Goodbye May

What a beautiful weekend!! Grandma and Grandpa went to Britt for the weekend and Tia is doing the chores. She has taken it seriously and done such a great job. She fed the bottle calf (I had to help with the nipple on the bottle), feed chickens=gather eggs, feed the cats and dog. By getting up early to get the chores done our day started early and we got alot of everything done. The garden didn't grow on an earlier planting, so now we have 4 new rows of green beans, one row of broccoli, one row of cabbage, 12 tomato plants and cucumbers. We still have a little more to do, but I am praying it grows this time. Gene also planted sweet corn and squash by the barn.
Tara stayed alnight with one of her classmates, she acts like she had a great time. I had no phone calls in the middle of the night, so it must have been fine. I have to admit I am a little sad at her independence. We had a screaming match Saturday morning. The morning had been going well right up to her telling me what she was and wasn't doing to help around the house. I ask her to load a few dishes in the dishwasher and after she said NO...she started throwing them in the dishwasher. Momma not happy and when mamma's not happy...nobodies happy! I heard the comment I do nothing, what is Tia doing (she doesn't have to help), Dad doesn't do anything. These are Tia's favorite words. I have tried to explain the mechanics of a family, but I guess it is still a work in progress. Hopefully we came to an understanding, time will tell. It may be a long summer. I did get her into the kitchen after lunch and helped her mixup a batch of chocolate chip cookies. She didn't want to read the directions, but I will keep working on her. She says she can't, but she would have to try first. :-)

The Last Day of School

I haven't put in a regular full day of work for a couple of months, it has been great. Today was it for me...a regular 8 hrs. I did punch out 15 minutes early to get Tara to tumbling on time.

Tia called me at 7:30 and was asking for breakfast ideas when I heard "oh crap". The bus was early today. Tara got to have the wonderful menses film today. Hopefully she understands what she was told. I tried to get the conversation going, but she wasn't in the mood to talk. We will try again another day. We had a good tumbling practice.

Tuesday

Memorial weekend is over and time to get back to business. We are still shortening our days by 4 hrs a week at work. I chose today for my half day this week. Fourth grade was suppose to have a track and field day, but we awoke again today to rain. Gene has an appt to get his truck tires aligned in Indianola. He leaves it overnite, so needs a ride home. We met on my way home. I needed to pick the girls up from school, but it was too early. I didn't have enough time at home to get a chore started. I filled out paperwork for early registration for Tia to go to 7th grade. Oh that makes me feel old...Ugh! Tara has an appt in Osceola at the Public Health Nurse to update her shots. She had Measles Mumps & Rubella, Hepatitis B, Chickenpox and Polio. What a trooper, she didn't cry until after the very last one. I was cringing thru it. I told Tara she could have the treat of ice cream or Chinese. She chose Chinese, it was an early supper. But we got the restaurant pretty much to ourselves. I heard on the way home that America is stupid and she wanted to go back to China. Can't blame her on this one, but she did say at school they would have to line up and get shots... Only she said she didn't have to, hum. The girls like to recycle pop cans because they get the money, we tried but the machine was out of order. We got the message after shots that tonights game was cancelled (it was still pouring rain). It was a quiet evening before the last day of school.

Memorial Weekend

Well I didn't do what is the norm for the weekend, so I owe a day of memory. I met my mom and cousin Doris to garage sale in Indianola Sat morning. I asked the girls Friday night if they wanted to go. I had a suspicion that Tara wouldn't make it out of bed and wondered about Tia. They both declined. I Tia would have found alot, but maybe next time. I found an Iowa State shirt for Tia and the Toy Story movie for Tara. I stopped and picked up groceries for camping. Gene needed to spend an hour and a half planting corn, but we could go to thunderhead when he was done. He got just the hour and a half and it started pouring rain. It made it easier for him to quit, it had been a gorgeous day. We drove in and out of rain the whole way. Thunderhead never got any of the rain. Yeah! We took the new Cobalt for an evening cruise, it's been quite a day. It was a bit cool Sunday morning, but led into a beautiful day. We had a great breakfast and was on the water by 11. The sun screens on, Tara didn't even throw a fit. She didn't want to start on the tube, but watched Kasey, Kelsey and Allie. After about 45 min the girls took a break. When they went back out Tia and Tara were ready. Tara wanted to ride with Allie, but she didn't want to double up. So Tara climbed on with Kasey. They all had a lot of fun and got quite a bit of sun. If only it didn't have to end. We stopped at Leon for Dairy Queen and arrived home around 7.

I got a lot done Monday. If I could only have one more day of cleaning.

Tuesday in Lacona

Tara played ball in Lacona, this is her first away softball game. Gene was trying to get the field work done and Tia had practice, so it was just her and I. She thought it was a long way from home. It was a beautiful afternoon. Tara struck out once and they caught her ball on a pop fly. I shouldn't say it, but Tara's team hasn't lost a game yet. Way to go girls!! We washed Tara's new game bag and had it filled. It is just the right size. Thanks John, Melissa and Hallie!

We got back to Tia's practice before it was over and hung out. By the time practice was over it was getting pretty cool.

Is it Summer Yet??

Sunday...Thanks Melissa and John for picking Tia up this morning. The sun was out when Tia left and it looked like it was going to be a great day. Well it was a great day, but where did the sun go. I went in to take my shower and when I came out it was gone. The wind has been blowing pretty hard and I think I have a wind burn, because there wasn't much sun. During the second game it would come out and be warm enough to take off the jacket and just when you would get ready it would go back under a cloud. The last game at 1:30 was pretty cool, we were wrapped in blankets. I couldn't get Tara out of bed to watch the first game, so she came to Osceola with Gene for the second game. Tia played with Hallie's fastpitch travel team, the girl she filled in for has a broken finger (with a casted hand). This girl I think was the starting pitcher, so with a backup pitcher they won all three games. Hopefully Tia made some new friends. She was intimidated with the travel team, but she held her own and proved herself a worthy player. They did have a couple of girls a year older than Tia that could almost hit the fence. How awesome!! I started the wood stove when we got home to thaw out, it feels really good! Then went outside to work on trimming the trees in the front yard. Tara helped a bit...I say just a bit. She wanted me to pitch to her. Denise gave her some lipgloss yesterday, the container had glitter on it. She scraped the glitter off and put it in her hair and then had me fix her hair like I did Tia's for exibition tumbling. I told her we would have to save it next time for tumbling. Hope the kids don't give her crap at school tomorrow.

Saturday morning Tia called me to see if she could spend the night again with Amber (okay the day just started) Well of coarse not you can have all day today and come home and get a good nights sleep. They are working on a school project together(Tia's part is Benito Mussolini)Both girls are playing several softball games tomorrow. I had thought we would get an earlier start to my mom's, but Tara didn't roll out of bed until after 10. She is her father's child, but he even got up before she did. Tara thought Tia needed to go to grandma's with us, but I told her we get her on the way home. Tara was pacified with taking pop cans to Walmart and getting the money on the way to Grandma's. The money of which she spent on beef jerky. She and Tia both love the stuff. There was none left by the time we got home from Grandma's. My cousin and sister planned a mother-daughter tea at my mom's house, for my mom's side of the family. It was fun listening to the younger girls asking if they had to drink tea :-) Not as many showed up as hoped, but we had a good visit and hope to do it a little more often. My grandma has been gone for a few years now and it would have celebrated her 101 birthday.

No Games This Week

It has been nice to be able to do some catch up chores this week, but I have to admit I am having ballgame withdrawls. The girls have had someone to pitch and catch with them almost every night.

The girls had dentist appts Tuesday. All went well, although we have notes to visit with the orthodontists. How do you pick an orthodontist?? I explained to Tara about maybe getting braces, she wants it done tomorrow....whoa! She wants bris now. she said it a few times before I figured out what she was saying. After the dentist we ran to Wally World and exchanged the regular mattress pad for the camper for a super duper soft one. When we came out it was pouring. I had the girls pack the car the night before to go straight to the ball field from Osceola. The call came on the way home, games cancelled.

Okay in all my years of commuting I have never driven in so much rain. It poured all the way to work and most of the way home. If I remember correctly, it was nice in between going and coming. Wednesday was Tara's tumbling practice. I know she enjoys tumbling, but I worry that Tia not tumbling will deter Tara. As much as Tara doesn't want Tia to influence her, she very much does. It is all unsaid stuff, but very heavy in the air. Sue wanted Tara to practice a few minutes extra to get everything she needed and Tara flat out refused. I am putting it down to PMS. She isn't ragging yet, but all the signs point to PMS.

Eric is in Arizona, so Thursday and Friday will be normal work hours. It's been awhile. The electric company trimmed the tree in our front yard, so I worked on clearing limbs out of the ditch. The tree looks retarded and still needs more trimming. Tia is staying with a friend Friday and Tara is wanting someone to ask her. As all kids, Tara wants me to call a mom and ask if she can stay all night at their house. It is hard for kids to understand this isn't the way things are done.

First Camper Outing

We had Tom B's 50th bday in Altoona and Jason's graduation in Ankeny, so we decided to use the camper and stay at Adventureland campground. I'm not sure why I thought it would be a little nicer than it was, but it gets no stars from me. We didn't have time to make supper at the camper, so it was hamburgers from Bbops. Murt and Casey stopped and visited before the party, we missed the surprise at what was a nice party. It was good to see everyone in between the regular camping season. It was a good thing the camper has a heater, because we used it. It wasn't freezing, but it was cold. We all slept in. It was Mothers Day and we had until 2 for Jason's party. I was starting breakfast (I set the smoke alarm off with bacon) when someone knocked on the door. It was Necey, she sent the family to church and came to visit. We had a nice visit until they came around at 11 and told us we needed to check out. Pleez...I can't believe you are asked to leave a campground before lunch, after all it isn't like they need to clean the room??? We took our time with dishes and packing and left at 12:30. We had time so ran to Northern tool and got the spare tire for the camper. We then headed to Jason's party. We parked in the strip mall down the street from Joy's and the girl's thought we were nuts. We had a nice visit and heard an interesting story from one of Jason's teachers. I remember Jeff mentioning him and was glad to have the opportunity to meet him.

The girls games this week went well. We had hits, runs and lots of scoring.

Beautiful Weekend

The last week was rainy and cold. This weekend made up for the whole week. I didn't get to mushroom hunt as much as I would have liked to, but I got a lot done this weekend. I offered to take the girls to the Shriners Circus. Tara didn't know what it was, but I couldn't get her out of bed. Tia wanted to take a friend. Gene wanted us home to go to my mom's to work on her fix it list. The first show was at 9:30 which meant leaving home around 8. We didn't discuss this until after 9 Friday night. For me that is too late to start calling to invite friends, so Tia didn't want to go. (I would have enjoyed it, but I wanted them too) if they weren't excited about it, it's not worth it. I got laundry started and hung on the clothes line. Yeah! We visited Grandma and got her new door on the machine shed. Tara found her first mushroom in Grandma's peony bush...how exciting. Tara also peeled the paint off grandma's birdbath (it looked better) and Tia pulled fins off a piece of copper so we can make these cool things to burn in our campfires. When we got home Tara and Gene went mushroom hunting, they found a few.

Sunday...Oh so beautiful! I went to the camper as soon as I got up and started cleaning and moving the old camper stuff in. What a chore and I loved every minute of it. Still so much to do for my home away from home :)

 
 
 
 
My girls are so photo genic...NOT :(
The camera comes out and the all I see is backs. Ugh! I told Tia I was blogging this and did she want everyone to see pictures of her back. She finally let me get one good one.

New Trampoline

 
 
 
 
I had wanted to get Tia a trampoline for some time, but was nervous about the responsibility and liability. Tara has almost had tumbling for one year and Tia for 5. The tramps are alot different, I could tell that from seeing Tia's first jump. I'm hoping this will give the girls good exercise this summer. AND I might even be able to find myself up there once in a while if I can control the darn bladder.