Tomorrow is SEPTEMBER!

I can't believe how fast these months are just flying by us. Today was J's first day back to work from his days off. We kept it pretty low key. J worked in the yard while the kids and I took a bike ride. Then I realized my tires were really low on air so GG and I rode to the gas station and filled them up. Now it rides so much better. When J left for work I packed the kids into the van and we ran some errands. Mainly ones that didn't require leaving the van...like paying the mortgage and dropping off the library movie. We did go take care of the medical bill from Red's birth, I was a little upset about that because it has been over a year and they are billing us now?!?! Seemed a little shady but it wasn't very much so I just paid, I don't have time to check my recorders over so little amount. While we were there I decided to make Monkey an appointment for his 4 year check up...I know I'm a lot late but you know what they say better late then NEVER! It just happened that they had an opening right at the time we were there. So he had his appointment and ended up getting a shot. He was crying (making it so hard for me to follow through with it) before they even came into the room with the needle. I hate shots so I totally understand his protest to them. But I told him that I would take him out for ice cream afterwards. We had free sundae coupons for each of the kids so that was free. I did end up buying so ice cream to take to J though, that way we had an excuse to visit him at work :) Then he got a call and the kids and I went to a near by park. Now we are home and they have eaten. My friend is coming over for dinner so I will eat with her. Then we are planning on taking a walk for some exercise. About that time it will be the kids bedtime!!!

It is only 4pm!!!

We have had a very fun filled busy day. We got up this morning and met our playgroup at the library. Came home and ate lunch then headed over to Chuck E Cheese...where a kid can be a kid! We didn't want to eat the pizza and that is why we ate at home. But we got 140 tokens for under 20 bucks. The kids played games and took rides. Red just walked all over the place. He only liked a few of the rides, and he freaked out on the other ones. We had a great family day and the best part is it isn't even over yet. In about an hour we are going to be going to school to watch Liz play volleyball. When her game is over our babysitter's team plays so we are going to stay and watch her then she is coming over to watch the kids while we go to Bible study. I'm ready for a nap :)

What a Crazy busy weekend!

This weekend my brother and wife and their two kids went to my dad's house so we got to see them on Saturday. They live about six hours away so we only see them once in a blue moon. They have a girl Monkey's age and a boy Red's age. Since this weekend was so busy we haven't done much of anything around the house...which means that today was our day of playing catch up. We stocked up on our Wa-lmart stuff, got groceries and now we are doing laundry and cleaning the house. Not much else we can do because it is RAINING outside. We did crack open Monkey's new Buzz Lightyear game he got from my brother this weekend, for his birthday! It is a Jr Yahtzee game. Very fun! Red is vacuuming the living room with the toy vacuum, he is so much fun. Mr. Personality!!!! Well time to make dinner on my new griddle. First time I am using it but not the first time it has been used. J tried it out to make sure it was safe for me...but hey I didn't have to cook then :) That is about it from this end of the world. Two weeks from today is the kids first day of school. This summer went way too fast for me. I have really liked having the kids all day makes me think about homeschooling. I know GG would not be happy if she wasn't in school. My little social butterfly!!!

It's Raining

We just came inside because it started raining on us. We had a really fun day today. This morning we met with Monkey's teacher Mrs. S and she let him pick out his locker and seat for the school year and she also gave them a job for the first week of school. Monkey chose paper passer then she let him bring home a computer game he was playing. The only problem was it didn't work in our computer :( After we left school we took the kids fishing. Monkey caught a bunch of fish and GG practiced casting. Then J switched her pole to a bobber and she started catching fish, too. Red did really well he walked around and watched the ducks and saw the kids catch fish. It is a boring sport for a little tike! To top of the fun morning J didn't have to go into work until 4:30 :)

I'm a little upset right now with my extended family...for some reason they seem to think that my brother knows my plans better than I do. Very frustrating considering my brother has no idea what his plans are half the time yet they think he knows what we are doing and where we are going for the weekend. AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH! Sorry but my sister just called assuming I was out of town, because of what Kevin said I was doing.

The Bikin' Family

I don't know if I mentioned that I got a bike for Mother's Day. Well some friends of our have twins that are Monkey's age but when they were little they had 2 co-pilots for their bikes, which they gave to us! J installed the base on each of our bikes and we kept one of the seats. We just have to switch it back and forth when we take Red on bike rides. Yesterday right after J left for work I packed a water bottle, diaper, wipes, and a bike lock and the kids and I left our house. We biked to a park (approx. 1 mile) played for awhile then got back on our bikes and went to the library. We were at the library about an hour then we rode home. We are trying to build up the kids stamina for Disney! Monkey was struggling the last few blocks. It is so much fun for me to ride with the kids and it is exercise!!!

This morning Red got into my shorts drawer and pulled out all the clothes, just as I was about to correct him he started kissing me. How can you be mad at that?!?! It was so precious. Got to love the baby kisses.

Camping

Well that was an experience I don't think I would like to repeat! The outside noises were so loud. It wasn't the nature sound that bugged me it was the cars and planes. Then the ground was so hard I kept smacking my elbow on it when nursing Red, I had forgotten in the middle of the night we were not in our bed...oops.

Today was a good one though, even with the lack of sleep ;) I took Red on some errands while J did yard work and the kids played. We went to buy some baby gifts. Our friends from church had their first baby...HadababyitsaBOY!!! Then I got my prescription and Red was sleeping by the time that was done so instead of taking him to the last place I dropped him off at home because it was on the way and picked up the other two. This evening we went to the Forest Preserve and J fished and the kids rode their bikes while I pushed Red in the stroller and got some extra exercise. You know being a mom of 3, there really is never any down time so you are exercising your legs and arms and everything else ALL day long. But I love those guys so much. Funny story from tonight...when we got in the car I was smelling poop. But it wasn't Red cause I had just checked his butt. J suggested that someone might have stepped in bird poop. When we got home I checked Red's feet and mine. J then checked Monkey's and realized that there was poop on his shoes, leg and hands. So gross. The shoes went in the garage and he got wiped down with a baby wipe and then sent to the tub immediately, poor Monkey he always find the gross stuff!

This is the way we camp...

We just got back from church, it is 9:30pm church doesn't normally go this long but we had pizza afterwards and we are sending a couple off into the mission field so it was very tearful. We are really going to miss them. Our Sunday school class will not be the same without her smiling face. Well we promised the kids, and we make every effort to keep our promises, we would camp in our new tent tonight. So J and GG set it up in our garage and we are getting the bedding to sleep with now. That is how we camp in our garage!!!! It might be a rough night on the hard floor but at least it won't be lumpy bumpy! The kids are so excited. I better go put some pj's on so we can start the madness :)

And this is how we wash our vehicles...

I totally just realized that I didn't get any pictures of the vehicles! Or the kids actually washing them :) But I did get them having fun!!!

Where has the time gone?

This week flew by! The kids had their VBS program yesterday at 12:30 and a picnic lunch. It was a really good time. GlamorGirl and Monkey stood next to each other, they are so cute. They both sang so great I could even hear their individual voices sometimes! Afterwards one of the teachers came up to me and said that she was very impressed with Monkey's ability to learn and sing all the words to the songs. Most of the 4 year olds just stood there. A plus, to having a big sister that *made* him (willing) practice with her everyday after Vacation Bible School. Tonight we are going out to eat with some friends and they are coming back here to play games. I am really excited about it because I love hanging out with people. Well need to go...

Another week of VBS...Hooray!

The kids are doing VBS at their school with their friends. They were so excited to get there today but then GG was upset because she wasn't in the same class as her friend Alina. Go figure. Afterwards we packed a picnic lunch and ate at the park near by with Alina and Matthew and their mom, Chris. The kids had a great time and then we went to the school office to see Grandma on her first day back to work since being gone for 8 weeks at Camp Awana. The kids being gone this morning was weird, I actually kind of missed them. I got used to having them home this summer and now they are going to be starting school in a few weeks. Then I started daydreaming about all the things I could get done around the house while they are at school. J could spend time with Red and I could rock the house! That's all for now.

It's a Mystery?!?!?!

This morning when we woke up there was a puddle of pee in the hallway. Neither GG or Monkey said they peed their pants last night. J and I couldn't find wet underwear either or a wet bed. Hmmmm, weird. Then at breakfast the table had salt all over it but GG and Monkey both said they didn't do it. So how does salt get spilled and pee on the floor if no one did it? And there lies the mystery...

The kids and I are going to a pool birthday party for Monkey's twin friends, Lucas and Tyler. They are having pizza for dinner so no cooking for me! I am just not looking forward to putting on a swimsuit and I'm a thin person. I just don't like swimming.

New Shoes! New Shoes! can you feel the excitement?

We took the kids to get some new shoes. They are so excited about them especially Red as this is his 1st pair EVER!!! We got him some that totally fit his fun little personality. They are navy blue with streaks of orange on them. He loves them so much we have to wait for him to fell asleep to take them off otherwise he SCREAMS!!! It totally saves my ears :) Seriously, though it is really cute to see him walk around in them...like he has bricks on his feet! Monkey got the exact same pair he had last school year just in a bigger size...if he likes the style, he likes the style! GG got white tennis shoes with purple stripes on the side. Since J and I have been playing tennis she thinks that those shoes make her look like a tennis player. We have finally finished getting the kids all the school clothes they need. Monkey has to wear pants to school so we had to wait for them to come back into season. I was so excited the other day while clothes shopping because we have been hitting all the sales of 50% to 80% off and I found a gymnastic outfit for GG only 2 bucks. Those things are usually 10 bucks or more, it was a great find. Thats all she wrote!

My beaten up baby...

It all started Sunday, we were outside playing and Red walked into the garage to get a toy truck. He fell and hit the side of his head on the metal part of the garage door. He instantly got a bruise. Then Tuesday morning I was taking a shower and he was standing by the tub wanting to come in. Normally I would have let him but he just took a bath and I was in a hurry. He somehow slipped and hit his cheek bone and instantly got another bruise. Then today we went to the park to play and as we were leaving he was walking on the sidewalk and he tumbled forward. He got a goose egg bump on his forehead and he scrapped his nose all up and it is bright red like it is bleeding. So he is walking around with 3 big bruises and a scratched up nose. We went to Wal-mart and the lady behind us in line says, "He looks like he took a tumble." J says, "No he got in a fight...you should see the other baby!" His humor :) I'm just glad that he doesn't need to get his pictures taken for a few months. We haven't gotten Monkey's 4 year old pictures yet because he kept getting cuts and bruises on his face too. What is with my boys?!?!

I love the fact that these last few days I am able to open the window and get a nice cool breeze through the house. J cleaned the pool yesterday and then I filled it up so the kids are about to go swimming. Then I can get some reading done while sitting outside watching more like listening to them! Well that is it for now.

It's over...

The kids were so sad today being the last day of VBS. But since J and I worked it we got to stay for the pizza party afterwards. Last night was the program and it was a lot of fun and we had rootbeer floats after the kids sang! Monkey's class sang a really cute song about Hippos. The nursery kids danced on stage while the other kids sang the NANANA song! Red loved being on the stage so much that when I took him off he started screaming :) GG's class sang a new version of Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes. It was very cute. It was a great week but I am totally and completely exhausted. I thought next week was the other VBS but it is the following week so one week break and then another week of fun!!! Well I need to go take a nap while the two boys are sleeping...

Vacation Bible School aka VBS

We have finished our second day of VBS and the kids are having a great time. J is working the gym which is outside because the actual gym is getting a new floor. I'm working in the kitchen again, like last year. Today they did water games outside and J was soaked. All the kids brought swimsuits so they were fine. The only bad part of is that we aren't able to play tennis this week. But next week they are going to VBS at school so we will be able to play every morning...hopefully. Now that Red has 6 teeth he has been brushing them with his very own tooth brush. It is so funny, everytime he goes into the bathroom now he thinks he needs to brush his teeth. Very cute. Tonight my Bible study (which is all women) is taking a break and we are going out for dinner and to chill and have fun. I am looking forward to having great conversation and food. Girl time is SO important :) Until I started getting some more of it I never realized how important it was for my sanity!