USA Wins

I am so excited to be able to watch the World Cup. It is the pinnacle of sports in the rest of the world, except the US. Which is unfortunate but hey, it all works out some how. I would hope that the majority of you know that the US has advanced to the second round by winning in stoppage time against Algeria. Now they should have clinched their win early on but FIFA did not overturn the call of offsides against the US where they had previously scored a goal. I am a big fan of calling off sides and I think it's important but even I did not think the US player was off sides. Anyway, it seemed that when all was lost and the US would be coming home in the very start (or close to it) of the second minute of stoppage time the US scored the game winning goal. It was a great game and very well played by both teams. I am very excited that the US is going to advance. Although now I believe it is a straight elimination round, you have to win to advance any further. It will be decided who they will play I think on Thursday as those games have not yet been played then later on in the week, they will face their next challenge. I can hardly wait there have been some amazing moments that I have been able to see since the start of the world cup. GO TEAM USA.

The River

At long last, or so it seems I am going to give an update on what we did over the weekend. We went with Ben's youngest sister, her family, his parents and her mother-in-law to go canoeing in Arkansas. We had so much fun. The kids absolutely loved it. All day from 9:30 to 4:30 we were on the river. A few stops along the way to eat, swim, play, jump around, and just have fun, were all it took to keep these kids happy. No one got sunburned or at least if they did not very badly. Bear was the first one to jump off the big rock. He really wanted to swing on the swing and then jump into the water, but the line for that was rather long. Lots of beer and juice boxes were consumed, Ben stated that we should have brought some more Gatorade for the ride as well. The only mishap was when Bernie and Susie ran into a tree and the canoe flipped into the water. They all feel out including Cooper who survived like a champ. His life jacket is amazing. He did not start to cry until I showed up, but hey, he was half asleep when it all happened. The river did take it out of the kids, I think all but two fell asleep on the way back home, and everyone slept well that night. It was a great trip.

Things they say

So yesterday, Ben is out watering the garden, a daily event. And Isabelle walks up to him and says, "This peach fell off the tree and I caught it." Now does that sound like my daughter to you? At least she is excited about the peaches. This is only the second year they have been in the ground here and they are already producing fruit. How very exciting. I think we'll only get a handful but still. Maybe enough for a cobler so long as any more don't just fall off the tree for her or any other child to catch.

Fast Learner

Cooper is picking up on some of the big kid stuff way too fast. I'm still pretty sure that he should be acting like a baby and not a todler. I expect him to start spouting of some poetry any day now. Until that happens I only have this to report. The kids have been doing odds and ends projects recently which involved, paper, scissors and punches. So there of course is paper, scissors, and punches just lying around all over my house, since I guess they feel that it is summer time and no need to clean up after themselves. Either way, Cooper happend upon a piece of paper, and a pair of scissors. Why do they call it a pair, since really it is only one but I guess sense it has two sides that is reason enough. Who knows. He finds these scissors and paper and immediatly sits down to work on his very own project. He gennerally knows how this whole thing is supposed to work you put your fingers in and then move it some how and it will eventually cut the paper to your desisered shape. For the life of him he could not figure it out with one hand. Now with two hands he was all over it. But not once did he ask for help, by bringing me his project to help him. At least not until I interferred and stuck a camera in his face. Then he realized that oh hey, Mom's here she'll know what to do. Then he thought to himself well if I can't get it to cut then I'm just going to poke a hole in the paper, that should work out great. I just could not believe it, he did try pretty hard at getting them to work, it was just too cute!

Blackberries

Today, the kids and I went to go pick blackberries. It was a lot of fun but very humid, I'm pretty sure that I was melting. Anyway, Cooper had a little bit of a learning curve to go through before he figured out that the berries go into the box instead of his mouth. They don't like it when you eat the berries before you pay for them. We came home with almost three pounds of blackberries to eat and gobble up. Maybe I'll be creative and actually make something with them. Who knows!

Plus their cousins got to join in the fun and tastiness at the blackberry picking as well. I was really pleased to see everyone today and to notice that they all had such a wonderful time.

Get Big

Today as I was cleaning up the lunch dishes of five kids I happened to look out the window to find my baby boy looking so much like a big boy. Some days I cannot decide if I want him to grow up or if I think he should stay small and somewhat cuddly forever. He of course thinks he needs to grow up and fast. After all he has to catch up with his siblings. I'm not sure why this picture made me feel this way but for some reason it did. They all just grow up too fast!