Family Fun!

Rockband.

I've talked about it enough, it's time for you to see what all the fuss is about because this game...this game is just so much fun. Here's Beth, singing one of her favorite songs, accompanied by her father and uncle (who, please notice, is hard to beat when it comes to those drums.) Enjoy! (We certainly do.)

(Edited to add: AAURGH! I have now spent a shameful amount of time trying to get this video on here, but it still isn't right. The full video is too big to upload, so I spliced it but although it looks fine on my computer I can't get it right on here. I'll try again later.)



I might, someday, if I thought you could handle it, post a video of the girls rocking, and I do mean rocking out to Chop Suey. But I'm not sure you can handle it.

5 Star News

The girls occasionally put out their own paper, inspired by Little Women who were in turn inspired by Pickwick Papers. I love it, and today's edition was especially impressive. Enjoy!

A Reason to Celebrate
Turning 20
Today we are celebrating a most important 20th birthday, Andy Mlinek's. Katie: A man to look up to. Beth: Great uncle. Claire: He is a great jedi master. Abbie: He's the best godfather.

The woman of 5 children
August 24th is Becca Mlinek's birthday. As a mother and wife, 33 is a big step, a great one too. Katie: I could not love any other mother of mine. Beth: She's a very responsible mom and good hearted. Claire: I think mom's a very responsible mom of us and she loves us very much. Abbie: Mom is the best mom in the world, thank you.

Entertainment
Back to school
The three oldest Mlinek girls are going back to school. Katie: my new teacher, Mrs. Sharp, should be great. Beth: My teacher, Mrs. Turner, is going to be very nice. Katie had her. Claire: My teacher, Mrs. Little, Is going to be the nicest in the whole world.

A time for friends
Tomorrow, Katie is going to Morgan's house. Then next tuesday, Morgan will come here. Katie: I'm so excited!

Sports
The Brett Farve case
A long time ago, Brett Farve said he would not join the Vikings. But today we saw that he hadn't made up his mind fully. Today, Brett Farve said he would join them. Training camp already started! Katie: A man who can't make up his mind shouldn't play. He's ridiculous! Beth: Farve is so coo-coo in his head he should have a coo-coo bird in his head that makes up his mind. Claire: I think he's the worst ever, he drinks too much stuff that makes him crazy. Abbie: I think he should have a basket on his head full of laundry with 1,000 gallons of water. I'm serious.

Health
Claire's ear is hurting and going to the doctor tomorrow. Claire: It's painful, people!! It really hurts!!

Written by Katie Mlinek- president
Beth Mlinek: Reporter
Claire Mlinek: Suggestor
Abbie Mlinek: Apprentice

One more post of Williamsburg pictures, then I promise I'm done

Beth checking out the jail cell privacy.

Abbie pounding on the walls of her prison.

Lucy....showing some true colors.

Beth and Claire playing some colonial checkers.

More from Williamsburg

Every time we go anyplace, I like to hang back at least one to look at this. I love to watch Chris walk down the road surrounded by little girls, it's so adorable and it does my heart so much good that I can't resist it. The little white bonnets bobbing along just made it that much more adorable.

I also love it when the girls run to meet their Daddy. I love the relationship he has with them: they adore him, and he adores them. It's just so very right.

Claire's got a little snaggle-tooth action going. That tooth is going to go any moment now.

The girls enjoyed interacting with the people in Williamsburg.

I couldn't resist taking this picture on a random staircase.
Colonial Williamsburg is just a good place for pictures.

I am going to brag. You can't stop me.

Can you believe that these gorgeous creatures are related to me? I can't....

Weekend Away

We decided, kind of on the spur of the moment, to go away this past weekend and I am very glad we did. We are finally getting to a point in our family where weekend-getaways can actually be just that, instead of periods of prolonged frustration and occasional agony. The girls were angels in the car (no puking, even!) slept like logs in the hotel and we were all able to enjoy every excursion fully. I realized that a new day has dawned for us when we woke up that first morning in the hotel (at 9:30, amazingly!) and were able to get ourselves dressed and out the door in less than an hour. The only person I had to dress besides myself was Lucy, and the only teeth I needed to brush were my own. It was heaven. Heaven! Remembering vacations past, with the frantic dressing, diaper-changing, teeth-scrubbing, shoe-finding, toy-stashing....to have our very first easy morning while away was a vacation all in itself for me.

So it all began with a trip into VA to have dinner with some old friends, and their adorable, adorably chunky, and whip-smart little boy:

From there we went on to Willamsburg. We spent the first day at a public beach along the bay, and it was a perfect day. The girls swam,

played in the sand

and in general just enjoyed themselves. Chris and I even had a few free minutes to sit back on our towels and just soak in the peace, the quiet, and the contentment of a day at the beach.

The next day, we went to Colonial Williamsburg.

Where, first of all, we bought these ridiculously adorable hats, and secondly, we had a great time. It was super hot, and by the end of the day Abbie and Lucy had decidedly had enough, but the older girls loved it (naturally) and the younger two still held strong even when things were maybe a little over their heads.

A great time was had by all. And I cannot emphasize enough how wonderful it was to take a trip that was not soul-crushingly exhausting. Ahhh! As I said, I feel like we are entering a new phase in our family and I, for one, am loving it!

catchphrase

Kids pick up on all sorts of habits and idiosyncrasies you don't even know you have.

We were at the Raven's camp, watching from the sidelines when Abbie asked me if she could do something or other, and I said vaguely, "I'll consider it."

She sighed in frustration. "Why," she said pointedly to me, "do you have to consider everything?"

First rule of parenting: never ever ever ever ever ever, NEVER assume anything

I'm afraid this blog is becoming nothing but "Hey watch us swim!" and "Can you believe the disgusting things I have to deal with?"

I apologize, but this is my life.

So I woke up early this morning (yay me!) and took the dog for a walk before everyone else was up. With the way things go around here, though, I didn't get the chance to hop into the shower until 11:30. Lucy had a loaded diaper so I changed her and then sent her upstairs to play with her sisters. They were all playing happily up there when I made the fatal mistake. I assumed. I assumed that Lucy was all taken care of, I assumed that the next 20 minutes could safely be used for personal hygene.

I was in my bathroom getting dressed when I heard Claire's high-pitched scream from the floor above. I could hear the progression of her frantic voice as she made her way down the steps, through the kitchen, past the dog, and into my room. "Something really bad is happening!" she told me.

It was Lucy. Lucy and her diaper. Again.

Luckily I caught her very early on, so the cleanup was much easier. As I was scrubbing her off, she was crying, "I icky. I sorry. I sorry."
"No touching your diaper, you know that, Lucy!" I said to her, "Why did you do that?"

Through her tears, she sighed deeply and said, "I don't know."

I believe her. I think she really doesn't know why she does these things. I think she's compelled on some primal level that none of us could ever fully understand. So, the name of the game needs to be constant vigilance, and by that I mean constant vigilance. Someday this green-eyed little gem will be all grown up and we will sit around over coffee and laugh at her feral childhood. On that day I will really enjoy that coffee, too, because it will most likely be the first time in years that I'll have the chance to actually sit and savor something.

Summer

Why should I bother typing out some long, boring post when I can just upload a video that will show you exactly how the girls are doing?

The answer is: I shouldn't! Enjoy the video.

(Oh, and note Beth's comment at the end. It's scary how these kids have me all figured out.)

Jam Manifesto

Have you heard the expression, "You can't bottle happiness"? It's true. I've looked into it.

I have a secret for you, though. A secret formula:

First, you need wake up early one summer morning (anything before 9 is early for us in the summer. Don't be jealous, I've paid my dues.) Then you need to meet your mother-in-law and head off to a farm.

(Look, it's okay if the morning doesn't go perfectly. This formula will work even if you have issues getting out of the house because your dog thinks he is entitled to come along. It will work even if you also stop for gas and end up, in some bizarro-spastic move, spraying yourself with the gasoline nozzle, Zoolander-style, and then needing to rush to the nearest Wal-Mart to grab a new outfit because you are uncomfortably close to spontaneously bursting into fire. Trust me on this one. If you end up in a similar scenario, don't let it deter you.)

You then need to spend a hour or so picking blueberries with your Mother-in-law and your indentured servants...I mean, your children. It's lots of fun, you'll love it! If you want, you can let your Mother-in-law treat you and the serfs, I mean children (sorry, I can't stop myself!) to fresh berry-topped ice cream. This step is not necessary, but I highly recommend it.

Then - listen carefully - you need to go home and put some of those fresh, ripe blueberries into a big pot. Heat it up and throw in an apple (a good source of pectin) for good measure, if you're so inclined, then add some sugar so that you can enjoy the fruit of your labors all winter long. Cook it until it's nice and gooey, until it coats your spoon and runs off of it slowly like molasses. Making jam is easy! Honest! Then you need to ladle that hot, tantalizingly sweet syrup into jars, and boil it like crazy for about ten minutes.

When you're done, you'll know the secret. You can't bottle happiness.....but it is absolutely possible to can it.

There it is. Happiness in a can.

I think my camera lens was smudged, but I was so high on jam that I didn't notice until it was too late. Sorry.

Guess what else?

You can also can sunshine.

Mine was more sunset-y sunshine, because I used brown sugar in the peach jam instead of white. It's not as iridescent, but it's delicious.

I'm all about the taste.

It that doesn't convince you, here are a few more reasons why you need to make jam:
1- Your kids will think you are super-cool
2-Your house will smell amazing all day long
3-Stirring the bubbling pot of goodness really does feel like magic. It's the one scenario in life where it is not only acceptable but fitting to mutter aloud, "Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble..."
4-You will feel like Meg March, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Anne Shirley, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, and the Boxcar Children all at once.

And the most important point:
5-It's yummy.