Team WinBerg

Thank team WinBerg and Coach Buchberger for a great season. Isaac really enjoyed t-ball. His favorite things were the sunflower seeds, big league gum, and the dugout. Yes, not the things you look for is a star player, but every Saturday the boy left with a smile on his face and that is all that mattered to me. He never really ever got the running as fast as you can to the bases, in his words "I would rather skip!" Not so much in t-ball! All in all, not to shabby. Thanks again everyone, Isaac learned a lot and had a wonderful time...so did the mom and dad!

UPDATE

I know that no one really cares, but I do, so you have to pretend to care too! I just wanted everyone to know that all of my birds have flown away. Yes, the mom came back . I was watching them one day and saw the mom "showing" them how to fly. Within 2 days they were gone. They made it...watch out world...these birds will never be the same after living at Camp Chaos!!!

Priceless

This was ALL Jimmy's idea. He decided that the kids (Isaac) was ready for a real 4-wheeler. Isaac has used his battery powered (Jimmy suped it up with a lawnmower battery to make it go faster and longer) one for years...loved it, but has grown a little large for it Ashley basically drives it now.
We get the thing home. I tell Jimmy the kids NEED to have a helmet on and they need long pants and tennis shoes when they ride (Thanks Bobbi Jo...very smart!). I start to make diner with Jimmy giving them riding around the house. I hear a loud (excited!) scream look outside and see Isaac riding around ALL BY HIMSELF...and doing a GREAT job. It is one of those moments that you love as a mom. He was doing something that interested him and he was good at it. He even got the idea of shifting gears. I was sitting on the porch, smile on my face, feeling all warm inside watching my son have his moment when Jimmy yells "Oh No!" Isaac had rode over to the cement slab in front of the pole barn (which made him pick up speed) went to turn around the racing trailer when he saw Ashley (back up 2 hours when the rules were said...STAY AWAY FROM YOUR SISTERS! So he turned it directly into the CLOSED garage door. When he hit the door, the 4-wheeler kind of rode up opening the door. He crashed rest of the way through, landing on the back two tires and his back. Jimmy looked at me... I picked up my son and held him. He was fine...garage door not so good!

1 4-wheeler $400
1 garage door $800
Laughter of my 5 year old son PRICELESS!!!

A week later and he is still talking about CRASHING through the garage door. Gotta love boys...what doesn't kill you makes you stronger...say that to the garage door:)!

Dog Days of Summer

While Jimmy was gone last week in New York, the kids and I decided to have a "sleep over". It was the first Wednesday this summer that we have not had anything to do so I let them stay up "late" and sleep on the floor. This worked out SO TO MY ADVANTAGE!!!! They were very good (excited! afraid if they were naughty I would make them go to their bed), fell asleep before 9:00 pm (I guess it is not as much not fighting with me about how late you can stay up), slept all night (close to me so I didn't have to worry about them), and still a week later talk about their "sleep over". Sometimes, I have this "mom thing" down. :)! It is moments like this that I love being a mom and see a slight glimmer of hope that I might not be "damaging" them to bad. I have to say, I think they look to cute (even Brady) sleeping in a "bunch" together.

What was she thinking????

I am not sure what this crazy mother bird was thinking. On my porch, 2 feet from my front door, where 3 crazy children, 1 cat, and 1 golden retriever live, a mother bird decided to make a nest and lay her eggs in my hanging fern plant. Very cool, but very dumb on her part. I, of course, take this to heart. This mother bird feels safe enough and comfortable enough to want her babies to "grow" up here. I am not sure if it had to do with the invitro thing(I remember growing plants during the time of my invitro process thinking that if I could make these plants grow, God would "allow" me to be a mom) or what, but I get myself rather "worked up" over moms trusting me to help them with their babies. I know, Jimmy reminds me daily, that a bird just randomly picks a spot, makes a nest and lays her eggs. I choose to believe other wise!

Here is the first picture of "my babies". I had no idea what a baby bird looked like...UGLY!!! City girls don't have things like this happen to them every day:)! I watched them develop and was actually sad when we left for MIS...what if they did something and I missed it?

This is what I came home to. They actually looked more like birds. I hadn't seen the mom in a few days. My mom told me that if they a breathing, they are doing good. I tried to make it a learning experence for the kids and lifted them up to see "how cute" the birds were. WRONG THING TO DO!!! Yesterday, I get out of the shower when Isaac tells me that he touched to bird's mouth and it didn't bite him and now it is under the porch. What? I go out to the nest where there is only 1 out of 3 birds! I instantly start to cry. Upon talking to the girls, I get the story that Isaac moved the chair, got out a long toy ( a semi-trailer to be exact) and tried to hit the birds down. Now, I have to say, Isaac is not a mean or hurtful boy. HE DID NOT MEAN HARM TO THE BIRDS, he just wanted to hold them. Yes, he did know better as we had this discusion many times NOT TO TOUCH THE BIRDS which is why he did it when I was in the shower. Anyway, Isaac, with his nose to the wall basically confirmed to girls story. The bird "flew" out of the nest, he touch the beak of the bird and it ran under the porch in the smallest of openings.
Jimmy looked and could not see the bird. I could not leave this poor baby under the porch to die...especially since Isaac was to blame. I ended up digging out under the porch until Jimmy pulled it out...with latex gloves on. My mom informed me that a mom will come back even if the bird has been touched, but we did not want to take any chances.
A little while later, I go to check on the baby and the nest is empty. What? They must have flown away. Jimmy was mowing the front lawn, Brady was running around chancing my screaming children, Chevy was walking around the bushes, when I look down and see it. Sitting in the bush.

Poor thing. I became obsessed with this bird. I sat on the porch crying. Jimmy yelled at me, "This is a bird and your crying. Give me a break!" Not a lot of sympathy. Good thing for my mom. I think I called her 20 times (literally!) about this bird yesterday. Everytime I called she listened and let me have "my moment". Thank you mom, you really are the best mom ever. Even when it comes to stupid things that are really important to me.
So back to the bird, I look again and their are two birds right next to each other. I am not sure how this happen. If they both fell out again, flew out, what? After much to do, I convinced Jimmy to help me put them back in the nest. I promised to drop the obsession, but he had to help me. They needed to live, at least I had to "right" Isaac's wrong. It was getting late and cold and I needed to help them. So we both got out the gloves and grabbed a bird and went to put them back in their nest...for the last time...when we noticed another bird in the nest. It was empty. Jimmy and I both saw the empty nest. Not sure where the third one was, but all three of the babies are back in their nest. I did my part. From this point on they are on their own. Well, I might have to check on them every once in awhile. Old habits are hard to break!!!

Of course, after a day of stressing about these silly birds, I get to start the process all over. Another silly bird made her nest and laid her eggs in an even more stupid place than the first. In an ornamental tree no more than 3 feet off the ground, right in front of my house. Again, I say we have three kids, a dog and a cat. Give me a break! But no, I will have to "mother' these birds too. I have learned me lesson, the kids will not know they are there:)!!!!

MIS

Ok, better late than never. As you know, we made it home with out anything "eventful" happening. This is a good thing. Last year, in the 100+ degree heat, the motorhome decided to break down on the highway. This year, I held my breath, all was well. It was so a lot cooler with some rain, but still a really good time. It rained Thursday and most of the day Friday. It didn't stop us die hards. We stood in line for our all access garage passes. It was the first time they ever offered this. You got to go down into the garage and meet the truck drivers. Very cool!! To bad, we had to stand in the rain for 3 hours waiting for the tickets, just to tell us that we had 1 hour in the garage. Oh well. What else did we have to do on a Friday morning on vacation, but set our alarms and stand in the cold rain? I did get a cool sweatshirt out of the deal. I was like a little kid, "Jimmy, I am cold! Jimmy, I bored! Jimmy, how much longer?" :)!

In the end, they handed out 500 of these passes. Let me tell you, we were number 334 and 335 and there were WAY MORE than 165 people behind us in line. I really think they should have had somebody out there telling them that they were waisting their time standing in the cold rain for tickets they were not going to get.
Do you notice how I keep saying COLD and RAIN??????

Here is a picture of us doing what we were really good at...waiting in line! This time waiting in line to get into the garage to see the drivers.

A picture of Jimmy's favorite driver...the onion...j/k. This was one picture Jimmy did not want taken. I thought it would be fitting to use it on my blog. Love ya James!!!

One last photo, not sure who this guy is, but it was taken at 10 am. Yes, the man is passed out...and if you notice, he still has the can of beer in his hand. Yes, 10 in the morning!!!!

Oh, one more thing. If you are reading this Rusty and Bobbi Jo (sorry, I did not get a picture of us!), thank you so much for a great time...as always. See you same time same place next year. It just would not be the same without the two of you!!!

Thanks Aunt Norma for taking us to dinner too and the strawberries!

Thank you!

Just a quick blog for the day.

THANK YOU SHELLY, MOM, and DAD!!!

We made it home safely and had a wonderful time. I really didn't take a lot of pictures...not sure why...too busy I guess. Too busy enjoying lines and rain:)! No really, we really had a great time. I guess to be fair, I should also thank Rusty and Bobbi Jo for a lot of laughter as always!!!



Here are some stolen pictures of the kids (thanks Shelly, hope you don't mind that I post them here:)!)...I will see what I can steal from my mom as well. I know she took some too.

Love this picture...two peas in a pod! I think it is GREAT that Ash already has a best friend!!!

Yes, they really are sh*ts! Like I said, two peas in a pod!




One last picture...one of my favorite EVER...




Thanks Tyler, Kenzie and Hailey for making my family part of yours...you too John!!!

We're {going} Back!!

I will be taking short break from my blog. Jimmy, Rusty, Bobbi Jo (the Gilbert's:)) and I are off to the NASCAR race at MIS. We went last year and had a wonderful time. This year is suppose to be a little less hot; let's hope so! I will blog of my adventures when I get back. Hopefully, they top last years...and for the record...it will be very tough beating last year...crazy fun!!!

Wish me luck leaving my kids until Sunday ay 11pm, wish Shelly luck for keeping my kids over night (thanks so much!), wish Jodi luck for taking my kids to her in-laws for a Father's Day celebration (thanks Jodi and the rest of the Stratton's for making my kids part of the family) and most important...THANK YOU MOM AND DAD for taking my kids for "2 NIGHTS"! The kids are geeked about getting to stay two night and I had to promise "not to pick us up early"! It makes leaving so much easier when I don't have to worry. Until I get home...my mom and dad tend to do something with them every second. The kids get use to the constant entertainment and expect it at home...not going to happen:)!

Ordinary Miracles

PURE. SIMPLE. JOY.

For both Mom and Ashley. I am not sure who had the bigger smile, Ashley playing in the puddle or me watching her!

True Beauty

Our backyard is not lookin' so good these days. Well, let me back up, it has not looked good for several years now. There is a lot of shade, a dog, three kids, a trampoline...all mixed together makes for a "bad" back yard with sparse grass. I decided this year I wanted to have a nice yard again. So much so that we still have not put up the tramp! Jimmy put seed down, I guess (at least what Jimmy tells me) Kentucky blue grass takes a month to germinate. We now have baby "grasslets" (as I lovingly refer to them as:)). They are taking a LONG time to come in! So on to the story, I was getting out of the shower this morning when I hear the outside faucet turn on and then off. A few minutes later I hear it again. For the record, the kids are not suppose to play with the water outside! It was odd that is kept turning on and off. Isaac and Ashley are the ones who like to play in it and they just leave it run when they are done. I went out to yell at whoever when I saw Alli filling the water jug with water, walking it over to the "grasslets" and watering them, and back over to the faucet. Her responce, " I just got finished watering your flowers, now I am going to water Dad's grass to make sure it grows...just like he wants!"
Her outfit (her FAVORITE princess purple nightgown), her rainboots, and her heart...that is TRUE BEAUTY!!!!

A Day @Northland

Larry...could you please smile when you get your picture taken????

Telling Jodi the latest town gossip...she loves it!!

Sister bonding!

Pretending like we are busy, but really just getting our picture taken.

All in a day's work:)!

The Next Michael Jordan (s)

Happy Anniversary!!!

Oops almost forgot...Happy Anniversary my love! I love you more today than 8 years ago and you are way hotter now than then (with BETTER hair :)!)


Got to love church directory time, it is the only time I get a picture of just the two of us!

So Ashley

I realized the other day that I have been posting a lot about Alli and Isaac and not so much about Ash. It was not intentional, they just have more (school and sports) going on. By no means do I love them more:)! So here is a post just for Ashley. Let me set the scene up for you. Memorial day weekend, been busy cleaning...yard, home, motorhome, polebarn. Jimmy is out in the polebarn working on his race car. Let my clarify "working"! He was grinding things (sparks flying), welding, motor running (it is a BIG racing motor), and radio playing when he comes into the house and tells me to come quick and bring your camera!!! I go out there to him whispering look. First, why whisper with the radio that loud! Second, only Ashley could do this!!


READY....

Yes, that is right, next to Jimmy's "finished" race car is his "other" car (something about for other tracks...don't know, don't really care!) it is just the roll cage, there was Ash sleeping on a bar, head below her butt, in the loud noise, sleeping away. Typical TenBrink enjoying the sounds of a racing garage!!!!

Of course, there is no way she could have ever fallen asleep with out Eeyore!!!

Gotta love that girl!!!