Wildlife Prairie Park

Maybe you have forgotten your first adventure to Wildlife Prairie in the same way I no longer remember mine. But I have idealized what that trip was like as well as the subsequent 50 others that have since followed.

We were headed to Champaign to celebrate Caroline's birthday and decided to take the detour to Peoria to enjoy a bit of nature. The girls 'knew' of Wildlife from the countless stories I've told of my childhood adventures involving everything from eagles to chipmunks. They knew of the famed Gollywhopper slide that had provided countless hours of entertainment for the JABS. Now was their chance to enjoy this magical place...

So, my memory has failed me. It wasn't quite as huge or magnificent as I had remembered. It wasn't as incredible as recalled when the stories of donkeys or Pixie Dust were being retold. The up-keep seemed to have taken a backseat and some of the really awesome points no longer accepted visitors (log cabin & school house). But try to convince my kids it was anything but incredible and you're in for an un-winnable fight.

From bison to eagles, from foxes to wolves, our kids were in paradise. It didn't matter that the bear didn't come out or that the cougar was sleeping. They loved every minute. They fed and petted the sheep and donkeys (Gus even attempted to ride one), they got to watched the bison and caribou eat and they saw the baby squirrels.

But the highlight of the trip was the famed Gollywhopper! Fearlessly they rode, and rode, and rode some more...I made more that 8 trips up the 58 stairs to carry Gus back up to the top. Great Grandpa & Grandma Hoerr watched with the same enjoyment that I assume they watched us grandkids with all those years ago. Thankfully, we saved the train as our last event of the day or we may have never gotten them to leave. Great Grandpa got to co-conduct as we took the quick loop while munching on our rock candy.

A true trip success is when:
1. They beg to go back
2. They pass out in the car before getting to the interstate

Both happened within a matter of 2 minutes after leaving the front entrance!

Bike Riding

Last year Lily learned to ride a bike...sorta. She rode on the Stenger's magic bike. We call it magic because a club-footed elephant could learn to ride on this thing, its that easy!

As spring rolled around, Lily was determined to learn to ride her own bike this time around. It didn't take too long, maybe 3 or 4 days, and she was able to ride fearlessly up and down the block. A day or two later, she learned to turn and now the world is wide open for her. Around and around the block she goes with Maura and Miller girls with some amount of ridiculous, never ending, energy.

Flash forward to Kiki's birthday celebration in Champaign. Hap and Di got her a little 12" bike complete with training wheels and the whole shabazz. She loved it. She petaled as fast as those little tires would take her in her efforts to keep up with Lily and Maura. They graciously slowed down a bit, but Kiki still felt behind.

About a week after getting her bike she brought me some tools. I thought her seat was loose or something needed to be straightened. NOPE. She wanted her training wheels off. Caroline was convinced that she would be able to go faster if she wasn't slowed by her extra wheels and so I took them off.

2.5 days later, she was riding by herself. She could start, stop, and even turn around all by herself. My little girl just wanted to keep up with Lily, and so it begins.

Trikes Abound

Caroline and Gus seem nearly inseparable these days. Everywhere Kiki goes, she offers to take Gus with her. The catch is that he has to ride on the back of the neighbor's trike. Gus, seemingly unfazed by this turn of events gladly hops on and chugs along.

If I recall correctly, when I was a little boy, Aje and I did this exact same move. There was one slight difference, I made Aje pedal so that I could hold the garbage can. You see, we wanted to hang on the back of a Garbage Truck so badly that we used our trike as an equivalent substitute. Oh the days!

9 a day

Gus got some type of liquid-poo virus. He is averaging between 7 and 9 massive blasts of liquid green slush a day. It doesn't seem to matter how dry his diapers are, the shear force with which they come out of his hiene is so powerful that they render the diaper helpless.

PJ's are filled, pants destroyed, socks soaked.

To the tub is about the only thing you can do except, taking a quick pic. Nothing says 'Keep Sake Photo' like a kid covered in poo.

Climbing fences...in a skirt

Lily, Gus and myself were all playing in the sandbox. Gus and his 29 second attention span decided it would be more fun to chase birds. Fine! I check with Lily asking if it would be OK if Gus and I ran around for a bit. I told her that if she needed us, just call and we'd come back.

Flash forward about 10 minutes. Gus has now been in at least 5 different yards looking for squirrels, birds, and anything else he could see move. Suddenly there is a loud shriek for help. Instantly I know its Lily.

Immediately I begin running to the south side of the house in order to jump the fence and be by the sandbox. As I round the corner of the house, I find Lily. She is hanging upside down from the fence with her head just millimeters above the ground. She said she had climbed the fence and prepared to jump down. Unbeknown to her, that favorite skirt of her's wasn't going to be able to clear the posts during her jump. It snagged, ripping off a huge section and swinging her directly back into the fence.

I graciously pulled her off the fence and though she was shaking, she was actually unharmed. Upon taking her inside, we convinced her to pose for a few pictures. Carrie couldn't stop laughing and Lily actually got mad!

Thankfully, she was unharmed...the skirt: I'm afraid it needs a very qualified seamstress.

Mexican Siesta

The last two times we've been expecting we've taken a little get-a-way. Previously we went up to Door County, Wisconsin. This time: Cabo San Lucas!

Carrie and I were blessed. We were able to leave the kids with Hap and Di and get a worry-free 5 day trip to Cabo. Not only did Carrie pick a spectacular place (Riu Palace) with immaculate service, I can't remember a time of such relaxation.

Whether it was mojitos by the pool or margaritas in the sand, the atmosphere was purely conducive to relaxation. We enjoyed 85 degree days with a light breeze to keep you cool and 65 degree nights with great company to keep you warm. The food was amazing even though we ate some of it buffet style.

Perhaps my favorite memory of all will be the incredible breakfasts we enjoyed on the terrace as we planned out our days of doing nothing!

Gus the Worshiping Prince

We had just wrapped up the second service (and 5th teaching) of our Culture of Honor weekend seminar at the Vineyard. Carrie and I had been fortunate enough to flip-flop services so that we could each hear the teaching during one service.

I had the pleasure of keeping Gus 'contained' during second service and he was getting to be too much. His wild shrieks and screams had reached a crescendo that even peppermint candies couldn't buy off. We retreated to the crying baby room and waited until worship started. Finally, the music light up the room and Gus and I walked up to the front to worship. As we approached the front the flags were already out.

It didn't take the little guy long to notice that there were actually extra flags sitting on the stage. He wandered up, grabbed one and to our surprise came right back to Carrie and I. Then, with the faith that only a child can display, he waved his bright yellow flag with all his might! Triumphant in his quest to be just like everyone else, he started worshiping with his flag as though he was the only person around (i.e. he actually whacked a few people!)

Since that Sunday, he now demands a flag when worship starts. But he isn't comfortable to just wave a flag in the back. Nor does it work to give him just a little one. He likes 'em big, bright, and wants to be near the stage!

The Optical Course

As kids, Aje and I always used to make "Obstacle Courses". We would tip over couches, use cushions and find old bins to act as stepping stones as we tried to stay out of the lava. Recently, Carrie taught the girls how to build such a course. She added a few pieces of her own flare and a bit of imagination and creativity! The girls (and Gus) ran with it.

Within a few short minutes, the course was built.

*a slide

*a bin

*an air mattress

*two little benches

*an upside down cooking pot

and

*the top to the previously mentioned bin

(sometimes there was also a "Gus Hazard" in the middle as well)

The girls came running upstairs to let us know that they had just completed building their "Optical Course" (note the spelling) and they wanted us to come and watch. I had to get some footage, this was just too priceless!

Gus' Tornado

Seems like most of these blog postings involve the little hellion and his current adventures. This is just another example of the little guy's quest for household supremacy!

I got stuck at work yesterday and was over an hour late getting home. As I rolled in the back door at 4:30 what did I see?

Gus, who is our most adept climber (which is saying A LOT because Lil and Kiki can out climb every kid they've ever encountered) had successfully climbed the kitchen stools. Seeing that all of the good stuff was on the counter, he got up there next. He proceeded to dump out a mug of milk, empty what was left in the jug of milk and eat (suck the sugar off) about half a dozen snickerdoodles.

You know those funny posters that show something awful and then say "FAIL" in big block letters on the bottom...give me one for parenting!

SICK

As a general law of nature, the Leman family is rarely sick. 

However, the little neighbor girl (Maura) came over to hangout the other day. Nearing the end of the play date, she began to complain about her head hurting. Strange for 6 y/o to whine about a headache...but I thought little of it. 

Two days later, her mother told me that she (Maura) had been vomiting, coughing, and fighting the flu...Sweet, sweet life...now comes the fun.

Lily got it first, though she had no vomiting, she was grounded by a headache and fatigue. It wouldn't have been so bad if it had just stayed right there and not progressed to Carrie.

I've never seen Carrie so fatigued. Her body is being wrecked. She needs to sleep but the demands of having 3 little kids affords her no rest. It seems unjust that someone who loves her kids so much is actually being abused by them needing her attention. 

I guess I'll have to get home quickly again today! Stupid neighbors, well, not really, but you get the idea.

Characters of a bye-gone time

Though I didn't actually write either of the last two posts, I will take credit. They are quite funny.

As time has progressed and we have moved through the stages of game playing and so have the characters that have joined us for a season. I've decided to list a few, include a brief description, and possibly round up a few photos in the near future:

Dut: Lily's first stuffed duck, often accompanied by a smaller version called "Baby Dut"

Poopsie: A British Bear that was somehow related to Paddington

Mean Dog: JD on all-fours barking and subsequently eating (tickling) his victims

Dancing Christmas Monkey: A Husmann left-over that often showed his hiney, got spanked and played keep away

Balrog: That monster from LOTR, but my version is kinder and basically just wants to tickle you

Swamp Monster: Dad, under a blanket, but he can't move

Evil Robot: A bot that can't walk well, but has "been sent to eat little girls"

Aayllah Bosebee: Kiki's first baby's name

Jacques: A French hair washing guru who always wants to wash the girls hair

Senor Caballo: A Spanish speaking horse puppet who always shouts, "HOLA, I'm Senor Caballo!"

Luigi: A pig puppet (best friend of Senor Caballo) whose most famous line is, "I'ma Luigi, I'm an Italian sausage!"


add more!

First Book

Lily is a now a big Kindergartener. We are constantly blown away by how much she is learning and how much she loves school. She has officially read her first full book, "Hop on Pop". She is really reading so well, and when she has the patience and will she can pretty much read anything. We have noticed that she seems to really love math as well. This definitely does not come from mom! She loves to count to 100 by 10's, 5's and so on...they just celebrated 100th day in Kindergarten, hard to believe she is already more than half way through her first year of school. We are so proud of her!!

Big Words

Kiki is definitely our biggest spitfire so far of them all. In all good ways of course, she is the wittiest, sassiest, and most opinionated (hmm, wonder where that comes from??) Well, she has been having an increasingly difficult time with going to preschool. We're not sure what the source of this is, but it has created much stress to our mornings. After an emotional and volatile car ride to school she enjoyed a fun filled morning there as usual. When JD got home he said, "Kiki, we need to have a little talk." and she promptly replied, "I don't want to talk because you're just going to want to talk about my attitude and it just makes me so frustrated!" Well that was the end of the teachable moment, JD and I erupted into uncontrollable laughter and concluded that 'the talk' was officially over!

Jumps

'Jumps' have become a bedtime ritual. They started out slightly disastrous, causing an ugly stain on Leman Athletic History. I allowed the first set of 'Jumps' on the condition that they would never attempt to do it when I wasn't around. Of course, they tested the limits and pulled the entire dresser on themselves. Though they were uninjured, it put our jumping on hold. A few months later it started up again in it's current form.

Now 'Jumps' is sort of a reward system. If you had a good day, or if you get your jammies on quickly, or if you'll go upstairs and brush your teeth without my help...you get 'Jumps'. Three has become the normal number, though there are often 'bonus jumps' to increase that number to five.

Each girl has her favorite. Lily loves the 'Ring of Death'. Caroline's favorite is the Flying Squirrel. Even Gus has a favorite...though we don't really have a name for 'UUUHhhh' as he says. The night almost always ends with 'Dark Jump' where all the lights go out and we crack the door ever so slightly. 

I can't describe how much these peanuts love to do this. It is currently our most effective bribe going! The video is a clip of Kiki doing her flying squirrel. Unfortunately, she gets a bit of whiplash in this video and calls it a night. And yes, she is all-out belly flopping on the bed!

Perhaps our last Super Bowl party

58...Total number of parents, friends, colleagues, and unruly little brats that filled our home Super Bowl Sunday. I had asked for one thing: a party with no children. I got it, earlier, when Carrie surprised me (see Surprised)

However, it was a fantastic game and sans the post game clean up the night went beautifully. True, some kid painted our basement carpet. Another dumped 7 different board games out and mixed the pieces just for kicks. One ate imitation PlayDoh. Another threw an absolute fit because his balloon popped (he proceeded to get another and played in front of the TV during the game: his parents said nothing...)

However, the highlight of the evening was Mr. Gus. The little guy found and empty Corona complete with a lime. For the next 90 minutes, he took fake drinks and tried to no avail to get that little lime out. Time and time again he put the bottle up, had the lime fall to the mouth, then flip the bottle back, only to see the lime sink too! Priceless...not to mention that Uncle Jordy taught the little guy 'cheers' with two bottles. I'm sure I'll find video of that soon too.

Leaving his mark

The girls and Gus generally love bath time. Usually we wash our hair very quickly so we can just sit and play until the water turns colds. Trust me, this can take 30+ minutes... Usually, Gus turns out to be the brunt of all 'water jokes'. Caroline will give him 'extra washes' or Lily will want to scrub his feet (of course the later usually sends him sprawling backwards and underwater!) 

Last night was no exception.  Kiki was attempting to 'keep Gus warm' by pouring cups of water on his chest. Guess what?!? The 20 oz. cup was suddenly being poured into the little guy's 4 oz mouth and the gagging began. Gus coughed, spit, fake barfed, coughed some more and then laughed. I yipped at Kiki, but if Gus is laughing and she is laughing, what could I really say. 

What I didn't realize was that Gus was readying his revenge. As I dried each off, Gus laughed and farted. Lily chuckled and said, "Daddy, I think Gussi has to go poo." I laughed too, and hurried them along.

The girls then ran off to get their hair dried by Carrie, I let Gus chase after them and I went to his room to grab his pajamas and a diaper.  I caught up with Gus as he was trying to climb on my bed and quickly diapered and PJ'ed him up!

A few minutes later, Carrie yelled from the girls room asking if Gus had recently been in there. I said he might have been in there while I was getting his clothes. She bluntly recommended I come and see what he'd done.

There on the rug, in the middle of the girl's room was poo! Kiki announced it was Gus' and Lily reminded everyone that she had thought he was going to poop. Hilarity ensued and I took the picture!

p.s. Carrie cleaned it up!! WTG Carrie!

Surprised

Last night I turned 30! I had been anticipating a quiet evening with some wonderful Costco steaks and a relaxation on the couch. Upon my arrival home, Carrie announce that she'd gotten a sitter and that we had dinner reservations at Gaetano's (run by the head chef of the now defunct La Piazza). Hey, that sounded great. The kids and her had gotten me some new clothes and I quick took a shower and scooted to a 7:15 reservation.

Upon walking in, I realized I'd been duped. Ian, Jamie, Jordan, Loren, Rachel, Heather, Erica, and Holle were already there anxious to celebrate what turned out to be a fantastic surprise party. Not only did I not have a clue, I was treated to a fabulous meal, making the night all worth while.

Thanks Carrie, I had no idea you were this cleaver or shrewd!! I wont forget turning 30 any time soon.

Some random kids

Carrie had her first ultra sound of baby #4 today. Everything went smoothly and it appears that God has graced us with another perfect kiddo in the oven!

I stayed home today, just for a few hours, so that she could get a shower and get to that appointment.  Lily bounced out the door at 7:40 to begin her 7 block walk to school (this is a huge milestone for her that started about 2 weeks ago with a hot chocolate bribe) with the Stengers and I shuffled to two littler ones to the basement to have some play time.  As usual, Kiki asked for a 'Toot & Puddle' so flipped one on.  

Two minutes later I come back to find that Kiki and Gus had drug out two doll highchairs and plopped down in them to watch the show.  I asked them about it and they instantly scurried on. BUT, I shot the picture first!

As good as it gets...

Well, since baby #4 will never get to see his/her baby book along with the other 3 leman children here is a post for posterity sake. This is how we told everyone you were coming into our family Christmas 2008:

The Beginning Reference Point

Life is getting more and more chaotic. 

The couple that started out as two kids fresh out of college without a bed to sleep on has ballooned to include 3.33 kids.  Between dance, gymnastics, kindergarten, church, 'pee-skoo', and a host of other events, we continue to encounter some of the funniest moments of our lives.  Keeping accurate records of these near-daily events, incredibly funny 'kidisms' and milestones is getting to be virtually impossible.  So, here is the solution. We're starting a blog. 

A Leman's Point of Reference isn't really for anyone other than those close enough to get our warped lives! I know that we'd welcome your comments and your thoughts, just don't always expect an answer.

Also, I will try to integrate some of our Flickr pictures in an attempt to keep everyone visually informed!

Our goal is that this will hopefully blossom into the laugh-track of daily lives!