We have had some fairly varied weather over the past couple of weeks.  We have worn everything from capris to heavy coats.  Today is a capri kind of day.  The end of this week is a different story.  We did have a nice windy day for Zack and Tansy to have their first kite flying experience.  The $1 Walmart kites actually held up this time.  Although I do have to say that the last time we tried to fly a cheap kite we were in a tornado watch, so it's probably not a fair comparison.

 And we did find a moment to decorate for Halloween.  We have had the witch inflatable for a few years.  The kids call it Grandma Halloween because they think it looks like my mom.  We bought the vampire this year.  The kids immediately dubbed him Grandpa Vampire because, well, he does kind of look like my dad.  And Ty spilled water on himself.  I do change his diaper.

On Thursday, I had my first Shelf Reliance party since becoming a consultant.  I was so nervous!  We had it all scheduled, and the day after my friend sent out the invitations, Ben told me that he was working nights because of an exercise on base.  On top of everything, I now had to get a babysitter.  I was able to work things out, and the party was great.  I had so much fun!  I really like this product, and it was great to see how much everyone else liked it too.  I've got several orders, and my friend is going to get some great host benefits.  I'm so glad I signed up to do this.

Back to the exercise.  Starting on the 18th, Ben went on the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift for an exercise here.  It continues through next Thursday.  After five nights of this, we are all wiped out.  Ben came home early this morning (4:30 a.m.) and told me he was going to swing shift (4 p.m. to midnight).  I was so happy.  That would help him get so much more sleep.  Then, right before I started writing this, he got a call saying he doesn't have to come in tonight!  Happy day!  Maybe we'll carve some pumpkins!

I have become a coupon lady.  Not quite crazy yet.  No matter what Ben says.  I have been having a lot of fun.  I got started at a good time and got some great stuff for our food storage and Christmas.  Yes, I have a binder.  Yes, I am that person squinting between a little piece of paper and the shelf.  But when I save $40 at the register, I love it.  I will never appear on Extreme Couponing.  But I will smile a little when I think about getting batteries for FREE.

Things has been pretty normal around here.  I threw a baby shower with a couple of my friends last week.  A family from church was able to adopt a baby a few weeks after moving here.  It was a lot of fun to get to know her better and help her get a few things for her new baby boy.  They had very little notice that they were getting him.  They already have a 5-year-old girl they also adopted.  Such a great family.

Zack finally finished his second potty chart last night.  On this one, he had to keep his underwear clean all day to earn a sticker.  He had some cheap toys that he could choose from each time he got three stickers.  Once he got 30 stickers he got this:

This is quite possibly one of the most annoying toys ever.  It makes shooting noises and the green and orange striped part rotates and has blinking lights.  I took him to the store to pick out his big reward, and he fell in love with this.  He couldn't even be persuaded to look at anything else.  But you know what?  It is totally worth it to have him potty trained.  Just one more to go. 

This week the girls started swimming lessons.  We missed them here on base over the summer, but a mother at the Warrensburg rec center assured me that was probably for the best.  Her daughter is in the same class as Tansy.  She said that the class over the summer had 20 kids in it, and her daughter didn't get a lot out of it.  The classes they are in now have a cap of 8 students with 2 teachers.  I feel better about all of the driving now.

I got to attend the General Relief Society broadcast last night.  I appreciated the perspective I got from all of the speakers, especially President Uchtdorf.  Sometimes I focus too much on my golden ticket.  I need to learn to enjoy the chocolate.  Mmmm. . . .chocolate.  Gotta go!

I let another week of blogging slide.  Here are our past two weeks.

Zack got a new helmet.  He loves being big enough to ride a tricycle, and he loves Spiderman, so he was in his heaven.  Although he's only just three, we had to get him the 5+ helmet because my kids have enormous heads.

The 7th was Tansy's first day of preschool.  She was so excited to finally go.  I was worried that she would get nervous and want me to stay once we got there.  She found her seat, got to work on her playdough, and said goodbye.  At least she let me take a picture before I left.

The 7th was also Zack's first day of soccer.  We chose the 6:15 session so that Ben could go with him because parent participation is required.  There was a conference that day and Ben didn't know until 6:00 that there was no way he was going to make it home.  I packed everyone in the car, put Tansy and Sydney in charge of Tyler, and played soccer with Zack.  The director of the Youth Center spent some time watching my kids too.  He is awesome.  He was juggling soccer balls for them and everything.  Zack loved it.

On Saturday the 10th, the girls started tumbling.  I was also hosting a Shelf Reliance party that day (I became a consultant, in case anyone is interested!) so I couldn't take them.  I sent Ben with much less information than he needed, but he is so good at getting tings taken care of.

My party was great.  I am learning a TON about food storage and Shelf Reliance specifically.  We are so excited to have a start on our food storage in a way that makes sense and is easy.  Plus, I ordered a can rotation system.  I am really excited for that to arrive.

Zack and Tansy also decided that they needed to try on their Halloween costumes this week.  The chilly weather so early in the season has convinced them that it is almost Halloween.  That and the enormous aisle of Halloween candy at the store.  Sorry, guys.

Zack also cracked his head on Friday night at a cookout for Ben's work.  I thought he would just have a bump, but when I took of the hood of his jacket, it was bleeding.  There was a water fountain nearby so I used a bunch of napkins to clean off the blood.  It looked like he had taken out a chunk of skin, but since there wasn't anything to stitch, we just gave him a plate of Cheetos so he would let me ice it.  After about 25 minutes, the swelling had gone down, and he ran off to the playground.  Tough little monster.

Poor Zack had his first round of post-potty training diarrhea yesterday.  He was so scared about what was happening until I said, "Zack, your bum exploded!"  Now he just thinks it's funny.  Whatever it is got Tyler too so they stayed home from church today with Ben since I couldn't find a substitute for the piano in Primary.  They seem to be fine now, but better safe than sorry.

August 23 was Sydney's first day of second grade.  She got the same teacher she had for summer.  Miss Slagle is awesome, and Sydney is having a great time.

Sydney has also started Karate on Mondays and Wednesdays.  On her first day, she slipped on her pants right at the end and fell on her face.  For the next two hours, she swore she was never going back.  She changed her mind at about 7:00 that night.  She is actually pretty good.  The girls start tumbling this weekend and swimming lessons in a couple of weeks.  Zack will also be doing soccer.  We are busy!

Ben and I will celebrate our 9th anniversary on Tuesday, but we decided to make an early start on the festivities.  Our friends, the Fosters, watched our kids overnight on Friday.  Ben and I went out to dinner, then to Worlds of Fun.  It was so quiet there that night.  We pretty much walked right on to every ride.  We enjoyed a lazy morning the next day and had a yummy breakfast before coming home.  So much fun!

And here is a puppet show put on by Tansy and Zack.



A couple of weeks ago, the girls got to go to a dance/tumbling/cheer camp.  At $6 each, I thought they would get to go one night.  Nope.  It was Monday through Thursday 5:30-8:00 with performances on Friday.  They had so much fun.  These are pictures from performance night.

On the 13th, we went to the Missouri State Fair.  It is held in Sedalia, which is only about 25 minutes away from us.  We started with some quality fair food for lunch, enjoyed the rides on the midway, and looked at LOTS of stuff.

They had a Kids' Zone that we stopped at after a few hours.  The people in the background are waiting for a hypnosis show to start.  We would have had great seats where we were, but we had to go inside once it started because Ben isn't allowed to watch hypnosis.  Oh, the funny rules you have when your job affects national security. 

Sydney has become interested in cooking.  She made Cheesy Cauliflower Soup (her choice) last week.  It was really yummy.  She's not bad with a knife.

On Thursday, I got my first allergy shot.  What a relief to finally start that!  I'm hoping that next spring and summer go a lot better for me. 

That evening, Sydney went to Back to School night.  Her teacher also taught summer school, so it was fun that she already knew Sydney's name when she came in.

In grosser news, the lice made a comeback.  Last Sunday, I was still at church, waiting for sacrament meeting to start when Tansy climbed up in my lap and started scratching her head.  Fearing the worst, I started looking through her hair and found a louse.  I immediately grabbed all of the kids and went looking for Ben.  I found him in the hallway and told him I had to take the kids home.  He offered to take them since I had to play the piano in Primary.

When I got home from church, Ben had to leave for meetings.  I grabbed a chair and my clipper set and headed to the back porch.  Youngest to oldest, everyone got haircuts.  Tyler was clear, but I found lice on Zack.  As I was buzzing the boys' hair, Tansy was looking through the clipper box and asked, "Which one you going to use on me, Mom?"  I said, "I'm not going to use one on you."  In a shaky voice, she said, "Am I going to have the shortest hair?"  I explained that I was going to use scissors on her hair, not buzz it off.  Poor girl.

Tansy got the back of her hair cut off again.  Sydney got about 8 inches cut off.  This was seriously a lifesaver this time around.  She was the only one who had it before, but I think I missed a lot in her long thick hair.

I called the school and asked to have the nurse call me back when she was in.  School hasn't started yet, so it's kind of hit and miss over there.  She called Thursday morning, and I asked her if she could check to see if I really was getting it this time.  She checked both girls and gave me the all clear as long as I keep checking for nits for the next week.  Hooray!

I don't have a picture of Syd's hair, but I will next week since she starts school on Tuesday.  Second grade, here she comes!

Tansy has the open house for her school on Thursday then she starts school after Labor Day.  She is super excited. 

Zack is still working on potty training.  Sometimes he does great.  Sometimes. . .well, I won't go into detail.

Tyler figured out how to climb on top of his dresser from Zack's bed.  He wanted his piggy bank yesterday, and that's where Sydney found him.  Ben and I moved the dresser immediately.

Tyler also hates nursery.  Ben or I have to be with him most of the time.  We'll get there.  I've just never done this before.  The other three loved nursery from the first day.  Of course the baby of the family is going to cause all the problems.

Last week Sydney had lice.  Lovely, I know.  We think she picked it up in Utah because she started itching while we were there.  I checked her three times over two weeks and never saw anything.  I finally took her to the doctor, and she found one.  No one else got it, but we got to do some fun hair treatments.  The lice shampoo didn't work although it did wake them up.  I found several still in her hair.  I doused her with olive oil (thank you, Google) and made her keep a plastic bag on her head for the rest of the day.  She wouldn't let me take a picture of that because "it's so embarrassing."

 Tansy apparently needed a nap through all of this.  She fell asleep on the arm of the rolling computer chair while I was in it.  It was pretty tricky to get out without her hitting the floor.

 Last Sunday was Zachary's birthday.  I'll bet the wrapping paper and cake clue you in to what he likes right now.

 I love that Spiderman's head looks like it's on fire in this picture.  That's his best friend Griffin.

 This is Zack when he was born.

 One year old.

 Two years old.

 Yesterday Ben and I got to go out to lunch and see Harry Potter.  When I came back from picking up the babysitter, I was selected for a random search.  It was a fiasco.  I forgot to get my driver's license out before they let the dog in, I couldn't figure out how to open the hood, and the proof of insurance in the car was expired.  They wouldn't give me my ID back and wouldn't let me take the car on base until I had the proof on insurance.  I called Ben but he couldn't get it to print out, and the insurance in the van was expired too.  I had to call a friend to come pick us up and take me home so I could get the insurance printed.  Wonderfully embarrassing with a 15-year-old quietly chucking behind me.  My cell phone was dead so I had to use hers on top of everything.  We finally got things worked out and just had to rush lunch a bit.

Last night we had a big storm.  It woke Sydney up and since I had been awake for a while listening to the thunder, I let her have my side of the bed.  Shortly after that, the tornado sirens started.  It was just after 3:00 a.m.  I grabbed the boys and Ben got Tansy.  Sydney was already wide awake.  Tansy had wet the bed so I was really glad we have a change of clothes for everyone in the storm shelter.  We piled into our metal box and get everyone settled.  Just a few minutes later, it stopped and we heard the all clear.  The kids didn't want to go back to bed even though the storm wasn't nearly as bad anymore, so they watched a movie.  This is where everyone ended up at about 5:00 a.m.

Tansy is asleep on the loveseat on the other side of the room.  I slept on the couch.  Tyler did want to go to bed about a half an hour after we came in.  Everyone is really tired today so I'm hoping we can all get some rest this afternoon.