Taking a big step

We recently refinanced our house. It lowered our payment by almost $200. Gotta love lower interest rates. 3.25% is a beautiful thing.

We've been toying with the idea of renting our house when we move. We've toyed with the idea of renting it now and moving back into base housing. We've toyed with the idea of selling it. We've toyed with the idea of burning it down. Kidding. Sort of. Well, after all the toying, and pyro pretending, we've finally come to a decision. (The re-fi played a serious role in the decision making I might add.) We've decided to become Landlords. Just saying it makes me feel all grown up. That, and having recently subscribed to the newspaper for the first time in my adult life. But that's another story.

I know it's going to bring a whole new set of challenges and adventures, but I feel good about it. I can't say I'm excited. But I feel good. I'm certainly not looking forward to moving again. I've long since felt like I should have been born in a more Nomadic time period. That having been said, I rock at packing and unpacking. If it weren't for the kids, I could become a professional. Yeah right. I'm way too lazy to do that. Let's keep it real here folks.

So anyway, if you know of someone looking for a nice, comfortable, well taken care of house in the greater Kansas City area, send them our way.

We'll leave the light on for them. :)

Am I The Only One?

I find it incredibly annoying when parents don't teach their children the proper names of their body parts. I realize this is a touchy subject for some people, but come on. Do we give our arms and legs funny names? What about our eyebrows and ears? "I'm going to get Sadie's wingdings pierced tomorrow." "I really need to pluck my fuzzy wuzzies." I mean come on. Really? Is is so hard to call body parts what they really are? This has always been a pet peeve of mine. Recently I was talking with a friend and we were discussing the inappropriate behavior of our seven year old's when they were playing together. They were talking about a certain body part that only boys have. She informed me that she had no idea where her son learned to call it a penis. SERIOUSLY? How do you have four sons and you don't know where he learned to call it by it's proper name? I also read a blog post this morning where another mom was taken back when her daughter said she needed to wash her "noodle." She told her she didn't have a "noodle" and the girl wanted to know what she had. SERIOUSLY? Why is it so taboo? All along I've had friends who gave their kid's "private parts" nick names and didn't teach them the proper name. I've never quite understood it. Brandon grew up calling it a wickerdoo. Special. Just special. Now, I will be totally honest, I'm not looking forward to having to teach Sadie the proper name of her "who-ha" but I will. For some reason, I just don't like that word. BUT STILL, I'm not going to have her calling it a "wickerdee" or something silly like that.

So am I the only one who finds it silly when parents don't teach their children the names of ALL their body parts?

JUST ONCE

It would be nice to go poop one time without being asked, through the door, if I was going poop.

Is it really that exciting boys? Are you hoping I'm going yell, like you do, "can you wipe me"? I assure you I'm not going to.

On my honor I will do my best ......

Stephen and Brandon left this morning for a week of Scout camp at Camp Naish. I hope Stephen uses more bug spray this year. Last year he came home with more merit badges, but also Lyme Disease and a spider bite. Fun times.

Oh and for the record, he did indeed dress himself.

His birthday couldn't get here fast enough

This poor kid was DESPERATE to be seven. Not sure what is so special about seven, but he really wanted to be seven. So much so that the day he turned seven he told someone he was seven and a half. Maybe it's eight he wants to be and seven is just a stepping stone. Oh to be in the head of a child some days. As usual, we had a very small celebration here at home. My parents stopped by on their way to my sister's house in Wyoming . It was nice that they were able to be here for his birthday.

Stephen drew the artwork on the t-shirt for Spencer. He's worn it to bed every night since.

I love this girl

Celebration at the Station

Celebration at the Station is a Memorial Day tribute to the Veteran's who have given all they had to give in service to our country. It's a concert put on by the Kansas City symphony. It was a wonderful concert. The group Time For Three was there as well. They are amazing and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have a few of their CD's. They are touring the country and if you get a chance to see them, you really should. There was also an amazing fire works display afterward.

This is the stage. The building behind it is Union Station. If you don't know the history, look it up sometime. It's very interesting. You can't really see them, but the guys on stage holding the flags Marines. They are from Brandon's office.

A few years ago, Corinne, my sister-in-law, gave Spencer a set of Stomp Rockets for his birthday(by far one of the best present ever I might add). The kids have had a blast playing with them at various times.
Love them.

Brandon taught Spencer how to play Mancula that night. He caught on super fast and had a great time.

This is how Seth always watches fireworks.