You have died of dysentery

Alternate post title: Perhaps I should have put a little more thought into the implications of naming my wagon train children after my real ones.

Levi and Noah discovered yesterday that I downloaded Oregon Trail for my phone, and were dying to play it.

We set up the game with all our real names. Except Luke, because there aren't enough characters.

First question: How come Luke doesn't get to come?

Well, I guess he is too young to survive the trip, so he will have to stay home.

Not too far down the road, Ella broke her arm. The game gives you three choices: Keep going, stop, or find help.

From the kitchen, Paige calls out "Awwwww, keep going!"

Ella promptly died a few miles down the trail. This literally reduced her to tears, crying at her mother "You killed me mom!!!"

Like I said, perhaps I should have thought through naming my wagon train children after my real ones.

A few miles down the road, Noah came down with cholera and Levi got dysentery. Should we keep going, stop, or get help? "STOOOOOOOOOOPPPPP, DAD!!!!" they both yelled. "I don't want to die!"

We stopped, and they recovered. They then kept telling us the rest of the day... "Mom. Mom! I got cholera, but Dad stopped and I got better in 3 days!"

Then my wagon wife Paige broke her leg. We kept going.

A few hours later, after we stopped playing the game, one of the kids asked quietly (having obviously given this some thought): "Dad, when Mom broke her leg and you wouldn't stop... were you trying to kill her?"

Yup, more food for us, and less stress on the wagon, kiddo.

Levi got carried away by and eagle later, and it took us two days to find him. He thought that was fairly exciting.

I finished the game later the next day. Levi got separated from the wagon train. I figured after the eagle incident, he was on his own. Unfortunately he disappeared. Paige actually did survive her broken leg, but then broke her arm. She died too, after walking some 200 odd miles with that broken arm. Tough old broad! Noah broke his arm as well, but somehow made it the last couple hundred miles to Oregon.

Let's hope they clearly explain in school tomorrow that they were just playing a game, and didn't really get cholera over the weekend...

The pitfalls of older sisters, part two

I guess his cute face just begs to be accessorized.

The pitfalls of having an older sister

Rode hard and put away wet

This is what two years of lovin' will do to a "fluffy"...

All our other kids have blankets. Theirs are all large enough to at least serve a functional purpose, like keeping them warm, or folding up to make a pillow.

Luke somehow got himself attached to this little tiny yellow "fluffy." It's hardly big enough to cover his head, but he probably chose it because it was made with love by his "Auntie" Jan (otherwise known as "Great.")

He chews on it all night long, sucks it, and twirls the corners up his nose. Somehow this comforts him.

He's also bled all over it. And barfed all over it.

And he drags it everywhere he goes.

Which is probably why it is no longer yellow, or all that fluffy, but kind of a matted, muted, sad little grey thing.

Mommy had to sew it back up last week, because it split at the seams. Probably due to the weekly boilings in the wash, an attempt to remove the stench of baby drool and nose twirling.

Seriously. We were getting embarassed to send him to church nursery each week with it, and had to apologize to the nursery workers for the noxious odor.

Thankfully, "Great" somehow heard about this, and mailed us a new one. Paige told Luke she had to wash his fluffy, and slipped him the new one.

He said "What is that?"

"It's fluffy! Clean and fresh!" said mommy.

"I BITE IT!" said Luke.

Ahhhhhhhh, fluffy.

(Thanks "Great." All our noses appreciate the new fluff.)

A Campin' We Will Go

On Tuesday, we got an email from the Winn's, inviting us to go camping this weekend with a group from Phoenix CRC.

Since Paige has been begging me to go camping for months now, I knew what was coming next. I came home from work, and the first thing I said was "So have you packed up the van yet?"

She just smiled.

So Friday we headed out of town for Larson's Ridge north of Payson. Us, and about 1 million of our closest friends...

This guy had a great license plate... GLBLWMR

We got up to the campsite at night, set up our tent, and unloaded enough stuff from the van to alert the Visa fraud department.

No, really.

When we got home yesterday, I hit play on the answering machine and listened to the old messages. One was from the Visa fraud department, saying to call immediately about suspicious activity on our account. Just as I was about to ask Paige what that was about, she sheepishly said "I may have spent a little bit of money at Walmart getting ready for the trip." And by "little bit" she apparently means "enough to get Visa worried."

I still haven't dared check our bank account to see exactly what that means...

She did, however, pick up this fancy outdoor toilet, which I enjoyed the view from the next morning.

We mainly went for the "how easy can we make each meal" method of camping, so the first morning it was premade (homemade!, clarifies Paige over my shoulder) muffins.

My lovely camping wife, who brought me along on this lovely trip, despite me dragging my feet. The last time we went camping (4 years ago,) both my dog and my truck died the same day, so I feel I have a valid excuse. Paige argues otherwise.

The girls brushing their teeth the first morning. At least dental hygeine was observed by one memeber of our family while camping, at least for the first morning. I, on the other hand, spent the entire camping trip missing a crown on my tooth, since it fell off on Friday at lunch.

The kids caught a horny toad (or tortise, as Kaley kept calling it.)

All the kids eagerly built a "house" for it, complete with a stick "fence." From which it promptly escaped. Over and over. And was then scooped back up and plopped back into the bucket.

The Addink camping setup.

The group site.

It threatened to rain on Saturday, so a bunch of the kids ended up in our tent coloring and playing games. We ended up with only a couple of sprinkles.

The adult men enjoyed other forms of recreation.

Levi, despite being in the great outdoors, with a ready supply of approximately 1 billion pinecones (which he eagerly collects from the park at the end of our street) wanted nothing more than to play his VSmile.

I did manage to get him to engage in other outdoor activities. For which I was scolded by his mother.

Luke, running on too little sleep, waiting for his dinner.

The kids enjoyed Cheetos by the fire.

And marshmallow smores as big as their heads.

Noah gave his one thumb up (his other thumb was busy feeding marshmallows into his face.)

Ella tried out roasting her own.

I'm sure somewhere in between Cheetos and marshmallows, we actually fed them a real dinner.

The next morning, Carol entertained our kids while we packed everything back into the van.

Then a lunch of grilled cheese and strawberries.

Ella claimed her strawberries were rotten, and was none too happy about it.

The many faces of Noah and Levi.

Luke, enjoying the serene mountain views one last time before we left.

Orrrrrrr, screaming for his life that he was stuck on a stump, while his mean old dad told him to wait so he could take a picture...

All in all, despite the call from Visa fraud (or possibly because of it) we had a great time camping. We got very little sleep, washed off 15 tons of dirt from the kids and dog when we got home, and are all mildly dehydrated. But we got to spend some good quality time in the woods as a family, roasting marshmallows, catching horny tortises, and tromping around the woods.

And now that we can go again without alerting Visa fraud department (because we own every camping accessory that Walmart sells,) Paige declares we will be doing this again soon.

Third day of school

Day one: Non-matching shirts.

Day two: Non-matching shorts.

Day three?

Too early?

Miss Nikki had them pegged when they showed up at school though. She's good.

First day for the dynamic duo

Levi and Noah had their first day of Kindergarten today. They were all smiles and completely excited. Levi even dressed himself this morning, he was so excited.

Paige claims he looks "exactly like me" in this picture.

Mrs. Marquard, their teacher. She did such a great job with Ella, we sent the boys back to her as well.

All lined up, and off they go! All growed up...

Luke lasted exactly six minutes in the van after leaving school before he asked "Where are Levi and Noah?"

To which Paige replied, "At Kindergarten."

"But I want them!"

Gonna be a long school year kid!

And how did Paige spend her first day of freedom quality time with Luke?

She organized the pantry.

After the storm

Ohhhh, the humanity!

Jason always wanted to sign our boys up for twin studies as babies, but he never found any so it never happened. We do not need scientific studies at our house to know that twins are wired a little differently (or the same) as the rest of our household.

This is an update to the post I wrote last night.

Today I took Noah shopping at JCPenney to pick out his new pair of kindergarten shoes. I brought him over to the kids shoe section and showed him the line up of velcro shoes and let him pick. First we tried on a black pair with red lettering and lights. I thought they were going to be "the ones" so I loaded them into the cart and headed out of the shoe isle. But wait! There on the end of the next isle over were a pair that caught his eye and he immediately wanted to try those on and put his other pair back.

Hmmm. Those were the exact same pair that Levi had tried on the night before at Kohls. That was the first pair Levi had loved and was about to pick as "the ones" but had second thoughts about how fast they went. Levi set the "super cool, blinky light shoes" back on the self and chose the silver ones instead, because "they were much faster," of course.

So, back to today.

Noah chose the blue light up shoes and we headed for home. I mentioned nothing of Levi's love for those shoes the night before and hoped for the best as we entered the house. Levi came bounding down the stairs to see Noah's new shoes and instantly burst into tears. "Those were the shoes I wanted! You said they were to small so I choose the fast ones!"

***Just to clarify, I did NOT say those were shoes were too small, but I am often blamed when anything in the universe does not go exactly to their liking. The other day I was responsible for Noah's popsicle melting as he ate it. The 113 degree weather had nothing to do with it, it was Mom's fault.

Anyway, back to the story....

After all that stress and self talk to make myself take the boys separately to the store (2 different stores mind you) and allow them to pick their own special shoes for school. After all that, they wanted the same ones! Soooooo, back to Kohls I went and exchanged the less then 24 hour old purchased shoes for the blinky light up ones that match his brother's. And in case any of you were wondering, they were $6 cheaper at JCPenney, but I was not willing to drive back there again and hope they had another size 12 in stock.

So there you have it. Two perfectly matching pairs of shoes!

Awesome blinky lights and all!

Neurotic Mother of Multiples

Tonight was a big step for me in the "Yes, I am neurotic" category, so I thought I would share. Tonight I took Levi shopping for new shoes for kindergarten. I have been talking myself into this all week. Not the going shopping part with a five year old boy, but the part where I take JUST Levi. Just Levi and Mom and I let HIM pick out his OWN pair of shoes. You see, typically I would run into a store some evening when I have a minute to myself, and Jason is at home putting the kids to bed. I would cruise down the shoe isle, if that's what I needed, and grab 2 pairs of shoes for the boys. Two lovely matching pairs of shoes in the same size. (Yes, there is always a conversation when you check out as to why you have two pairs of the exact same shoes.) Two the same is just easier. Just faster. Just cuter. Just matchier. :) I am admitting my problem to you all now, I love to have my boys matching! I would match them all the time if possible, or better yet coordinate. Heck if I can find the same thing in a smaller sz I will snag clothing for Luke also, just so he can match his brothers.

So tonight while I was out shopping with Levi I had to do a lot of self talking (soothing) to get through the experience. I kept reminding myself this was for kindergarten and I can not have them dressed the same forever. I kept reminding myself that they would enjoy picking out their own special pair of shoes for school. I kept reminding myself that it was probably best for their feet to not always be sharing and switching shoes. I kept reminding myself that it would be okay if their feet didn't match. Ahhhhhh. I made it. Levi and I had a lovely time picking out just the right pair of school shoes. He was a joy to shop with and was hilarious with his insights as to which shoes were faster and would be better for tag.

All was going well, and then I opened my mouth and said, "Hey buddy do you think you need a new shirt for kindergarten too?" He looked down and his shirt and declared that it did indeed have a hole in it and a new shirt was in order. So off to the clothing section of Kohls we headed. I was so proud that I had only one pair of shoes in the cart that I was sure I could let him pick out a new shirt for himself as well (without there being a duplicate in the cart at check out time.)

*I warned you at the beginning of this post that I am neurotic, so just go easy on me!

Sadly AZ switches seasons in the stores with the schedule of the rest of the nation that enjoys all four seasons. Long sleeved flannels and jeans when it is 116 outside is a little hard to swallow this time of the year. So we searched and searched and found one rack of tees. Much to Levi's delight they were Mario Brothers tee shirts. UGH! Again the self talk began, as I reminded myself over and over that it was okay for him to wear that horrid shirt in public. It was okay to fuel the obsession with Mario (we don't even own the game, but believe you me, my boys are OBSESSED). It was okay to let him choose this shirt all by himself. And it was okay that there was only one of that shirt on the rack. As I was searching through the rack for anything else, ANYTHING, I came across a similar Mario shirt just in green. Levi decided he liked his blue one better, but we should get the green for Noah. Man, I love that kid. He picks out a hideous shirt, but still thinks about coordinating with his brother! (See, it wasn't me, it was Levi!) But seriously, it felt so much better to have two shirts in our cart, rather than one. If Levi is going to wear that ugly shirt in public, he might as well be sporting it with pride along with his matching best friend.

So here he is... Levi with his new "really fast" shoes and his Mario tee shirt.

(Good luck Mrs. Marquard, he's all yours on Monday!)

Tomorrow I will be taking Noah shopping to let him choose his very own pair of shoes.
I think I can do it. There is one thought that keeps running through my mind that brings me such great joy. Next year they will be wearing uniforms to school and they can match every single day!

Wonder how many pediatrician bills this will cost us?

Since we don't have a pool, water fun around here usually looks like this.

So far, no broken bones, although I've got to imagine it's only a matter of time.

For Luke, water fun usually looks more like this, since the slide freaks him out a little.



Along with the occasional faceplant.



But today, on my way home from work, it finally looked like this.



(Seriously. I've been waiting all summer for a decent thunderstorm. I'll take the 5 minutes I got today. But I could go for more.)

And when I pulled up to the house, this is what I found.



Levi is actually wearing one more item of clothing in that photo than the state I found him streaking out of the garage in.

So they all put on swimsuits, and we headed down to the ol' swimmin' hole.





Otherwise known as the drainage area in the park at the end of the street.



Keep in mind, it has rained all of about 4 times here in the last 6 months or so. And that park drains all the water from our block. That puddle isn't exactly what you would call sanitary.

But the kids thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. They ran back...



and forth...



and back.



Luke got in on the action as well.



And despite our stern warnings, I think he actually managed to take a few slurps of that nasty water.



Finally, I am fairly sure that the rising moon on Noah in this picture...



is highly correlated to the giant grin on Levi's face in this one.



Stinker.

Then we were treated to a lovely sunset on our walk back home, where we attempted to thouroughly scrub every last bit of road grime out of the collections of scratches and scrapes they seemed to have picked up playing in the cesspool.

Hopefully none of those scratches start tuning the color of that sky, with who knows what kind of nasties inhabiting the ol' swimmin' hole...