If all else fails...

break out the fort.

A few weekends ago the kids were exceptionally annoying. Well, annoying sounds bad - but you get the idea. Katie wanted to make a fort. Our normal fort is a sheet over the dining table. She wanted one on the couch. I went to get a flat sheet thinking I could just throw it over the couch, but all I could find was a fitted sheet. Even better! See for yourself...

Waterpark a la Pladsen style

We are going to be down in IA Saturday through probably Thursday. I scheduled some posts because you have all been so good. :)

Last week was HOT! We turned our air conditioning on this week for the first time. The kids have been outside almost every day running in the sprinkler for a little bit.

On Monday we were outside and I suggested to Katie that we slide the little pool in front of the slide. She thought that was a great idea and must have gone down 50 times. I got Will to go VERY SLOWLY down once, but that was all. He was having none of it. Will was quite content to fill up his plastic cups and pour them on the tree or my feet. Here is a little video of Katie experiencing the fun of the slide.

Here are some pictures too, in case the video is too intimidating.

Fun, right? You would think she would continue to enjoy this, but come Tuesday when we were outside. I couldn't get her to do it again.

P.S. - In case you were outside Wednesday morning and heard a scream that scared you to your core...that was Katie. She got the last of her immunizations she needed to get before kindergarten. It was only one shot, but it might as well have been 100.

Friday Funnies

Party On! Why have one party when you can have THREE!

My watch has slowly been falling apart and I just now, as the page was loading, ripped the last piece holding it together. Thankfully, I found a watch in and amongst my aunt Carol's things. Time to break that baby out!

Last Saturday was a red letter day - Katie's first 'friend' birthday party. We had invited 7 friends, and as most of you know, I was having a rough time with RSVP's. I finally broke down and called everyone after only getting one response via e-mail. Turns out 2 girls could come, 2 boys could not, and 3 I left messages for.

Fast forward to the day of the party. I still had not heard from the other 3 parents so I prepared for up to 5 guests. Katie and I streamer-ed and ballooned all morning. I made sandwiches, fruit salad and a cake. The two girls we were expecting were the only guests to come, but that was fine with Katie.

Yes, it's as gooey and yummy as it looks. I put strawberries in the middle again, like last year. That way, the 5 pieces you eat are healthy!

The girls played with water balloons, colored flower pots, played balloon races, played animal charades, and explored Katie's room. That took all of 20 minutes. I tried to get everyone to have a sandwich, but Katie and Will were the only ones falling for that. Cake and ice cream went over much better, and then it was time to open presents. And although one little girl was upset that SHE didn't get to open anything, I think it went over well.

The girls - Brittan, Katie and Ria. All are going to different kindergarten schools next year. :(

Katie blowing out her candles...took a few tries.

The clock ticked slowly as we waited for the moms to arrive, and I began to praise my judgement for only allotting 2 hours for the party. In some ways 8 kids would have been harder, but in some ways easier. I doubt we would have burned through my games and crafts in 20 minutes, but then again it would have taken more than 15 minutes to clean up from the party.

Later that evening we had MORE guests as our friends, Jamie, Joe and Noah arrived. It was going to be such a nice day, we thought it would be fun to have them over for pizza and cake later. (My first and only piece of the day!) It turned out to be perfect outside. The kids had fun with the leftover water balloons and the sprinkler.

Noah is 9 months older than Will, but he looks so OLD here! He's carrying water to pour on his mom or dad.

Soon it got to be Noah's bedtime so Jamie and Joe took off for home. 10 minutes later the doorbell rings and there's MORE guests! We had invited Wade and Donna Hogan for supper too, but they couldn't come until later. They brought their friend, Tiffany, and the five of us sat around a bonfire toasting marshmallows and drinks until, well, 11? I don't think I really ever looked at my watch once the kids went to bed. That means it was a good day, right?

"MY birthday is next!"

Happy Birthday!

In this month of birthdays, now it's time to point the finger at Grandma Lyla!

Happy Birthday Mom! Even though you probably have to go to work, hope you get to do something for yourself!

Fun with Dad

Oh No! What do you do when your Daddy's batteries wear out?

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! A special shout to John for being such a great Dad and not even sleeping in today! :)

And another "I love you" to my Dad, especially for never making me mow the lawn, and for all the pop, chips and candy bought at K&C Tap when I was little. :)

Happy Father's Day

Friday Funnies

Cheer Movies

Ok - I promised videos. Here are a couple...not sure how they will work on all your various computers, but good luck. And for those of you that can't get the movies to go - I also put a couple pictures.

Cheerleaders are perky!

Katie is making an 'L' - they were spelling YELL. :)

Yay!!

Katie's Big Day

Since yesterday was Katie's birthday, she pretty much ran the day. (And this is different from any other day because....) She got to choose what we ate for supper and out of EVERYTHING she could choose...she picked Culver's. Not too bad, so we all had hamburgers, fries, onion rings, and ice cream for supper. I thought we'd be in for a night of mac and cheese or peanut butter and jelly.

Birthday Hamburger - the cake will make it's apprearance on Saturday. So, we used the burger instead.

Katie opened her presents after supper. Well, she actually got to open one early. We babysat for a friend of mine that morning and she dropped off a gift for Katie that afternoon - WITH a balloon! Kate was very excited. :)

Katie was pretty happy with her haul - she got a real guitar, (although she's mad she can't play like Daddy. I told her we could learn together. It came with chord cards to help finger placement.) a pair of walkie talkies - these are fun and they work really well, some Hannah Montana jewelry craft stuff, a game called Hullaballo, some activity books, a necklace, and a kit to make your own ballerina skirt.

Awww, sweet Katie with her guitar.

Then 'Big Sister' Katie starts to peek through.

Katie got to take treats to cheerleading camp yesterday too. All the girls sang Happy Birthday to her and she was in the middle of a giant group hug. :) Today is her last day of camp and they are putting on a little dance routine. We'll see how that goes...I promise pictures and if you are all VERY good, maybe a little movie.

And finally - I have a question of the week to pose to you all. (I KNOW! You're saying to yourself - thank goodness they are BACK! I could barely survive without them.)

Any age is a good age, but if you had to pick ONE age that was/is your favorite, what would it be and why?

Happy 5th Birthday Katie!

Happy Birthday Kathryn Carol Pladsen!

Here's to 5 years - my, how fast they go. Seems like just yesterday...

Katie @ 3 months - hangin' with her buds.

Katie @ 1 year...catching some rays.

Katie @ 2...don't ask.

Katie at 3...turning into a lady.

Katie @ 4...lady is gone - enter skater chick.

Happy Birthday Katie - we love you very much!

Beach Day

This past weekend was beautiful weather here. So we enjoyed it by working outside all day Saturday - well, John worked outside all day Saturday. He pretty much rebuilt our swing set with new wood. The old wood was rotting out so he replaced some boards, added some braces and VOILA! A new, stronger swing set. Then I used paint from the previous owners so that it matched the house. Halfway through I realized we should have take before and after shots. Well, I promise an after shot - soon. It's rainy today.

So on Sunday we treated ourselves to a day at the beach here in town. Lake Ann is near our home - when the kids are a bit older I'm sure we could bike to it. For now we just drove to the beach after church. I didn't have any bread to pack a lunch with - so we decided to just buy lunch from the concession stand there. Hot dogs would work. Think again. When we started eating we discovered that the hot dogs were fresh out of the fridge. Ick. Seriously, if we had put them out in the sun for 5 minutes they would have been warmer. So John and I didn't really eat much of that, but Katie actually finished hers and mine. They were just the right temperature for her. :)

Will liked playing in the sand - he didn't really go into the water past his knees, and that was fine by me. He's so unpredictable it's a bit scary. Katie however took to the water right away. She didn't care the water was a bit chilly. She starts swimming lessons in a few weeks and I think I will feel more at ease once she gets some basic concepts under her belt.

You'll notice there aren't many pictures of Katie - she was just too darn busy!

Will made himself at home in the hole Katie and Dad built.

Katie making her way out to the dock.

Here comes Katie!

Will was all about the buckets. He would make trip after trip, carrying water back to the sand.

Mmmm...cold hot dogs and grapes. Will would rather eat than play.

P.S. - So far I have 2 kids coming to Katie's birthday party on Saturday. I broke down yesterday and started calling people. 2 yes - 2 no - waiting on 3 more yet. At least someone will be there!

Prayer request

Please keep a friend of mine in your thoughts this week. Kristen (Olson) Freier, a freind of mine from high school, lost her mother, Nancy, this weekend. We are all praying for you and your family.

Happy Birthday Mary!

Here's wishing Mary, John's mom, a happy birthday today! We hope you get to do something fun this weekend!

Bear with me...

Ok, I sent Katie's birthday invitations to a few of her classmates last Friday. I figured they would get them Saturday, Monday at the latest. As of right now, I haven't heard from anyone. I asked them to RSVP via e-mail or phone and I hope to God that I wrote those down right.

I asked Shelley if that seemed weird, and of course I'm over reacting. Most people don't RSVP right away because they have lives. (Maybe I don't.) Still, it's only been three days right? I would feel better if ONE person responded....even if they said they couldn't make it. At least I would know that they got delivered and not shoved down between Mr. Mailman's crappy seats. If I haven't heard from anyone by Saturday - I'll make some calls. Unfortunately, I'm positive they aren't reading the blog.

Of course I'm just being a crazy mom and thinking about how excited Katie is for her first 'friend' party. She would be crushed if no one came. And of the people we invited, she has gone to TWO of their birthday parties, so I know it's something others are doing as well. Did I pick a bad weekend? It is Father's Day weekend, but c'mon - we're talking 2 hours here. Maybe I should be coming up with a plan B - some family fun for the day, something to get Katie just as excited.

So just tell me I'm being crazy, and I'll continue to check my e-mail every 20 minutes and keep my phone fully charged.

*I wanted to put some pictures on, but Blogger is being difficult. I'll try later.

Funny Monday

Some pictures to make your Monday even better.

And no, those aren't my children.

Invisible Milestones

Will and his garage sale 'find'...a remote control Combine. If you're a good boy Jim - Will will let you drive it.

Not all milestones in a child's life are visible to the outside world. Things like first teeth, first words, first steps, or no more diapers can be seen and witnessed by other people. Will and I reached a milestone the last few weeks that I think warrants mention - even if it isn't something that people outside our family can see.

Will is almost 23 months old now. Up until a few weeks ago we'd had a very strong breastfeeding relationship. Although he'd only been nursing about once a day for 2 months, I didn't know exactly what laid in our future. He stopped waking every couple hours at night starting in February. Once I was getting a consistent good night's sleep I didn't care how many times he nursed during the day!

Saturday, May 9th we settled down for bedtime. Teeth were brushed - pj's were on. Will's normal routine consisted of a few minutes of 'num-nums' and then off to bed with a song. As I sat on the couch, waiting for him to join me, he shouted "NO!" picked up a book and started climbing the stairs to his room. I shrugged at John and followed Will, off to read a story, sing a song and tuck in for bed. It's been that way ever since.

This past Tuesday the kids and I attended a local breastfeeding group that we've become involved with. Because of schedule conflicts this was our first meeting in about a month. It's here that Will sees other kids nursing and often asks to nurse himself. This day was no exception. I paused as he asked for mum-mums, thinking gosh - it's been a month Will! But I wanted to give him the chance if that's what he felt he needed. He got on with a HUGE grin, knowing that it was something he hadn't done in a while. Then he started laughing, then I started laughing. He had really forgotten how to do it and just wanted to be close. So we opted for strawberries instead.

I thought I would be really sad when the time came for Will to wean. But I'm not! I'm excited for him and for this new journey. I thought it would be nice to make it to his 2nd birthday, but that was a time table I had in MY head. Will had other ideas. I don't care - I'm still going to say he was nursed for 2 years. :)

So that was our 'invisible' milestone. But now you know so - it's just a milestone.

Sweet Sixteen!

Happy Birthday today to Sarah, my niece. She turns 16 today and gets her license next week...at least that's the plan right now.

Katie says you can drive up anytime to see us, Sarah. Now your mom and dad may have different ideas... :)

Happy Birthday!