Slides and Snow Cones

Summer is in full swing here.  Mornings and noontimes are filled with sunshine and afternoons filled with thunderstorms, just in time for naps!  Craig and I have been doing some outdoor activities with Jack.  We usually do this when Kate is asleep as she can't do too much outside.  Today, we got out the slip and slide.  The first time I went down it, I immediately went back to when I was about 8.  I wanted to add soap, but reminded myself we have a 2 year old and a trip to the ER would not be fun.  However, Craig, Jack and I got some serious sliding on and it was great fun.  We had to assist Jack down the slide as he is experienced enough yet.  Unfortunately, our sliding was too much for it and we tore open the end part with the water.  A trip to Toys R Us tonight cured that and we shall reconvene the slipping and sliding soon. Here are some pictures from today....

In other news, I was inspired by a friend of a friend's blog to buy a snow cone machine.  I told Craig and he said, "Are we made of money?".  I said, you can't put a price tag on fun and cold deliciousness.  Anyway, for the semi-low price of $18.88 plus tax you can purchase this at your local Wal-Mart...

(Side note, the other side is in English, so I did figure out how to use it).  Look at the faces on the box - aren't they in heaven???  I didn't want to spend more money on syrup, so I made my own using Kool-Aid.  All you need are the following ingrediants...

Bring 2 cups (yes, 2) of sugar and 3/4 cups water to boil.  Boil for 1 minute.  Add Kool-Aid packet and mix in.  Pour into any container.  They say to refrigerate, but it got too thick, so I have left them out.  You only need a little syrup as it is thick.  We made Berry Blue, Strawberry and Grape.  The Berry Blue was really good.  I am hoping to find more flavors.  Good summer fun!

End of May Notes

I do plan on EVENTUALLY sewing again. I have several projects I am dreaming of making, but between travel, season finales and general kid and house care, it tends to get lost in the shuffle.


Jack is on Day 2 of no pacifier.  I really did feel terrible for him.  It was like he lost a friend.  He is surviving...barely.  We mailed them to "babies in the world" who need them.  So, either he thinks all babies love and have them or he really hates the postman.  He is doing okay; time heals all paci wounds.


Kate is becoming crazy.  I love that little girl.  She chuckles and giggles and most recently has started spitting her food, but it is all wonderful.  The munchkin will be 9 months on Friday.  My, has time flown.

LOST, one of our favorite shows has come to an end.  You can only draw out a plane crash for so long and 6 years seemed to be the max.  We were fascinated by the characters, the story and the nuances that I associated with biblical prospectives.  I like watching shows like that and seeing what I can compare to my own life and Christian life, even if it is secular.  Unfortunately, I still have some questions, but feel closure.  Vincent, the yellow lab on the show, stole my heart and was in the final scene.  I would like to think in an "alternate reality" he is running through the jungle eating Dharma food and digging up dead bodies of all the bad guys and chewing on their bones (if you haven't watched the show, the above means nothing to you).  LOST, we will miss you.  


Finally, God has been talking to me a lot lately about purpose.  I know what my physical purpose on Earth of wife and mom is, but what my purpose for Him is during this time in my life.  I am needing to refocus a few things and use that to glorify Him....deep breath.....baby steps.

Magic Kingdom

This week was a great week with Craig's family.  I spent a couple days with them just me and then Craig met up with us.  There were tons of laughs and memories.  Friday, though, we got to go to Disney with Jack.  If you want more information on the visit in general, check out the kids' blog.  But, Friday was the big day with Jack.  A few things about Disney - They have this awesome thing now where you can get a credit card type thing and when all the professional photographers take your pictures with the characters and such, you can go online to DisneyPhotoPass.com and see all the pictures.  Of course, they are not 13 cents a print, but they are good pictures and you can order different sizes and gift type things.  Also, there a lot of stuff there.  We probably only got to see about 1/3 of the park.  Next time when we go we want to stay for a while and stay at a resort and be able to go back and forth to the park.  It will be a few years, though.  I would love to see my nieces and Kate there too with the princesses.  Jack could care less about them, but he did LOVE Mickey and was super excited about seeing him and bonus, Minnie was there too.

It was really nice to spend some with just Jack and Craig.  Craig has been working so hard and he loved having a day off.  I loved seeing all of us together (minus sweet Kate, but she was in good hands and way too young to go).  Who knows, maybe we will be Disney freaks!?!?!  Not, but we would like to go again.

Mother's Day 2010

I am a mom because of these two babies right here...thank you God for entrusting me to be their mom and to Craig for supporting me in doing the most rewarding job on earth!

My day was spent with my mom and Kimberly - 2 moms I respect and love so much.  They inspire me and love the Lord.  To all the moms I know, I hope your day was great...you deserve it!

Bathing Babies

At the end of the day, the last thing I want to do and bathe a kid.  It actually is quite a workout and I am tired by then.  Craig helps when he is here, but generally I am doing it alone.  I have started bathing them at the same time which helps, but it is still tough.  Kate does great and likes playing in the water.  Jack likes playing too, but doesn't like his hair washed and likes to stay in longer than I would like.  Even though it is tiring and I am ready to get them in bed, something about clean babies in their pjs is so sweet and wonderful.  I love cuddling because they smell good and all that dirt, the peas and leftover puffs are gone and they are fresh!  Tonight I also put Kate in 12-month pjs!  She is only 8 months.  Why is my baby girl growing so fast?

Jack also likes to relax before bedtime.  Our routine consists of bath, reading 2 books, get in bed, sing 2 songs and make sure we have the right blankets, pacis, and socks and we are set.  He is a lot more detailed than Kate, but I am sure we will get there at some point.  Occasionally, I let him watch some TV while I get Kate in bed.  Tonight he watched some Backyardigans and relaxed in our bed.  He usually has his pjs on by now...

(Notice how the bandaids are not on his scratches, but other areas of his legs...funny kid).  I love these kids!

Zoo Day

Friday Kimberly had an appointment in a city about 2 hours away.  We thought Brent had to work, so I planned on going with her and all 5 kids to the appointment.  Then, we were going to the zoo.  Brent ended up not working, but kept Kate instead.  We got up at 5am and left at 6am with the kids (it was about 2 hours away).  We got there for her appointment and I sat in the lobby with the 4 kids for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  We sang songs, read books and pointed out body parts.  I also used our best tool, snacks to keep the kids entertained.  I also answered questions from the lobby guests.  Some of the answers were, "no they're not quads", "he's almost 3, they are almost 2", "I'm the aunt" and a few others.  Some general phrases from me you could hear during the visit were, "Jack do you need to pee-pee", "Paige get down, you can't sit her lap (she was sitting in some random women's lap)", "Blake, one piece of candy at a time", "Jack and Paige stop yelling answers to me".  For that long, they were stellar and everybody thought they were adorable.


Next, we hit the zoo.We got there about 10:45 and it apparently was "field-trip Friday" because there were tons of kids!  The kids were free and it was only $13 for an adult.  We figured even if we are here an hour, we haven't spent much money.  The zoo itself was great and the animals were really close, but we were exhausted and the triplets, especially, were kind of indifferent about the whole thing.  With zone defense, we didn't have an much opportunity to hold the kids up over the fences and look at all the animals.  We hit the highlights - elephants, rhinos, penguins, monkeys, apes, gators, etc. and saw the giraffes.  At this zoo, you can feed the giraffes!  I wasn't sure if Jack would be scared, so we didn't do it, but next time we will.  They were so close and that by far, for me, was the best part.  Jack didn't get to ride the train that goes around the park, so we will have to do that next time too and take more adults so we can do more things.  We left about 12:30 and headed home. Overall, the kids were really great, Jack was a chatter-box, but I knew that.  We'll go back, in a few years, with more adult helpers!

Strawberry

This is what I found hanging out next to our trash can.  I called Lisa over to make sure I wasn't crazy, but it sure looks like a strawberry to me!  We eat strawberries a lot here and I think probably some seeds fell out of the trashcan or something else like a random seed fell there.  Now, I didn't taste it, but it did inspire me to think about a garden someday.  Kimberly and I have been talking about doing one at her place when the kids get older.  The possibilities are endless - fruit and veggies here we come!  Would anyone like a smoothie?