Two can play that game

This weekend we have been tearing apart the house for new carpet. Let me tell you, installing new carpet in the whole house is much like moving, only without the moving truck and storage unit and all the prep that goes into selling a house. We've moved everything but the kitchen and the office (which is where we've put all of the furniture). Insanity. Chaos. Typical weekend at our house.

Along with the carpet removal comes the amusing sounds of a thunderous herd of children tromping around on plywood flooring.  And the shouts of parents of the thundering herd to "Stay away from the tack strips!" We've been incredibly nervous that the monsters little angels will fall, slip or step into a tack strip requiring an ER visit and tetanus shot. Saturday night we corralled them in our room with the only working TV in the house and let them eat dinner while watching Monsters University, which was a surprise DVD purchase for them.

Sunday afternoon, we made them all get in the car to go run errands. They were mad. I mean MAD. They wanted to go to a park, or a playground, or anywhere they could run around and have fun. We did have one quick stop that was no fun (Menards), but then we arrived at our real destination - open swim time at Foss Swim School.  They were in shock for a few minutes until I explained that it was a "play in the pool" day.

So, much like Nathan's "let's-tell-the-kids-we're-getting-flu-shots-and-go-to-a-movie-instead," I can be just as sneaky.

Unfortunately, this likely means that every time we say errands they will look for their swim bags. Oh well.

Munzee Mania

Back in March we were in Rochester, MN for Destination Imagination (brought the kids for a mini-vacation) and were looking for something to do. We were done with the pool and had refueled and rested watching a movie. Nathan thought that trying out geocaching would be a good idea, but happened across munzee.com. Munzee is similar to geocaching, but instead of hunting for a box of stuff hidden somewhere, you scan QR codes for points. No value, no prize other than bragging rights. The 21st Century scavenger hunt if you will. We each downloaded the app, read up on the "how to" and set out to find our first munzees. Our first attempts in Rochester were less than successful, but once you find one, you finally get the concept. Our second munzing expedition was in Omaha on Easter weekend and the kids loved it.


Now, we've become premium members which means we get some special munzees, including social munzees which are online. Most munzers create some image for their social and don't just pop their QR code out there. My typical personal screen alias is Mighty Mommy adding a 4 if necessary, or sometimes just because. So... Here's what I did today:

- Posted by

3 gymnasts, 3 shows, 3 trophies

Last summer, that Daniel boy was a monkey bar maniac. He spent so much time on the monkey bars at summer kidstop he developed some pretty awesome calluses, he was quite proud. So, when we heard about a gymnastics gym holding a open house, we thought we'd take a look.

Our kids were fearless. I think both Daniel and Nicholas had to be told that they were jumping too high on the trampolines. They also ran down the tumbling and vault mats into a big pit of spongey cubes- this is where Ben had several coaches quite impressed! The kid was wicked fearless!

We ended up only enrolling Abby, Daniel and Nicholas. I am not all that interested in spending hundreds of dollars to do parent and kid classes with Ben.

This weekend they wrapped up their 3rd session of gymnastics, ending with the spring show. They were awesome.


- Posted by Jen (Mighty Mommy)

Twist Wars: gymnastics spring show 2013

Today I was in Twist Wars, gymnastics spring show, it was Star Wars themed
and I had lots of fun. I did my floor routine;salute,hand stand ,1 step leap,
straddle jump, jump full turn,kart wheel, back-bend, kick-over.

In my beam routine I did salute, jump to front support, leg over, tuck sit, v sit, candle stick. I like candle stick, because they are hard to do. My first class, I could do candle stick better than the whole class. And usually you like what you are good at.

When I finished, Dad said my cartwheels are great. I worked on them for a whole weekend so I could advance to my current class.

At the end, I got a trophy. My name got called in front of the whole audience. Mom says my salute on the podium was great!

Summer session of gymnastics starts on June 10, so we get one week off.

- Posted by Abby

Star Wars marathon!

Today we watched some star wars movies.

My favorite Star Wars character is Yoda.Yoda is my favorite because he is super fast when he fights against Count Duku.

My favorite bad character is Darth Maul. He's cool because he has horns on his head and a double light saber.

That's all for my first blog post.

- Posted by Scooter (Daniel)

Wow, neglected blog!

I can't believe we haven't posted anything in a year. Sheesh! It's been busy. I am not going to bother to catch you up. But, there is a reason for this post.
We will soon be seeing two guest bloggers on this site. I read an article in some parenting magazine about getting kids to journal (being a difficult task) but getting them to blog had a good effect- reading, writing, sharing, Internet safety, etc. So, I have issued an order that Abby and Daniel will blog this summer. They have been begging me to blog for a week.
There are rules of course. 1) they are too young to get their own accounts, so they blog as mommy, but sign their names. 2) they create their post, but it must then be reviewed by mom or dad, who will post if the content is acceptable. 3) blog posts should be about what's going on, not just a venue for jokes and riddles (Abby) or fictional stories about a snake that talks (Daniel).
This will be an interesting experiment!