family...

My wonderful, amazing, energetic, fun, beautiful Aunt Candy came for a visit this weekend. I've talked about her before and still can't even describe the huge amount of respect and admiration I have for that woman:-) She is someone that I am so happy has always been a part of my life and now the lives of my children.

After our eventful Saturday morning (see previous post...), we spent the rest of the day out my parents house. This is exactly how the day needed to end...

Thanks for coming to visit, Candy! We will get to GI soon to visit you and my equally wonderful, amazing, energetic, fun, beautiful Grandma Willey! I love you Grandma and I can't wait to see you too:-)

Oh what a beautiful morning...or NOT...

The weather is absolutely beautiful on this cool Saturday morning. It's mid-August and it's in the upper 60's! UPPER 60'S! MID-AUGUST! IN KANSAS! The kids and I decided to enjoy the morning out on the deck.

Me, with my cup of coffee....

Sawyer, enjoying her cinnamon toast....

Tucker, on top of the world!....

Porter, playing....

Darrin taking advantage of the cool weather to get the mowing done....

Yeah, well, a little bit of heaven is always followed by a whole lot of reality at the Ross house. As soon as Sawyer saw that Tucker was playing with HER pink basketball, the fight breaks out. I try to break that up as the baby takes a faceplant into the wood deck. I go to help the baby, bump my chair and the coffee spills. Meanwhile, Tucker storms inside and tells his sister, in not so many words, that he 'doesn't like' her. I try to recover my coffee, when Tucker comes back outside and announces that he just locked the door....HE LOCKED THE STINKIN' DOOR!!! All 5 of us are outside and he locked the door!!! Darrin is still going strong on the mower with shorts that have no pockets so I know he doesn't have a key. I'm still in my pj's...translation - no key! We have a spare in the garage -- YES! I go to open the garage door and realize that I just hit the side of the van because on the rare occasion that the van actually makes it into the garage, the fit is so tight that unless you're Flat Stanley, there's no way you're gettin' in. AND unfortunately, the spare is behind the door. Yeah, I'm going to need to find a new hiding place. I decide that I'm going to have to squeeze Tucker through the doggy door. Hey, he's the one who got us into this mess! Before I do, I very slowwwwly, and specifically guide him as to the exact place of the 'hidden key'. He's 4...he's just excited that he gets to go through the doggy door! He had no clue as to what I was saying to him, but he just kept shaking his head, "yes, yes, I know where to look"....right! After 10 minutes of him roaming the ENTIRE garage (thank goodness he never saw Wilbur, our pet toad that lives in the garage...otherwise he'd still be out there playing with him), I finally open the non-automatic side. This is of course, where every single item that won't fit into the house is stored. I've got a crying baby on my hip and I'm trying to play 'hot - cold' with Tucker to guide him to the spare key....I HAVE GOT to teach that kid his left and right!

Finally, success!!!! He finds the key, shimmies back through the doggy door, and gets the back door open!!!! All this time, Darrin is still on the mower and has no idea....this is probably best for the safety of our 4 year old!

So, just a typical, beautiful, Saturday morning in the Ross house! Now I'm off to find a new home for our spare key... :-)

beyond busy...

Did we really leave town....no. Did we really leave the house....no. ...but...we had a TON of company this past week/weekend. My sister and her kids came last Wednesday, followed my my in-laws coming last Thursday, followed by my brother and sister-in-law and their kids coming this last Saturday, followed by our new nanny...no not really, unfortunately... soon to be niece-in-law -- is that even a term??? She (Nichole) will be staying with us for a time. She just graduated and is now an official Dr. Yes, we have a real life doctor living with the Ross's! I'm so excited! She's from KC but a job opening brought her to Wichita. Instead of her having to pay 2 separate rent payments, we jumped at the idea of her staying with us. The kids love her and rent is free here as long as she doesn't mind hanging out with the kids every so often if I need to go do some running. NO, I'm not going to abuse her! ... If I do, I'm sure she would soon find that two rent payments would be waaayyyy better than being trapped in a closet by a 3 and 4 year old:-).... soooo....I will be kind and hope that she wants to stay:-)

I didn't get a whole lot of pictures because of the whirlwind of visitors but I did get a few of Porter and my niece, Emmy (my sister's daughter). Evidently Porter is used to being an only baby....

At first, things were great....



She just wanted to see what I was all about. She's kinda 'touchy feely'....


Hey, I'll play that game. I'll touch her back...



She was having such a good time...



...but not me...



...then she got upset...



...then we were both upset...



That's it, Papa. Play some kazoo with her...




You play over there. I'll play over here...





Here she comes...



Oh Man, there she is...



Seriously, can't you see where this is going????....



Oh no....this is going to be sooo bad....



....mommmmmyyyyyyy!!!!.....



I'm ok, I'm ok....she goes back to Iowa tomorrow:-)...


I am so glad that I got to see my sister. Our visits are few and far between. When she lived in Wichita, I thought how great it would be for our children to grow up together. We never lived anywhere near our cousins until much later. Unfortunately, she ended up moving to Iowa but we each live for these kinds of visits...true bonding between our kids:-)

Blue Skies Eyes Smiling at Me...

Nothing but blue eyes do I see...

Daddy weighed me tonight, on my 9 month birthday...I weigh

27 lbs!!!!!

Who's 9 months old today???.....

This newspaper reading...

252 body rolls showing...

Size 2T short wearing...(yes, Tucker wore these exact shorts when he WAS 2)...

Two teeth peeking...

BLUE-EYED BABE!!!

We love you soooo much sweet little Porter-man!!!

I can't believe how FAST 9 months has already come and gone. :-)

flies....

We're sitting at the lunch table today and for some odd reason the flies have been worse than ever this summer. I can't stand them!!! So gross! Well Tucker, on the other hand, is very taken by them. One will land and he will sit there studying it's every move...the way they rub their grimy little front feet (is that what you call them???) together, their nasty, huge rainbow colored eyeballs, the way they take off straight up into the air - no forward momentum needed. He could watch them forever...GROSS!
Back to the lunch table...we're sitting there and he just lets them land on his food! This is so disgusting and SICK! When I was little someone told me what actually happens when a fly lands on food and it turned my stomach so much that I'll never forget it. I'm not sure if it's true but it stuck with me forever and I honestly wouldn't mind if all flies on earth were forever gone and EXTINCT!

Lunch Scenario:

Tucker is sitting there watching a fly land on his sandwich and watching it go through it's disgusting series of habits...

Tucker: "Look Mom, when it lands it rubs it's hands together like this [immitates the nasty bugger].

Me: "Tucker do you have any idea how gross flies are? Did you know that when a fly lands on your food he throws up [I'm sooo sorry for this part, but this is what I was told] on it, then eats it? So don't let it land on your food!"

Tucker: [...has a not-so-sure look on his face and is not as disgusted as I was hoping...]

Sawyer comes walking in. She had fallen asleep earlier and is now awake and ready to join us for lunch.

A fly lands on Sawyer's sandwich

Tucker: "Sawyer, don't let that fly land on your sandwich. He'll throw it up in the air, then catch it, then eat it!"

The laughter begins....from me, of course! :-)

Tanganyika

Yes, the Ross's took a little family adventure today to the far away, exotic, wildlife filled Tanganyika! It's actually not very far away...about 10 minutes... It is pretty exotic (for Kansas). And, I was very impressed with the array of animals they had on exhibit at this wild life park. Our county zoo is pretty darn big for our area and this park has several animals that the zoo doesn't.

You can walk right in WITH the Wallabies

Even Tucker was a little shocked about that...

Porter being Porter....

One of the best things about this park is the amount of interaction with the animals. It's not just your regular petting zoo...

The FASTEST turtles I've ever seen in my life...

And yes, for a dollar...you too can buy 1 piece of lettuce to feed the turtles...

And for 5 dollars, you too can ride the camel....

White tigers...HOLY COW, white tigers! I thought these only existed in Vegas!

Running to catch up with Daddy...

Can you tell by the look on his face, he wasn't quite ready to go home...