How can we forget our favorite bedtime videos??

For all of you new readers and then for all of you faithful readers-- I'm sure you remember the post of Chet and I playing "night time" pranks on the kids. Go here for a refresher or for more laughter or to see what the heck I'm talking about!

I did get a little chastised from one reader about my "parenting" skills-- so this time around, we were a little kinder-- and we only did it to our oldest who is 8. I do have to mention they love it and they LOVE to laugh at their own videos. They think it is the funniest thing to watch-- even if in the moment they are having a hissy fit!

So- enjoy Chet's new "earthquake attack" on Dante around 1 in the morning.

AUGHHH!!! Where has the summer gone?

Where do you start back up when you have not blogged- and I mean "REALLY" blogged- like about our family happenings-- in oh say, THREE MONTHS?? I feel like I have so many pictures and so much to blog about-- but do I start from the beginning and work my way up? Does it really matter what order I blog in- or can I just blog about today and throw in random pictures here and there and say- oh and there is this too?? All these questions have made me sit down and the computer and then be like--- well, what do I do?? And then I have to get up before I actually get to start blogging. So-- I'm just going to START- and it will just have to be random and whatever event or date in time I feel like blogging about at that moment! So, hopefully you won't get too confused- and if you do, just realize that Bertie is a little behind the times:)

So- for this first post back in Ranger land--- I will start off with a swim team post, since that is where we have spent most of our summer - at an hour of swim practice Tuesday-Friday and then meets on Monday from 3:45-10:00. (some very LONG, HOT days!)

But, I have to admit, it is TOTALLY worth it!


The kids LOVE it!

Here is Erin taking a break in between events! Her biggest accomplishment so far has been the backstroke. The 6 and unders don't do backstroke, but they still have them participate in the meets in the 7/8 age group- but in the last heats. Well, Erin is so good at this stroke, that as an under 6er- she is still put in the 1st heat with 7/8 girls! We are so proud of her:)
Dante is such a fun guy to watch! He isn't the fastest- but he is ALWAYS smiling as he is swimming and it cracks us up each time. It never gets old:) His specialty is the breaststroke, and he has the fastest time in his age group on his team. Our most recent favorite stroke for Dante is the butterfly. At swim meets they have stroke judges to make sure that you do the stroke correctly, and if you don't then you get DQ'd and a participation ribbon. There are a few things that go into it- like when you touch the wall you have to touch with 2 hands at the same exact time, etc... So, 2 swim meets ago, Dante is in the butterfly line-up and the horn goes off, he dives in-- and starts doing freestyle! We were all shouting to get him to change to butterfly- but he was really smokin' it. Finally about 3/4ths of the way there, he remembered he was doing butterfly and switched. He got 3rd place?! He should have been DQ'd- obviously- but we thought it was great he got 3rd. The this last swim meet, because of his good "butterfly" time, he was bumped up to the first heat! And this time we reminded him- remember you are doing butterfly. So, horn goes off, he jumps in and starts doing the butterfly-- but with breast stoke legs?? So, of course this time he got DQ'd. I turned to Chet and laughed, and said, "So, you can swim 3/4ths of the pools length freestyle during butterfly and not get DQ'd? But watch out if your legs aren't together!:) We just thought it was funny, and so did the coaches. And here is our little spunky man, Ethan! Man- is he a natural athlete or what? He achieved his first "official" blue ribbon in freestyle at the last meet. He is the youngest boy by a year on his team! We were so happy for him- and you should have seen his face when he got a BLUE ribbon! Ever since he has been jumping off the bar in our kitchen at 18 months- we called him our little x-gamer and NOTHING has changed! And as you can see and as you all know- the best part of ANY sporting event, the concessions- as Ethan couldn't take the ring pop out of his mouth for ANY reason. Now a quick story on Ethan-- and the reason I said his first "official" blue ribbon. This is actually Ethan's second blue ribbon- BUT, his first one was when he was put in the 4th heat for backstroke with the 7/8 boys AND he was the only one left to swim, so he was swimming against himself-- BUT, he didn't give up- it took him 2 1/2 min. to get to the wall-- the WHOLE entire crowd was cheering him on-- because he was swimming the backstroke with his whole entire body underwater-- not understanding, really how to do backstroke. So, of course, he tired out more quickly. And he did the stroke exactly how he was supposed to- he never once turned around to see where the wall was-- and he didn't get DQ'd!- So, that all TOTALLY deserves a blue ribbon, even if you are just racing against yourself:)

We have such awesome kids!

And of course where would they be without their greatest supporters-- mom and dad (above) and Aunt Emily and Jake (below)??
We took video of the kids first swim meet and we will take video again at the last swim meet (This Monday) and I will post them for you so you can see the improvements over the season.

Until tomorrow ( I hope):)

Winners of the CUTE aprons!!

I'm so sorry guys that it has taken me so long to announce the winners for my aprons! Things have been absolutely insano-crazy over here! I will get into that on another blog post:)- but I felt since I have a minute, I might as well hurry up and let you all know that the winners according to Random.org-- are comments-- 13,7, and then 2!

So, Babalisme-- you get your first choice which was Apron #3

Ashley, you get your #1 choice too, since it wasn't taken first-- which is Apron #2.

and Michelle-- you get Apron #1:)

Congrats ladies! Please e-mail me with your address to bertieranger4 @ gmail.com

More to come soon! LOTS MORE!!!

A la Frou Frou GIVEAWAY!!

I have finally opened my Etsy shop-- I decided to name it A la Frou Frou- it was REALLY close from the response on my blog poll and my e-mail poll. I felt A la Frou Frou would work best, as I would love to branch out and also do some "frou-frou" stuff for more then just babies and little kids. But for now, I'm sticking with children's aprons and baby blankets.

I'm doing a giveaway of 3 of my first "prototype" aprons. The kids are modeling(so happily) the aprons above, and poor little Erin is heartbroken to be losing ANY of the aprons that I have sewn. She wants to make sure they go to good homes, and to little girls (or boys) who will love them and help mom cook!:)

(this one could be a boy or girl apron-- and you probably wouldn't want to tie it in the front)

If the response is REALLY good- and I get lots of "entrants" into my giveaway- then I will also giveaway an apron of a 4th person's choosing of my 2nd apron "prototype" that I have put up on etsy!

The etsy address is: http://www.alafroufrou.etsy.com

and to enter my contest all you have to do is leave a comment letting me know what you think of my newest aprons on etsy-- and out of the 3 giveaway aprons, what order would you want them in-- 1 being the one you most want, and then 2 being the middle, etc... So, that way- when I draw- you can get the one you want.

For extra entries:

Blog about my new etsy shop on your blog = 5 entries! (and don't forget to leave a comment for each "entry" just saying 1,2,3, etc...)

You can also, facebook, twitter, send out a mass e-mail with me included (bertieranger4 @ gmail dot com), or any other creative way you can think of- and you will get 2 extra entries per whatever one you do-- and then leave the appropriate number of comments as well for that.

If you don't have a little girl- this is always a great gift for a niece, or a friend's daughter, granddaughter, etc... Every little girl would love to be just like mom in the kitchen and would LOVE these A la Frou Frou apons!

THANKS SO MUCH and the giveaway will end next Friday, May 29th, 10 AM CST!

The aprons will fit most girls 4-12! The ribbon around the waist is 7 feet long! And the aprons measure's 16" x 21"

And we say goodbye to another......

WONDERFUL SEASON OF SOCCER!

Ethan's cute little U5 team!

Ethan trying to race after the ball... and the other players... where did they go....OH! I made it! There they are!

BREAK TIME!!

And how do you think the season ended, Ethan??

GREAT JOB!

Dante improved a lot this season. Going after the ball, no matter how many boys were crowding it. It is amazing the difference of the game with the different age groups! The U8 boys were SO fun to watch, and it didn't hurt having the best team:)

And LOOK at this power shot!! WOOT! WOOT!

GREAT JOB DANTE!

We are so proud of our boys! And now we have moved onto going to the pool everyday for swim team practice-- and FINALLY all three kids can do it! WHOO-HOO! They LOVE it and so do I!

I believe I let the cat out of the bag too soon.........

Well we were 110% sure VIVA LAS VEGAS.... but because of course, I decided to say we were FINALLY moving and had a solid plan of action--- it decided not to be so solid, and we are waiting. So- who knows! It is still a VERY good chance that we will be moving there- and it would be sometime this summer- probably mid-July. But I'm still holding out for San Diego or Malibu.... :) Dreams CAN come true... right?! Either way- everyone visits Vegas at some point in their life-time, and now you can come visit me-- (if we move there). I'm excited to actually "finally" know our final destination-- or rather our first destination of many, perhaps-- but for now, I'll just continue to wait..........

Sorry it took so long to get back with where we will be moving too-- and if you would like us to move near you-- please leave me a comment letting me know "The reason Bertie should move to...." and I'll gladly consider it:)

And as always- today is Friday Fitness Giveaway, and I'm giving away 2 prizes this time to 2 different readers- so go to www.bertie411.blogspot.com if you would like to entrar!

Sample of my latest aprons and BREAKING NEWS!!

These are just a sample of the reversible aprons I'll be selling in my soon to be announced Etsy shop!

Here is little miss Erin modeling my first cute apron made out of tuitti fruitti fabric. It has cupcakes on it, ice-cream cones, candy, etc.... ANDwhen she gets tired of that side, she can just turn it around and have dainty little flowers on the other side! The bow ties in the front to add in an extra dose of "cute"

Here is a close up! I will most likely be selling these for 15 dollars with free shipping. The non-reversible ones I will probably sell for 10 dollars with free shipping. What do you think?? I will also be putting up more of my aprons with different fabrics from tuitti fruitti soon.

Also- my breaking news is that we are sadly MOVING! I have only told 3 people- because we wanted to make sure-- and Chet is in "pay negotiations" right now- and if it is worth it then we will move- and apparently it is 99.9% sure that we will MOVE. I will post a picture of the AMAZING city we are moving to in my next post- but first I want some guesses!

Where are we moving to??