Breakfast

Mornings in my house are hard.  I know I've mentioned before that Mr. Koenig has a hard time waking up, so I count on him for bedtimes.  Mornings, well, that's all me.  Between the Siri throwing fits about her outfit,

(She wanted to wear her skirt inside out.  I said no.  Then I said yes.)

Gannon needing to work on his 6-pack

(Teeth were't brushed, please note he is not wearing socks.....yet)

And Annika with her........Siri-ness

Most of the time, they don't get breakfast at home.  Sometimes, I am a stellar mom and make instant oatmeal, but cheerios in a cup are the staple.  No milk, just plain, dry cheerios.  Driving to school this morning, 2.5 days before Christmas break, I won the mom of the year award.  I TOTALLY forgot food for ANYONE.  Whoops.  Fortunately, I think we were out of the house in enough time for the kids to eat *gasp* school breakfast.  

I got a rapid response of extreme enthusiasm, which surprised me.  Siri cleared it up.

"Mommy!  You are the best mommy in the world, do you know why?  Because at school, they have my favorite kind of Cheerios!  They are my favorite because they RAINBOW Cheerios!  They are EVERY COLOR, mommy!"

I was a little confused, trying to think of the specific type she was describing when Gannon pipped in, annoyed as his sisters excitement.

"Fruit Loops, Siri.  They're Fruit Loops".

Food Poisoning

Gordon has always had a hard time waking up.  A Really.  Hard.  Time.  We went through a four alarm clock stage, we went through the "Christmas Bells Alarm" phase, we've thought about getting a taser for wake ups!  There have been some interesting "the kids woke up but he didn't" moments in our lives.  Yesterday was one of those days.  I was at work and I got the text...

Gordon:  "I fell back asleep and woke up at 8:45...  Gannon was eating and feeding Annika the spaghetti that had been left on the table overnight..."

He went on to tell me how he had educated Gannon about food poisoning, especially with meat and dairy, and that he appreciated him taking care of his sister, but to be aware of the dangers of eating left out food.  Gannon was more than concerned for his sisters safety, apologized to Gordon for feeding her possibly contaminated food, and cleaned up the mess.  But Gannon doesn't just let things go.  Not that easily.  He ruminates and obsesses.  He over thinks.  He's also a bit of a hypochondriac.

Later that same day, I got this text....

Gordon: "Gannon just told me that " well, at least I didn't catch the food poison... But I did have skinny poop this morning, and THAT is not ordinary..."

Stars and Stripes Forever.....

It has become a tradition over the past few years to spend the 4th of July either at work, or with my best friend and her family.  Its a 50/50 split, and often I feel like Work and Family share custody....not really.  So this year was our turn with the Real family.  We had prepared the kids with conversation about the freedom we enjoy in America, about the birth of our great nation, we watched parts of "1776" and "Independence Day".  We had fabulous food, beer, pie, kids running amuck with sparklers, poppers, and a sundry of other pyrotechnics.  It was a grand time!  About an hour into blowing up various fireworks, Gannon ran in his normal hyper-excited state to myself and Sharee and asked the question of the night...
"HOW LONG TILL WE COUNT DOWN TO MIDNIGHT!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

180 days, Gannon.  Wrong Holiday.

The 40 Essential Items to 24 Days on the Road with Your Kids

The 40 Essential Items to 24 Days on the Road with Your Kids

ie:  The Packing List

19 days from right now, I'll be taking off with my four kids (ages 16, 8, 5, and 1) on a grand adventure of a road trip.  We'll be visiting 14 states in 24 days and camping IN THE CAR!  I'll be posting on how we're fitting an air mattress in the back of the van here soon.  So, here's the conundrum: I have to be able to fit everything from the trunk in the front two seats for sleeping.  Here, I'll show you....

This is the layout of the van.  See the trunk space?  See the front seat space?  Well, the whole list of stuff, minus the air mattress, sleeping bags and pillows need to go from the back.......................

to in between the front seat and the dash.  This includes Annika's car seat.  So I'm posting my list to make sure I didn't forget anything, or maybe even skinny it down!  Please comment below.  I appreciate you reading!

1.  Air Mattress
2. Sleeping Bags x4
3. Pillows
4. Cooler with Ice
5. Bread, Peanut butter, Jelly, and a knife
6. fruit/crackers/snacks/cheese
7. WATER
8. Cups for A
9. Binkies for A
10. Diapers/wipes for A
11. 1 pair long pants each
12. 3 pair shorts each
13. 5 pair underwear each
14. 5 t-shirts each
15. 1 sweatshirt/jacket each
16. 1 pair tennis shoes each
17. 1 pair Sandals each
18. 5 pair socks each
19. 1 swim suit each
20. 1 towel each
21. 2 pair jammies each
22. deodorant
23. shampoo
24. conditioner
25. body wash
26. toothbrushes
27. toothpaste
28. face wash
29. moisturizer
30. Sunscreen
31. Bug spray
32. Benadryl/Motrin/tylenol/valium
33. money
34. tampons/pads
35. MOVIES
36. BOOKS
37. Emergency Kit
38. Atlas
39. Tablet/charger
40. Cell phones/charger

A Grand Adventure

Our Rout.

Well, some of you have already mentioned how CRAZY we are, for four kids and one adult to travel 14 states in 24 days, so I thought I'd show you how plausible it is!  There are only four days we'll be in the car for more than 6 hours.  We start at our humble abode in Cibolo, TX....

First order of business in HOUSTON!!!!!  We'll spend a few hours at the beach, just letting the kids and I enjoy a picnic lunch and relishing in the fact that we are ON VACATION!  Next we're off to New Orleans, LA where we'll spend two days exploring the French Quarter, Bourbon Street, and some other cool FREE sites.  After car camping in NOLA (see a later post on car camping), we head north to Memphis, TN!  Mud Island boasts a to scale replica of the Muddy Mississippi where kids can play and learn.  Looks fun to us!  From there, ahhhhhhh, up to Galesburg, IL, my home town!  We'll spend several days with mom and dad, eating delicious spinach bisque from The Landmark, exploring Starved Rock, and playing at Lincoln Park.  

From there, we head WEST!  Good bye Galesburg, Hello Omaha, NE!  I don't really know why I put an exclamation point there....its Omaha....BUT there is the Lewis and Clark Landing.  Have you picked up on the fact that I'm a nerd and I'm raising nerdy kids?  One day in Omaha is about all the fun we can handle before we head to......DENVER!!!!!!!!!  We are super excited to stay with my sister-in-law (but more like sister) while we adventure around Pikes Peak and the Garden of the Gods.  Siri hasn't seen mountains since she was one, and Annika never has.  I'm excited to see their reactions!  Two days is all we can spend in the Mile High City, then its off to Salt Lake City, UT!  Goblin State Park was featured in the 1999 version of "Galaxy Quest" and looks like an amazing playground for kids.  We can putz around SLC for a day and a half before we make the long trek to Redding, CA!  Home of the Sundial Bridge and very close to Mount Shasta, Mount Lassen, Whiskytown Lake, and Bumpass Hell, and most importantly, FAMILY!  My in-laws, out-laws, and so so so many friends, we'll stay several days in Redding before we head south-east

Bakersfield, CA is the ONLY place we'll be staying in a hotel.  A nice one.  Yay, Bakersfield!  From there, it's only a short jaunt to Lake Havasu City, AZ.  Do you know what's in Lake Havasu City?  The London Bridge.  Yup, the real one.  The one that was falling down.  It has been fully reassembled right over Lake Havasu!  Quick stop to see a landmark, then its off to the big one...THE GRAND CANYON!!!!!!!!  We are spending two full days at the Grand Canyon, camping in the National Park.  Alia was there once when she was MUCH younger, and I KNOW the kids are going to love seeing the amazing sites.  From there, more caves as we spelunker on over (is spelunker a word?) to the Carlsbad Caverns!   We will spelunk, explore and bat-watch before making our final leg back home.

I am so unbelievably excited to show my kids SO much of God's GOOD work in the parks and lakes and rivers and mountains of the 14 states we are visiting!  

So yup, thats our rout.  Is there anything/anyONE else we need to see/visit?  Let me know in comments bellow :)  Thanks for reading!

24 days, 14 states, 5 Koenigs.....

Website Countdowns

In ^^^ period of time, I (the lone adult) am leaving with my four kiddos ages 16, 8, 5, and 1, on a serious adventure. We are leaving July 19th and going to be visiting: Houston, NOLA, Memphis,TN, Galesburg, IL, Omaha, NE, Denver, CO, Salt Lake City, UT, Redding, CA, Grand Canyon, AR, Carlsbad, NM, and various sites in between. We'll be sleeping in the car....did I forget to mention that? SO FOLLOW this blog for updates on how the kids are doing with preparation, pics of our set up, and in so many days, our 2014 vacation! I'd love to hear from you just how you think this will go.

Jesus Knows

This morning, Siri and I were getting all dolled up for church.  She demanded an "Elsa Braid".  That's a "Frozen" reference.  It seems like my life is a "Frozen" reference right now.  With her 5 year old fantastical whim for a princess life, it blows me away when she says things....I digress.  We were working on an Elsa Braid.  I was watching the amazing tutorial (click here for the instructions) on the Coronation hair style.  Siri was supposed to be still so I could manipulate her very long hair for optimal results.
This gave her time to think.
Siri thinking is sometimes worrisome.
Here's how it went...

"Mom, you know when you cover yourself with Ketchup, and act like you're dead.....yah, Jesus knows.  He knows you aren't really dead.  Yup.  Jesus knows......"

The braid turned out nicely.  If you'd like to donate to the "Siri and her Family Need Therapy Fund", please comment below.

Funny Story, Bro...

We were recently blessed by our friends James and Michelle with dinner.  We have four kiddos and they have five.  We're outnumbered by more that 2:1 kids to adults.  Frightening.  Gannon and Jaiden both have some of the same character traits, while Siri, Alia, Annika, Joe, Kyrra, Arya, and Sabin all play together well (fairly, they ALL play together well, and Gannon and Jaiden are the same age and fairly similar).
Sitting at the table with some FABULOUS Chicago style pizza and amazing wine, the adults were sharing stories about our lives and laughing till we about cried.  Jaiden was sitting and the end of the table, and had a fabulous idea.
"Hey Guys!  I know!  You should tell funny stories about your lives!!!!"
Super innovative.  We promptly took his suggestion and continued telling funny stories about our lives while our kids played and he and Gannon read "Guiness Book Of World Records".  Matches made in heaven :)

"Disturbing things my kids say"

Outside the hospital tonight, Siri stumbled across a neat little thing...

Siri: Oh look!  A little baby birds nest that baby birds made!

Gannon:  No, Siri, its a sea urchin.  On a stick.

Siri:  I bet they mad it when they were little babies.  Awwww, how cute!

Gannon:  Nope.  Sea Urchin stuck with a stick in its tummy.

Siri:  I wish we could set it on fire.....

I'm not going to lie, I worry about that one.

Radioactive HD

Creepy.....

There has been a post circulating on Pinterest/Facebook/Buzzfeed/insertsocialmediasitehere about creepy things kids say.  I read it and laughed and laughed!  When other peoples kids say creepy things, its hilarious!  When your kids say it.....

We were sitting in the driveway getting ready to leave, waiting for Gannon to put his shoes on or grab his tablet charger, and having random conversation.  Siri, who is four, looked at me and Alia (16).  She had a serious expression on her face, and I was concerned she was going to have  a melt down (this happens VERY frequently.  You can see one here)

I investigated.  I wish I hadn't.

Me: You ok, Lou?

Siri: (Smiles slowly) The people under the bridge are awake now....

Yikes.