Last Week of Summer...

We just got back from our annual church picnic. It is always so much fun with water games, horse shoe, baggo, frisbee, and jumping jack. Also tons and tons of FOOD. I just got on here to let you all know that tomorrow starts the last week of summer we have before the kids start back to school. And on Tuesday they have orientation to meet their new teachers and see who is in their class. We have plans almost everyday. I just want to have a great time with them before we get on a schedule and so with that being said. I'm taking a week off of blogging and reading blogs. I will be back on the 8th with first day of school pictures post. And I will have a whole day with only one baby at home and so I will be able to visit all your blogs during her nap! I will miss you all but I need to make sure I spend as much time with these guys before they are gone most of the day at school. That so makes me sad to think about. I love those kids. See ya in a week :)

Blog Awards!

The first award I got was from Fuschia she gave me the "You make me Smile" award :)

Now I' suppose to tag 5 people and link to them for this award...hmmm let's see...who makes me smile? This is hard because a lot of blogs make me smile for different reasons. I love you all! If I don't award you this, just know that if I could give it to everyone I would!

The first is Kristin, I'm going to link to her but you will not be able to get on her site because it is set to private but just know she makes me smile! P.S. Debbie I was going to give this too you as well but I thought I'd let Kristin pass it along to you...hint hint!

The second is Martie, she makes me smile because she has 9 kids. I am one of 11 kids and that makes me smile. Plus, the pictures she posts are just too darn cute! I also like her kids names.

The third is Happi, she is just so sweet and I love reading her blog. She has a great smile too!

The fourth is Tonya, of course because she has the same name and spelling as me! She is really sweet too and always puts a smile on my face when reading about her daughters and horses.

The fifth is Queen of the Mayhem, she not only puts a smile of my face she cracks me up with all the stories of her kids. I can so relate to her!

My next award is from Deb, Thank you so much for this award! I am humbly honored.

This one came with rules...
1) Put the logo on your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on yours.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

So here goes:
1. My hubby well because he is brillante in my eyes!
2. Sarahgrace I've been reading her blog for over a year now and I really wish she lived closer! We have many things in common and I love her writing style.
3. Tracey she is just too funny for words and just a great blogger!
4. Amber she is so honest and open on her blog, and I know her in real life :)
5. Mindy her marriage series is really good and so helpful.
6. Corrie because she deserves it!
7. Kari she is a riot. Love reading her blog.

That was really hard to decide who gets those awards. I really hope I didn't hurt anyones feelings as I love reading all your blogs.

Wonderful Day

Today was wonderful all around! I woke up with my hubby still in bed at 8am. I asked him if he was going to work and he said at noon. So we spent the morning together. Then he went to work and the kids and I went to the pool for the afternoon. It was so much fun. I got some videos of the kids at the pool and a few pictures. But I'm at the laptop and the camera battery is low so I will have to post them later when I can get on the desk top to upload them. Anyways, we left the pool at 4pm and about 10 minutes after we got home J walked in the door. I made dinner for the kids and my step-mom and J and I went out on a date! We went out to eat at a bar and grill with really yummy food, then we walked to a piano bar and listened to the music, after we left there we were going to get ice cream but we ended up running into a high school buddy of J's and we talked to him for awhile. Instead of getting ice cream we ended up going to Lowe's for a new door knob one with a lock on it. Our kids don't know how to knock! They are a little too old to see us naked after showers. Anyways then we went to wal*mart to get a tent shade for Peanut's party. J has been wanting one for awhile and we have a good reason to get one now that we are having a party and will be having parties at our house in years to come seeing as 3 of the 4 kids have warm weather birthdays! Then we came home. See it was a wonderful day ALL. DAY. LONG.

Been slacking on the Ole Blog

The kids have only next week of summer break and so we have been keeping ourselves busy with last minute summer fun. We went to Jumps N Jiggles on Tuesday, The Children's Museum on Wednesday, and today we are planning on going to the pool when Peanut wakes up if it isn't too late. On top of not being home that much I am preparing a slide show of the first year of Peanut's life to play at her birthday party next month. I have also been getting things ready for said party. On top of that I signed up to bring to new mother's meals this week. It has worked out nicely because I make enough for their meal and ours. Then I take all 4 kids to their houses and drop it off. It has been nice having the kids with to help carry the food and presents! Added bonus is that my kids LOVE babies. Yesterday I got another award, so sweet and nice of her, but I still haven't followed through with the first award I got about a week ago. My goal is to do a post on the 2 awards Saturday when J is home to help with the kids! Thank you both for the awards I really do appreciate them. So before I leave I have some pictures from the Children's Museum! Enjoy :)



We met 3 moms from church and a friend who is a nanny along with all their kids at the Museum so there were 5 adults and 15 kids. It was chaotic fun :)

Backfire.

That is what my plans for today did. The kids start school in two weeks. I wanted to start training them to get up at 7:30 eat, dressed and ready to leave the house by 8:10. Well this morning they didn't wake up until after 8am and Peanut and I didn't get up until 8:30. Totally not what I had planned but at least we still have 13 days to get on that schedule :) I'm just a little nervous because this is the first year that I will be solely getting 4 kids up and ready by myself every morning. It really makes me think about home schooling! I now know why big family tend to take that route. Plus, I know that Peanut is going to miss her brothers and sister when they are gone as much as I am. It will be SO quiet.

Here are some videos of what Peanut has been doing lately. She really likes to crawl with shoes on her hands, silly girl! Also with one knee and one foot. And she likes to play with the pots and pans. Oh and I must mention that she took her first and only step on Thursday August, 21. None since then though :)

Oh the Summer Days...

Since J worked 13 1/2 hours yesterday and was to work 12 today he decided to take this morning off. It was nice to actually get to see him for a little bit today, since he will be home late again. Of course, we went shopping to get some needed things for the house. It is so much easier to do with him or by myself so I jumped on the opportunity. It was a really hot day and he suggested that I take the kids to the pool. After lunch all the kids got ready and we got in the van and it started to rain. We got out of the van and by the time we got to the house it was a complete down pour. Good thing we had swim suits on! I put the two little ones down for their naps. I was going to give Peanut a nap at the pool and put Red down for a later nap but this worked out better. By the time both the kids were awake it was sunny and hot out again. Off to the pool we went. I packed some water, snacks, and money. The funniest thing happened while at the pool today. When we first got there the boys had to use the bathroom so Monkey took them both to the men's bathroom. When they came out I told Monkey next time to use the family bathroom in case I needed to come in and help them. Well later on Red needed to go to the potty and he just ran right into the men's bathroom. I didn't see him go in there and another lady at the pool who's boy he had been playing with informed me he had run off to the bathroom. I walked ran to the bathroom and yelled his name. He then informed me he was pooping. My thought "oh great he doesn't know how to wipe himself let alone his wet self. I can't send Monkey in he is too young to help him. Now what?" I then quickly think I'll go to the lifeguard station and see if they will stand at the door and let me go in. I tell them my situation of having a 3 year old in the bathroom pooping and not being able to wipe himself. Now this is just too funny. The only male in the room proceeds to put on gloves to go wipe my son's butt! All the girls were laughing. I sent Monkey in with him so he wasn't wiping some other kid, not that that would happen since Red was screaming at the top of his lungs, "I'm DONE...I'm DONE!" But I figured sending Monkey in there would also let Red know that the man was there to wipe him since Mommy couldn't go in there. It was the best solution to the problem. Poor guy said he did his best to wipe him because after all he was wet from the pool. I then had a talk with Red about telling me before he goes to the potty and then showed him which potty to use...the family one.

After about an hour in the pool Peanut was done with the water. I got her out and changed which meant that I was also done in the water and now I could sit on the side and watch the big three. I was holding Peanut when Red got his leg stuck between the pool and the hand railing going into the pool. I quickly stop the conversation I am having with the mom of the kids that my kids are playing with and put Peanut in the stroller so I can go pull him out. Now mind you the whole time I am strapping her in as fast as I can he is hollering, "MOM I'm STUCK! MOM I'm STUCK!" It didn't matter that I was trying to talk to him while putting his sister in the stroller and tell him that I was coming to get him but that I needed both hands to help and I needed to get his sister in the stroller for that to happen. I did think to put her on the ground so I could get to him faster but since she has started to crawl I didn't think that would be very safe. I probably would of then had to save a drowning baby! I will say life with 4 kids at the pool is definitely interesting. With both of those happenings I will say that the pool today was a great experience (all 4 hours) and I can't wait to take them back next week and I'm sad that the summer is coming to a close. But next year is totally going to rock at the pool!!!!

The Last of the Vacation posts!

Monday we got up and packed the vehicles. Then we headed to the State Park for a hike. Of course, I have pictures!

After the hiking we went to a place to eat that has goats on the roof. I forgot what the name of it was and I really don't feel like calling the parents for find out. But it was the only restaurant with grass on the roof with goats walking around! Red was so excited to go to this place all day. He really wanted to drink goats milk but they didn't have any, but they did have goat cheese which he and the other kids got to taste. It was a dark yellow almost brown colored cheese. The kids all liked it though :) Our waitress looked like our friend Monica so we asked to take a picture with her!
We also found this really cool sign along the side of the road and took these pictures for our friends with that last name!
Before we left Door County we did some shopping. We stopped at a Confectionery (we got some candy), kite store (dad bought each of the kids a new kite), rock store (for J), and clothing store. I got J a t-shirt that says Love Handles and the picture is two controllers for the playstation! I got a t-shirt that says Ruff Night with a picture of a dog, and I found the best onesie for Peanut but they didn't have it in her size. It said Can you hear me now? With a baby's mouth wide open. Everywhere we went to eat people commented on how much of a chatter box she is and if you don't pay attention to her she squeals until you look at her, to which she gives you the cutest, sweetest little smile. What a stinker. Needless to say that would of been prefect for her. Grandma found one that said I have my fussy pants on. I didn't like it as much but it was probably the second best choice! We then left for home. We got home around 10pm that night. It was a good time and certainly was memorable. That ends our trip...

Vacation Part 2...

Saturday morning we all went shopping in Egg Harbor. GG and Monkey came away with that experience with Webkinz. GG has been wanting one of those for almost a year now. Of course, that made her day. We went back to our townhouse for lunch and the men left for golfing. I put the two little ones down for a nap and Grandma took the older two to the pool for some swimming. They came back an hour later and Red was still sleeping so we switched. We ended up meeting the guys at the place for dinner because they had a rain delay golfing and it took them almost 6 hours to golf 18 holes. Then we went to Wilson's for ice cream. Yum Yum. I didn't take any pictures from this day.

Sunday the men got up early and went golfing and Grandma and I packed a picnic lunch and headed to the near by beach. Now I have lots of pictures from the beach!

Peanut and I in the sand, see I was there! That is my new Land's End swimsuit. Love it. Grandma took some other pictures of me and Peanut in the water but I'm bending over and you see too much cleavage for my blog *blush*

I think this picture is so funny because it looks like she is going to stand up and walk but after I took it she fell right on her bottom!

GG playing in the sand and having fun!

Red found a big stick by the shore line and was really proud of his find :)

Grandma buried the boys in the sand! They look like they are naked.

Monkey buried Peanut in the sand...

Her escaping!

Monkey showing me his sandy hands after burying his sister!

Peanut in the water...finding rocks...to eat!

See what I found mom? Now, I'm going to eat them!

The older kids in the water with grandma. Red really took a liking to grandma see him grabbing for her hand?!

Silly Girls!

After the men were done golfing they came by the beach. We had been there about 3 hours, so we packed up the troop and headed back to the "hotel" as the kids called it. Us ladies changed and handed the kids over to the men and off we were to go SHOPPING! With. No. Kids. I got some really cute things but I don't have any pictures. Then we met them all at the restaurant we were eating at for the evening. I asked J to bring the camera but forgot to tell him I brought the extra battery, so he brought the camera but the batteries were dead. The reason I wanted the camera was to get a picture of the fish boil at the restaurant. Oh well. I probably would of taken a picture of the kids faces anyway. The fish boil was pretty neat. Then we took the kids to Pirate's Cove for some mini golf, again no pictures but fun was had, we'll just have to trust me! That was Saturday and Sunday!

We're BACK!

My plan was to have some post scheduled before I left but that obviously didn't happen! We had a really fun time in Door County with my dad and step-mom. The vacation post might be done in two or more parts! We left our house Thursday night and headed to my dad's for dinner and then to sleep. We got going pretty early Friday morning to leave and didn't want to add an extra 30 minutes to our drive from our house. Our first stop was The Farm, a petting zoo.

Family Picture!

GG feeding the goat that attacked her bottle :)

Her holding a baby chick.

Monkey on Grandpa's shoulders while Grandma feeds the cow. Look at the excitement on that face of his!

Red and GG feeding the piglets, they were so cute.

Brave Monkey feeding the goats out of his hand.

The kids in the bottom of the well.

Peanut feeding the goat. I don't know if she liked it?!

Red feeding the goat a bottle. Look at that expression. Priceless!

Another family picture on the tractor.

After we left The Farm we went to the townhouse we were staying in, got a bite to eat and went swimming. That concludes the first day of our vacation!

We got back last night really late so today will be putting the house back in order and we have a dentist appointment. It is Red's first dentist visit! I hope there are no cavities. Also wanted to mention that Peanut gives kisses. I can't remember if I have posted that yet but about a month ago she started giving J and I kisses very randomly. But now if you say, "Can I have a kiss." She gives you one. Of course, she still stinks her tongue out and plants it right on your mouth but I know those baby kisses won't last and so I am LOVING them, wetness and all! Oh yeah she gives hugs too. I love those chubby little arms wrapped around my neck. So sweet!

One last thing. I got an award. I will have to post about it after I get all the vacation stuff done but Thank You Fuschia!

Catch up...

That is what I spent today doing. Well and packing for our get away coming up soon. I like to have the house cleaned and all the laundry done before we leave that way we come home to a nice clean house! I. AM. TIRED. But the house is clean :) I also wanted to write that on Friday 8/8/08 Peanut got her first birthday present. I know her birthday isn't until September, but we got a really good deal on a fish, FREE, from my sis-in-laws *boy* friend. I write it like that because they aren't officially dating or anything they are just friends ;) We got her on Friday and her name is Uh Oh because that is one of Peanuts favorite words.

Speaking of that little girl she is doing so much I really need to get it documented. She pulls herself up to standing as you saw from the boat pictures. She is starting to actually crawl instead of doing the army crawl, but it isn't normal either. This girl likes to be different. She crawls on one knee and one foot. I have a video of her crawling like this but both of her hands are in her sisters shoes. She also has started shacking her head no when she goes by stuff she shouldn't, like the Wii. She'll crawl over, stop, look at us, and then shack her head no. A few times she actually says no too. I'm sure once I post I'll think to myself I forgot to write something she is doing!!

As for the other kids they only have 3 1/2 weeks before school starts. Where did the summer go? Seriously! I need to get on putting their supplies together with their names and what not. I have a feeling it will take me awhile to do 3 kids supplies :) Red is really excited about starting per-school. I'm a little nervous about him and how accident prone he has been these last few weeks. He has fallen face first off a planter at the park giving himself a goose egg on his forehead, scrap near his eye, and scraps down one arm. I was pushing Peanut in the swing and watching him walk on the planter. I saw the whole thing go down in slow motion...head first and last thing I saw feet both in the air. Poor Peanut got left in the swing while I ran to his aid. He is trying to give me a heart attack. He fell off backwards from his bike and hit his head. He wasn't wearing his helmet like he is suppose to so I got to remind him why we were helmet. The next day he ran into Monkey's bike while on his bike and got another bump on his forehead, again not wearing his helmet. The crazy thing is both of those injuries happened within the first minute of him on his bike! See, accident prone kid. Since then he has gotten his bike taken away 2 times for not wearing his helmet. Will this child ever learn??? Sometimes I feel like my kids have the worst learning curve EVER. It's totally frustrating as their parent.

Also today Monkey tried killing himself on the scooter. Praise the Lord he was wearing his helmet, other wise I would of been taking him to the ER for a broken nose. He was riding along on the scooter and in true daredevil fashion went right for the huge crack in the cement. He scraped up both knees and hands. He broke the front of his helmet and put a big divot in it. Had he not being wearing it his nose would of stopped him. No sooner did I finish taking care of Monkey, GG got hurt and was bleeding, the first time today. This afternoon the two older kids were playing outside with some neighbor friends. I had gone in the house to use the bathroom and as soon as I was doing I hear GG screaming like she was dying. I walk to the door and her friend is running up to tell me she fell off her bike and she's bleeding. I go get her bring her inside clean her up and bandage her and I go looking for Peanut who I had to leave inside while carrying my oldest into the house. I walk into my room and she is chewing on the phone charger, the part that plugs into the phone. I take it away and try to dry it off with the blow dryer but no use it is damaged. This is the second one she has ruined. Apparently, J and I have a slow learning curve as well since we are the ones that have been leaving them where she can get them.

Then after dinner we went mini golfing with our church. They had dinner and golf but we ate at home so it was just golf for us. We had a fun time. And another late night!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Tight Places!

For more Wordless Wednesday go here.

Summer Fun

The girls at 5 Minutes for Mom are having another photo contest! The theme is summer fun. I was having a really hard time deciding which picture to use, one from the boat, the park, the pool, painting bird houses, and so on. It was hard but I think this picture sums up Summer Fun for us and all the exploring we did.

You have until I believe Wednesday to enter to go here!

Boating...I'm in love!

Today was Peanut's first time on the boat outside of my tummy. I think it is safe to say she loved it. The life jacket part, notsomuch, but the wind in her hair absolutely loved it. Here are some picture of the day...

Look at these happy faces!

Big Girl standing!

As she stood at the front of the boat watching she had the cutest little belly laugh!

Here is a video of us pulling the kids and J on the tube to the spot we went swimming. We were only going about 5 mph and moved only a 1/4 a mile if that. Red is too little to be on the tube so we thought this would be safe enough for him to get to ride. I didn't get a video of my dad, GG, Monkey and J on it because it was a much faster ride and Peanut was awake.

Breathe

I don't feel like I have time to breathe this week. I love VBS week the kids have so much fun but man is it exhausting. Yesterday (Wednesday) after VBS we went with a family to a children's museum we had never been to before. It was a lot of fun. Then it was home and GG and I left for another mother/daughter bonding time with the same friends. We went out to eat and then to the pool to swim. Well the two girls swam and we talked.

This morning we got to church an hour early to make the breakfast for today. Today at VBS was water games and they got a inflatable water slide for the kids to play on. You guessed it, after it was over all the workers kids played on the water slide. By the time we got home it was 1pm. I made lunch and put the kids to bed. Then Monkey and I went to the bank. We went through the kids piggy banks to get the coins out. At VBS they are having a contest to see who can raise the most money, weight wise, and that person gets a pie in the face. It's not the greatest of rewards but J is in the running for it. As I was looking through the kids piggy banks I noticed that they had a ton of money in each of them. I pulled it all out and counted it and decided that half of it needed to be put in the bank and the other half they could either keep in there or buy something with. Since I only had Monkey with me we ran to the dentist to get the paper that was dropped off last week for school. NOW, I'm trying to get caught up on cleaning, dishes, and laundry. I really don't have time to be sitting here updating but I need a break :)

On yeah, Peanut has started doing a few new things too. She is getting so much better at pulling herself to standing. I actually got some good pictures of her last night. Then I tried taking a video and she was done preforming her new trick. She also now tells me when she is tired and wants to nurse to sleep. She says, "Ny-Ny" It is really cute. I love that she can communicate and little!

The last few days...

We have had a busy few days and I wanted to get all the fun activity down for future reference. Sunday we went to church, after wards there was a reception for a couple in our church that are leaving, he has been in school for about 7 years getting his degree to become a Pastor and he finally has it and got hired on with a church so we have to say goodbye to him, his wife, and two little girls. Then to my in-laws so J could help his dad move some heavy stuff and J wanted to get his legos from when he was a kid so our kids could play with them. (As I am typing this it is thundering like you wouldn't believe and every 5 minutes the tv tells of more tornado warnings happening. Our sirens just went off. I never know what to do in these situations as we don't have a basement. These are the times I really wish we had one.) Then back to church for the VBS kickoff party. Then we met our friends from out of state for dinner and swimming at their hotel.

Monday to church for VBS. I'm working the kitchen again and J is doing the gym again. We came home ate lunch and I sent J and the two oldest to run errands. Then my step mom came over to watch the three kids while J, Peanut and I went to a wake for our good friend's dad. That wasn't necessary fun but we did get to see a lot of people we haven't seen in awhile. Now I'm going to try and go to sleep.

What happens when...

...you give a 3 year old, sitting next to his baby sister, chocolate milk at the dinner table?

You get one grab-y baby girl soaked in chocolate milk and off to the tub for her second bath of the day! The first after the poop incident this morning!

...you take your kids to the pool and your hubby bribes the kids with ice cream to go off the high dive?

You get two little kids (GG and Monkey) jumping off the high dive non-stop to the point you can't get them to stop and go get the ice cream you promised.

Be warned I'm venting here...

I am so mad for lack of a better word. I took my kids to McDonalds with a playplace with a friend of mine and her two girls. Seriously, within 5 minutes of my kids playing one of her girls comes out crying, then Red comes out crying both saying that there was a kid inside punching them. I had Red take me inside and I witnessed first hand this kid punching kids. Then I came out and started asking parents who he belonged too. But as I was asking parents at least two of them said their child came out crying too saying someone was punching them. Hmm. I found the mom and right away she got her kid out and all was well in the play place for about 20 minutes. Until two brothers decided that they were going to be the bullies. Two of the three of my kids playing in there came out complaining about them. I told them to stay away from them. And I just kept my eye on them to see where they went to get their drinks between bullying. Then it happened. Monkey got hurt from one of them. I'm thinking great kid I told you to stay away from them. I told the mom and she did nothing but buy them ice cream. Then she comes up to me and says, "I pulled each of my boys aside and asked what happened and your son poking my son in the eye first." I told her that was fine but, "That her son body slamming my son was an inappropriate way to react and that it was unacceptable." Then she says, "Well they are just boys being boys. They are just playing." To which I responded with the sign from McDonalds saying, "ALL children must be supervised. This play land is not a babysitter. I have been watching my kids." Then she says, "I have been told by several people that my boys are very well behaved. And you should talk to your son about poking my boy in the eye." I'm thinking to myself yeah that is why I have been hearing several parents around me comment on how rowdy and misbehaved your two boys are, sure lady. Needless to say, she was in denial that her kids could be bullies, together. Well I get out to the car and find out the only reason why Monkey poked him in the eye, not that it was right, was because these two boys were picking on Red. **When we got home he told me that they were actually sitting on top of Red and not getting off when he asked them too.** Red and GG told me the exact same thing leading up to the poke in the eye. He was trying to protect his baby brother from these bullies. So I'm asking you ladies. How do you handle these situations? Do you just leave the place or tell the manager or the parents. Do you talk to the kid yourself? I hate these places but my kids love them. I hate confrontation even more and I was shacking as I went out to my van. But I'm the protector of my kids, I don't baby them but I'm also not going to sit there and watch them get hurt by other kids bigger then them. These two boys were 7 and 6 years old and the youngest was the same size as GG.

The day is going better than yesterday minus this above incident. There was only one unpredictable thing happen. That was Peanut pooping out of her diaper and all over her clothes. Why is it that there is always poop involved!