Weekend at the Lakehouse

I'm trying my hand at posting on our blog since I've got some time. Ashley worked this weekend; so, the kids and I spent some quality time at my parents' lakehouse. They had a pile of leaves waiting for Ranger and Lucy (and me). I had forgotten how much fun leaves can be.



They were taking turns swinging on Rainbow, the tire swing horse, and "jumping" (note my arms) into the leaf pile.



Ranger did actually learn to jump by himself into the pile.



That evening we went to a park in Athens with a million Christmas lights and decorations. The kids were enthralled.



Pa and I set out a couple of jug lines, and we caught the largest freshwater fish I've ever been connected with. My niece, Camey, holds the lakehouse record with a 19.8 lb fish. This one was a piddly 11.2 lb blue catfish.

Mud Run

Kevin participated in the DFW Mud Run this weekend. It was a blast watching everyone, though my hubby tends to think races start/finish much earlier than they actually do. This is the SECOND time in the last month that he has stuck me with all 3 kids in a race area, just to find out that the time is an hour more than what he tells me. Love you, honey. Here are some pictures of his race.

Keeping the kiddos in line. Glad I finally let them out of the stroller. They would have been in there a LONG time!

The first mud obstacle. Kevin says this is much harder than it looks.

The rope swing, where we spent most of the time. Video is below. Can you believe we were here an hour and missed Kevin? Ranger wanted to go to the finish line to watch dad finish. I told him we were waiting for him to do the rope obstacle. He said, "He just did it. I saw him." How'd I miss that one? Oh, maybe b/c I had Sawyer in the wrap and was trying to corral 2 other kids.


Here is a video after the finish. I know Sawyer looks like he is falling out of the moby. I would have adjusted, but he was calmly sleeping. Gotta be the 3rd child, huh?


Kevin and I volunteered for the DRC Half Marathon last weekend and Saturday afternoon we went to the volunteer appreciation party. It was at Dallas House of Blues. Just a couple of hours, but we got some cocktails, food, and we both won door prizes. Kevin won a $20 Run On gift card, and I won a free fusion massage at Exhale. Just looking at the website, this place is way out of my league. I'm excited about the experience and will let you know how it goes.
A drive to Fort Worth, Dallas, and back to McKinney means a long time in the car, which in turn means lots of time to crochet! I crochet Lucy a beautiful sock cap with 4 different colors. She wasn't too keen on wearing it, until I made a matching one for Bitty Baby. I will have those pictures on my crochet blog really soon!

Birthday Party!

Since Ranger and Lucy have birthdays that are 3 weeks apart, we opted to have a joint big birthday party. The fall weather inspired us to do a petting zoo! Better yet, it was on October 31 and we had a costume party, too! It was a blast. The kids had a great time and it was so nice having everyone out on such a beautiful day!













Nana (my mom) was a huge help by making cupcakes with an animal theme. Didn't she do a great job?





We were smart this year and broke into the gifts after the guests left. They got tons of loot! That's what happens, even when we say "no gifts" on the invites!




Then it was time to "Trick or Treat". I think that's has been to date the easiest phrase for Lucy to learn. She was saying it like a champ after the first house! And, while Ranger went to a few houses and then came home to play with the loot, Luc and I went to the whole block. She was all about digging into the candy and taking liberty to get several handfuls! Lots of fun!

Crafty Mommas

I am so behind this week. I need to spend some time posting pics of the amazing halloween petting zoo we had for the kids' birthday, as well as their amazing costumes. Stay tuned!

I added Craft blogs to my list. I have really had a hankering for crafts, crocheting, and sewing projects. Must be the fall! While I do not in any way feel much competency in this area, it is something I aspire to be. Anyway, I came across this blog yesterday. So You Think You're Crafty is, of course, a survivor take on 10 super crafty women with blogs. They submit a craft that corresponds to a given theme. The 10 crafts are anonymous, and each week the crafter with the least votes is voted off. The contest started yesterday. The theme is "harvest" and there are some really neat ideas on there. Go and submit your vote now!

Also, in the true crafting spirit, I have created my own crocheting website. I'll try to keep the projects coming. It's Here and Now Crochet

Ranger's First "Purchase"

With our boy's neverending "Christmas and birthday" lists and his increased ability to help out around the house, we decided it was time for him to start doing chores to get an allowance, or as Dave Ramsey refers to it, commissions. Here is his commissions chart. It has gone pretty well so far. Despite the large sums of money he has the capability of making each day, much of it is counteracted by the few negative behaviors of hitting Lucy, saying "no" to mom/dad, and getting up at night. C'mon, is it that hard to quit doing these things when a Transformer is at stake? Apparently so.



Anyway, after about 6 weeks of chores, and giving 10% of the total to giving and saving, respectively, he had about $11, enough to get his first purchase. So, we went to the store and purchased....(drumroll, please)

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A Light Saber!

It was just precious. And, yes, I did get weepy at the sight of my sweet little 3 year old handing the cashier 6 weeks and $11 worth of quarters. Kevin and I were a little disappointed to get home to the batteries and realize that this $10 light saber, his 6 weeks of savings, didn't require batteries! It didn't light up, pop out, or make noise! We were equally pleased to find that Ranger was not at all disappointed by this. The last few days have been full of light saber wars and lots of jedi sounds. He even slept with it.



Kevin was feeling a little left out. So yesterday, he took Ranger to Wal Mart and spent his "blow money" on a light saber for him. Ranger said, "Dad, I'm so glad you did all of your chores!" So now dad gets to join in on the fun.





And now the commission sheet starts over. Next goal: a transformer motorcycle.




We hope this new family ritual will teach Ranger the discipline of saving for things and paying with cash. You can buy almost anything if you save for it.

A little side note/picture. I got a note from Ranger's school weeks ago about making a scarecrow for school. Since we missed earlier this week, I missed the reminder, so Kevin and I (and Ranger, a little) made this scarecrow in about 10 minutes, on the fly, at the breakfast table. It looks pretty good, don't ya think? Ranger named him "Sandwich".

I'm back, bloggy world!

Hey Guys! I can't believe how bad I really fell off the blog wagon! It really was paved with good intentions. I had a harder and harder time blogging with two kids, but then after 3 kids, it felt nearly impossible! Then I wanted to update, and I felt so far behind that I thought I would never catch up! So now that I have vowed to continue blogging again, I have decided to do a little updating but also focus on the here and now.

To conclude my last post (6/20, embarrassing, I know!), Kevin had a wonderful Ironman triathlon! I am so glad my in laws and oldest son were there to see him finish (which ended up being 12:50:40). To my surprise, the IM webcam was live at the finish line for several hours, and our whole lifegroup and many of Kevin's friends were able to watch him finish online. Thanks to everyone for your support! Here are a few pics of his race, courtesy of Kevin's mom.







Ranger is turning 4 next week, and he is really an amazing kid. Somehow our trips to the library that used to bring excitement at characters such as Thomas the Train and Bob the Builder suddenly became old news to the newer, more exciting characters of TMNT, Power Rangers, and Transformers. How that happened I do not know, but our son has left the fun Disney characters of Woody and Buzz and has proclaimed his
desire to be a stunt man for halloween. (Trust me, I'll send a pic of this, too!) Here are he and daddy at one of their favorite pastimes, boxing!


Lucy just turned 2! She went from not talking at all to saying 4-5 word sentences. She is in school on Wednesdays and just loves it! She is also an amazing big sister and a big help around the house. (When we mention getting ready to leave, she gets her shoes as well as everyone else's).


Sawyer is 5 months and just the sweetest baby ever! We feel very blessed to have such a perfect baby! He is still breastfeeding exclusively, though he has been getting rice cereal and oatmeal from a spoon for the last few weeks. Not a lot of interest there, but we'll keep trying!



Our big news is that, in the last month or so, we have decided to move to Tulsa! I am from there, grew up there, and have always wanted to go back. It took a little convincing, but Kevin got there after a few years, and it took a little longer to get things worked out with his employers. Now that we have green lights on that, we are anticipating selling our house, which has been on the market for a couple of weeks. We realize this is not the greatest time of year and market, but also feel that it will sell when the time/buyers are right. Kevin is looking forward to more hills, trees, land, and a shop, while Ashley is super excited about being closer to her parents/family. While we won't seriously look until we get some buyers for this house, we are pondering properties in Broken Arrow and Bixby.

Anyway, this is just a little update and I hope that I will be able to update my blog at least bi monthly. If you are still a reader, let me know, so I will have motivation to continue. Also, feel free to give me a heads up if I haven't updated in a while. Later!

My Ironman Hubby!

Ashley is my proxy sending this as I am already at Coeur d'Alene, ID with Ranger and my parents prepping for the race.

Some of you may not have known I was training for an Ironman, others may not have realized it was so soon, and others may not care in the least. If you received this it is because I thought you may be interested in rooting for me to succeed or fail or just do worse than you did (that's 15:26:38 or slower for one of you).

To follow me in real time, all you need to do is go to www.Ironman.com and go to the athlete tracker for Coeur d'Alene this Sunday morning (6/21). I'm not sure if you will need my name, Kevin Lemaster, or my bib number 830, but one of those will allow you to know when I pass certain waypoints and my pace.

The race will start at 7:00am Pacific time, but the forecast shows a possibility of thunderstorms; so, it could be delayed.

If you want to throw a prayer or two up for me and the other racers, that would be greatly appreciated as well.

Kevin