Rain Day!

The other day I let the kids go out and play in the rain. They were so excited! In the video they arent doing much and it isnt very exciting but I just love that you can hear them screaming, they were so happy!

Repeat Button

Abby had discovered the repeat button on her cd player. And boy does she love!! She picks her favorite song from a cd and then plays it over and over and over and over again! The good thing is is that she switches it every week or so but until another one catches her ear we are stuck listening to the one she likes! She put it on during the day but mostly when she goes to sleep. And she puts it on LOUD! I usually go and turn it down and turn off the repeat button after she goes to sleep. The last couple weeks it has been the Hoedown Throwdown from the Hannah Montana movie soundtrack. Our little neighbor invited Abby to go and see the movie and she just loved that song! But this week we have a new song of choice it is Noodle on my Head by Voice Male. It is a cute song, well at least it was the first 50 times I heard it!

Help! Can you tame this?!

Yesterday I gave Abby and Dylan some ice cream in a waffle bowl and I told them they could eat the bowl too and how cool it that?! They were way excited and both had huge smiles. I left the kitchen only to hear cries of distress a few minutes later. I walked in the kitchen and Abby was all distraught because her scoop of ice cream was sitting on a little circle of what was left of her waffle bowl! She didn't want to touch it because it was cold but couldn't get it to stay still when She tried to scoop it with her spoon! I was like "That's why I told you to eat it after you ate your ice cream!" Dylan on the other hand just picked up the waffle bowl and ice cream and ate it like a sandwich! Hey whatever works!!!!

The kids all had baths last night and i just couldn't pass up a chance to share some pics of Abby's fro! It has been a while since I took some. This is her hair after a bath and sleeping on it. Her hair is just a little out of control!!!

Harry Potter!

Bryan and I went on a double date with some friends(obviously!!) to the midnight showing of the Half Blood Prince. There were so many people there it was just crazy!! They had 5 showings! Tons of people were dressed-up as just about anyone you can think of. It was really funny, people walking around with stuffed owl and cats. One guy was dressed up like Dumbledore.

So about the movie, I am not going to spoil anything! I thought it was AWESOME!!! I cant say it was my favorite because the feeling is just different from the other movies as is the book. It is a little lighter and way totally funny!! And not quite the you-could-die-at-any-minute type feeling. But then I couldn't really pick a fav out of any of them!!

I thought that it flowed well and stay pretty true to the book. Of course they take some liberties with the storyline as is usual and unfortunately they cant put everything from the book in the movie but that's alright! We will take what we can get!

This totally leaves me excited for Deathly Hallows part 1 next year!!

Family Time!

These are just a couple pics of our big family 4th celebration! I am still waiting for some from the smart ones who remembered their cameras but these are a couple I had on my phone. This one is Abby's attempt at the watermelon seed spiting competition.

These next two are of the pie eating competition. This was totally hysterical! We had a kid division and an adult division. All the kids really got into it!

After the second round between Sydney and Madison, Sydney looked up and had pudding all in her hair, Madison looked up and saw her, started laughing and spit what she had left in her mouth and it hit Sydney! It was totally funny!

I didn't even attempt to get pics of the adult race. It was disgustingly fast! They did three round I think and it was hard to watch!! Totally not my cup of tea!!

A little more with the cousins

These are a little old side but not too old! When my parents and my sister and her little family were in town while the boys went and toured one of John Deere factories we went to the mall with the kids and my mom bought them all a build-a-bear. They were all so excited to do all the stuff they have to do. I was a little worried because in past visits Abby and Dylan have been afraid of the fluff machine but this time they were awesome and even stepped on the pedal by themselves! One funny thing is that Abby and Luxie both picked out the same bear, separately picked out the same outfit and then wanted to name their bears the same thing. They had so much fun together! So a big thanks to grandma!!! It was fun and very thankfully it wasn't busy because those kids were everywhere!!

After the mall we met up with the boys for lunch at BK. Of course they all had to have a crown!

the almost 2 yr old

Lacey is almost 2 and has the attitude to prove it! Abby and Dylan will have another thing coming if they think they will be able to push her around! She has started this thing where she folds her arms, scowls and says "No" when you ask her to do something. She will come and do it or come with you or whatever she just likes to have her say about the matter first!

She also kinda rams you with her head when she gets mad. It is really funny to watch. She is really strong! She usually does this when Abby or Dylan has a toy she wants, something that she feels is hers, or something they took from her. She puts her head down and then just pushes and pushes them, until they either give it up, she gets it from them or we pull her away. Abby and Dylan usually scream for help because they usually end up knocked over on the floor with Lacey ramming them while she is on all fours!

They just wont listen when I tell them they cant take toys from her.

She is definitely a force to be reckoned with!

happy 4th!

Happy Fourth to everyone! A big huge thanks to all who have served our country!

We had a total blast at the family bbq last night. Unfortunately the day leading up to it was less than fun and I ended up forgetting my camera but I am getting pics for other people so I will be posting those soon! Bryan, Abby and Dylan camped out and then this morning we had breakfast before coming home grabbing quick shower and heading off to our little parade.

It was raining this morning not really hard just enough to make it annoying. We went over to a friends house and sat on their lawn. The kids kept themselves busy waiting for the parade to get to us.

In a really good mid-west parade 3/4ths of it is tractors! There were ALOT of them this year despite the rain!

After the parade we had lunch with some friends. Abby was so excited that the rain kept coming down and there wasent any lightning. She has been dying to play in the rain!! Bryan threw a frisbee with Abby and Dylan. They thought that was great fun!

Lacey thinks that she has dibs on ohhh any food that is lying around. She ate hers and then saw Dylans plate-didn't pay any attention to Dylan sitting there- and grabbed his hotdog and when he tried to get it back she yelled at him and held it out of his reach! It was totally funny! By the time we got it out of her hand she had licked off all the mustard and took a bite as fast as she could and then of course Dylan didnt want it back! We had to calm him down and go get him another one. It was way funny!

We then came home where everyone is taking a nice long nap and my house while not as clean as I would like it to be it is quiet!!!

Questions

Yesterday Lacey started trying to jump. That is one of my most favorite things! I love watching her try to figure out how it works. She watches Abby and Dylan with a very intense face and then squats down and shoots up on to her tippy toes. She hasent quite figured out how to do it by herself but she can jump if she is holding on to my hands. She jumps and then claps and cheers for herself! she is so cute! Bryan's mom has a huge family thing planned for this evening compete with family olympics and trophies and everything! I am going to go out on a huge leap and say that I will be watching only! If you know me you know that I am not one to really be in the middle of things! But I love watching others do that stuff! So anyway along with the games and bbq everyone is camping also. Now anyone with young kids knows that you keep fun things you are going to do quiet untill you are leaving or you will be driven crazy with questions! I have kept the camping to myself knowing that Abby and Dylan would only talk about it and ask me when we were going all week long if I told them. So this morning in an effort to motivate them to clean their rooms Bryan told them we were going camping. And then it began. Screams. Excitment. Questions. Questions. Questions. He was like "oh my gosh! I thought that would get them to clean up!". It did get Abby to get her room clean- of course that is after we were forced to answer her same 5 questions- yes we are going camping, no we arent going right now, yea we are going later, yes you and Dylan get to sleep outside, no we are not going right now, not till after naptime, no you dont have to go to sleep but you do have to have a little rest time, yes after that we will go.

The Circle of Life

Squirrels and kids don't mix. A few years ago my mom was doing home daycare. She had her sweet little 4 yr olds outside standing in a circle in the driveway under a tree playing a game when all of a sudden a squirrel fell from the tree into the middle of the circle. Dead. So they had a little talk. Today I was lucky enough to have the same talk with my kids. My guys were out running around with Emma our neighbor playing hide and seek. They had been all around the yard and were making another round then I hear "hey there is a dead squirrel over here!". Sometime between rounds around the yard this poor squirrel fell from the tree. Now obviously I don't know what happened since it was dead and couldn't talk and we don't live in a cartoon and it couldn't talk and it didn't make any noise on its fall down since it couldn't talk. So either it died in the tree and fell or since it was super windy it got blown out of the tree and died on impact! Who knows!! So when Bryan got home the kids gathered round as Bryan buried it! What a way to end the afternoon!!

Busy day!

This morning we had a primary activity. It turned out awesome and I think that all the kids had a good time! I had some things to get ready for it and of course ended up doing it late last night. I don't know why that happens but I always seem to be up the night before no matter how well I plan! We did a patriotic theme. You can see more of what we did and some pics on our primary blog. We had about 23 kids come and considering we only have around 30 that is a pretty good turn out! Dylan and Lacey enjoyed running around and not being in the house! They really shouldn't have been there since they are not old enough but Bryan had to be there too so they got to come hang out! We were actually able to have it outside since the heat broke alittle! The only bad thing was as the morning turn into afternoon and we were still outside it got HOT!!! By the time we got home after cleaning up and setting up for tomorrow I was totally wiped out! It is really fun to see Abby in primary. It is fun to watch her with all the other kids and how she interacts with them. I got to sub her class last sunday and that was very interesting! It was the first time I have been in her class and it was really I don't even know what the right word is, saying it was an eye opener sounds like it was bad, I guess it was more like shock that she is actually her own person and can go on without me! It kinda freaked me out alittle! It was weird!

Umm Eww Gross.

A couple nights ago I sent Abby and Dylan into brush their teeth only to remember as they were rounding the corner to the bathroom that I left my wedding ring and band by the mirror by the mason jar that holds the toothbrushes. I was like "oh man!" and ran in there in time to save my wedding ring but not quick enough for the band! I asked them where the ring was in hopes that one of them was wearing it but they both just looked at me and then pointed down the drain. Great. I told Bryan what happened and he said he would come get it for me. He was up really late studying for a math test and then up and out early in the morning so I took matters into my own hands and become an amateur plumber! So I turned off the water and loosened the pipe stuff (that is an actual pumbing term!) and then stuck my finger down and around in the u-bend. It was totally gross!! I finally fished it out and put everything back and nothing was leaking so I was pretty proud of myself. Then I cleaned my ring-really well.

Updates

We finally got to go outside yesterday. The heat and the humidity have been crazy!! I am talking about 90 degrees and 105 heat index at 10 in the morning!! I think that is a little much! Today we woke up to 97% humidity. Doesn't make you excited to go outside but since the temps should be in the lower 90's and no heat advisory I think we might be able to play in the water today! We have been on the busy side of things lately. Bryan is taking a summer math class that is going at warp speed so when he is home he is holed up downstairs doing homework or studying for a test. The class is almost done and I think he will be glad to have this class check marked off! I have been getting the house squared away as my "free time" dwindles down to nothing on monday when I start babysitting again. Not very excited about that but the money is always nice. We also have a primary activity this weekend that I have been getting ready for. I am really excited about it! We are doing some fun stuff in honor of the Fourth of July! This way anything they make they can wear or display on the Fourth. It is going to be a blast!! On the kid front-Lacey has a new set of words that include "No" said with a very fierce scowl and "stop it" said whenever anyone looks or says something to her! I just tell myself that her new attitude is terrible two stuff plus it is easy to laugh at her because she makes the best faces when she is mad. So for now it doesn't really bother me, but in a couple months........! Dylan is in full boy mode complete with the unfocused what do you mean my room needs to be cleaned up look when you ask him to clean up his toys because they are scattered on the floor. Abby is way excited for school to start. We got her Letter in the mail that tells us who her teacher is and her Unpack your Backpack Night Aug.11th. She also asks everyday if it is time to go to school yet. Everyday. EVERYDAY!!! If you know me you know I am not a big fan of lots of questions. So it is very frustrating and helps me gain a few notches on my patience meter!

I love my sister!

Well these past 2 weeks we have been had family visiting! My parents and brother Jeff were out the weekend before last as well as my sister and her family. It was so much fun! Sarah and Eric took off for a much needed couple time and we had fun with the girls for the week. They got back this last sunday and decided to stay a couple days before going home. Let me just say that I love my sister. She is awesome and we have so much fun together. It has always been sad to leave whenever we have gotten together and I don't know what is different about this time but man I miss her! She gave me a hug and she started tearing up and I told her to stop that! I was good till she left but then the tears started and have been very near the surface all day!! If I think about them leaving at all or that I probably wont see her again till next summer then my eyes start to well up with tears before I can stop them and they fall and that makes me mad because I am being silly. I just wish that she could live closer so we could see each other a little more and visit. But whatever. Some times life is just stupid.

Playing with cousins!

Well now we embark on our fun-filled week with Luxie and Meadow! To add to the fun my sister-in-law-in-law (not type-o!) and her two chilins Josh and Brooklyn came out for a visit on Sunday. It is really fun to see them because they haven't been here for a couple years. My father-in-law has one of those blow-up bouncing things and brought it out for the kids. The only problem is is that it completly freakes out my kids! Give them a tall slide or a climbing wall no problem, something that makes noise-no way!! Everytime he has gotten it out Abby has refused to get in and ran crying from the room (it also doesnt help that her Papa grabed her and try to throw her in it!). So the cousins Josh, Brooklyn, Garrett, Luxie and Meadow and even Lacey all jumped in it. And I am proud to say that after much talking Abby got in and while I wouldnt say she loved it, she did have a good time! Also I must say how proud I am of Luxie, the last time she stayed with us whenever there where a lot of people or a lot of stuff going on she would just lay down and go to sleep. This time she was right in the thick of things and having a total blast!

Today was absolutly beautiful so we were able to spend some time outside. We got out the bikes and had to diffuse a coupe arguments of who got to ride what and when. The funniest thing was watching the girls play hide-and-seek. There arent many places to hide in our wide open back yard but they managed and had a lot of fun!

While the bigger girls were running around and Dylan was trying to stay away from all the girls, the little girls discovered the sand box.

While Meadow got in trouble for doing this with the sand......

Lacey got in trouble for eating it!