ashley" looks like.

Happy 3rd Birthday Ashley

Ok, first things first, I bought a cake. So much better and worth every penny! It was good and more important, it looked good!

Ashley blowing out her candles. Don't look to close, bad Mom alert, I had two candles and had to use a tea light as my third. I had the cake, I didn't think about the candles:)! It can never just be "simple" at Camp Chaos.Happy Birthday Ashley. You are such a big girl.

From today...to three years ago. Where does the time go? My baby is now a big girl!

First "official" family photo. Ashley is about 45 minutes old and already getting use to the flash. Poor girl, had no choice! If you look close, the poor girl didn't ever get a chance to get cleaned up for her first photo op! She still has the "stuff" in her hair. I didn't care. I wanted my babies...ALL of my babies with me. Delivery was shorter but way worse! She was "sunny side up" and the epidural did not work. Back labor was awful, but it was the moment she came out, the pain just stopped! I felt like I could run a marathon. I did not get to see to twins being born. Everyone was very good about me getting to see everything. Dr. Karnes was so patient with me. He sat on the floor, while I was on the birth stool, just massaging. I never tore. Thank you Dr. Karnes!!! My husband had a cold and in the middle of a big push leaned away from me to blow his nose and I fell backwards...not good. I still bring this up to him:)!!!
As they were pulling her out, I looked down and thought, my God she is HUGE...she is going to weigh 10 pounds. She had boobes and rolls everywhere! Turns out she only weight 7 pounds 10.8 ounces. They went with 7 pounds 10 ounces as her official weight. I guess they thought 7/11 sounded like a gas station. My baby was here!!
Ashee baby...looking the same just smaller!!!

Birthday Bowling

I wanted to do something "special" for Ashley's birthday. We took the big kids to the movies for their birthday, so I thought why not bowling! I also thought, if Ash could bring one friend, who would she pick? Without a doubt...Kyle! Aunt jodi and Kyle were kind enough to come along! We only played one game, which was plenty! I think everyone had a good time, minus Aunt Jodi. She was a little stressed...maybe because everyone (including Kyle and Ashley) beat her:)! Was that it Aunt Jodi?!?!? Needless to say, it was a great afternoon bowling. The people at the bowling alley were really nice, they put up the gutter blocks and let us use the 'handicap bowling" roll thing. WAY EASIER FOR KIDS!!!

Test-N-Tune

This weekend was opening weekend of test and tune. I thought, why not go and watch and bring the kids. It was a sunny warm, but windy day. The kids did really good. As you can tell by the prior photos, Ash was a little tired. Typical TenBrink, the sounds of motors running puts her to sleep! Alli had to bring her camera. Her and Isaac took turns taking pictures of the racecars. Poor kids do not know any better, their mom always has a camera in her hand, so why not them?!

Not the best photos, but at least you can see the car! Special thanks to Dale for all of his help. Jimmy could not have done it with out you!!

Big Girl Hair

Ashley now has big girl hair too. The poor girl has AWFUL hair. It is fine and straight in some spots and frizzy and thick in others. It is not hair that can be left "undone". We are still trying to grow out the "haircut" from Isaac. I think it is finally even. Hopefully, it will grow and start to look a little better.