Playground Fun

I had an appointment with Alex's teacher this morning. We woke up this morning, fast breakfast, fast showers (for my kids), fast fastening of seatbelts to get him to school the first time. Then a fast race back to the van, playing fast race cars once we're home, race to see who can put on their shoes the fastest to go back to school half and hour after we got home.
At school the kids looked at books and played with some ABC's cards I'd brought. When my meeting was done we played a game of "nanner nanner nanner, you can't catch me" with the kids chasing me and each other on the playground of Alex's school. We played 45 minutes until the big kids came out to recess.
Right now the kids are just finishing up their robot mural and then we'll be off to pick Alex up. When we get home we're going to pull out all the robots and play until it's time to make lunch and watch baby signing time.
I've got a special treat for the kids after lunch today. My sister brought me some Halloween treats I know they'll enjoy!

Bad blogger award goes to...me

I know I've been a bad blogger lately. When I had Ava my best friend Amber (who has 3 girls) warned me that three kids was much harder than two. She warned me it seemed three kids take up so so much more time than two. At the time I thought to myself, uh-huh oh sure Amber, I can handle three and still have time for everything. The kicker is... it seems in the past year and a half I have not been able to do EVERYTHING like I used to be able to. My dishes pile up faster, my laundry needs to be done more often, it takes longer to get the kids off to bed. What's with that?!? The point of this whole paragraph is that while a year and a half ago I would probably would have been able to blog everyday like clockwork, now and then I forget, I now get busy, I now procrastinate and then realize I haven't blogged in a week.
I am making Alex a quilt for his birthday so the kids and I have been watching a few more movies than normal. If I have a movie on they all come and watch it and I'm not trying to crochet running in between the living room, kitchen, the boys bedroom, and the playroom. I get really sick of the Land Before Times and Toy Story so I've bee picking the shows. I don't let the kids watch PG-13 here so we've been watching some classic movies. I feel like sittig down to watch Jane Austen is different than vegging out in front of Wall-e so let me know if you disagree. In the mean time, we watched The Fiddler on the Roof last week. Kiara was singing "bud, dah, dah, dah, da" to the tune of If I Was A Wealthy Man. Adorable! Kiara is so musical! I Love it!!
We watched Emma last Friday when it was only Kiara and my kiddos. We also went to the golden arches for lunch. They all had fun on the playground.
Today we watched a bit of Becoming Jane wiht Anne Hathaway. I love that show! It's the story of how Jane Austen fell in love and her inspiration for Pride and Prejudice among other novels. LOVE IT! The kids had pretty much no idea what was going on but they talked about the horses and other animals on screen.
Today we also played with some new robots Alex received. He is really turning into a boy. He is no longer a toddler or a baby. He is a boy. I miss my baby when I see him shooting at the other robots.
Bella brought over an awesome toy the past two days she has been here. It is a Frankenstein that sings and dances when you squeeze its hand. They love it! It sings "Late one night I was in the lab, fast asleep on my cold hard slab, the master witched the switch and I began to rise, then suddenly to his surprise I did the mash, I did the monster mash..." Can you tell the kids love it? I have it memorized!
Tomorrow we're going to have an all out robot battle. For our art project we're going to color a back round for the scene. I think the boys will really enjoy it!

New Signing Times

We have started some new Signing Time DVDs and the kids are learning so much! They are learning colors, the different fruits and the different veggies. They are learning many new songs as well. I love to see my kids signing. It's so fun to see them using a whole new language they couldn't speak a few months ago.
Today we spent a lot of time outside. I'm trying to get our yard ready for winter before it gets too cold.
For lunch today we ate sandwiches with the bread cut out in the shape of a hand. We gave our sandwiches high fives and they thought it was silly to eat the fingers. I was making them laugh asking each one, "Does that hurt? You're eating your fingers?!? Ouch! Doesn't that hurt?"
My Alex just came out with a bloody nose so I'll blog again soon!

10-11-10

Happy 10-10-10 day, yesterday.
Today has been a GREAT day! Kiara has been SO HAPPY today! It has been wonderful!
This morning we took Alex to school. We were a little early so we hung out by the building talking about the lights on it. Alex's teacher was running a little late and we joked about him having class with no teacher and being out on the playground all day.
When we got home we made some puppets with string for hair and a mouth. Alex P. made his into Batman, how creative!! My Ava got her crayons taken away when she ate them (typical).
Joshie got some a bowling game for his last birthday which we'd left at my sisters house on accident back in July. I finally remembered to get and we got to play with it today. Tyler was so funny. He threw a pretty good tantrum when anyone else got a turn then immediately was better when he was handed the ball.
The kids dragged all the blankets in the living room and took "naps" on them. Bella giggled as the boys fake snored.
We watched some pretty funny little videos on youtube today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkd5dJIVjgM&NR=1
They liked this one. Especially when the clam bit Grovers nose. They asked to watch it over and over.
I just saw this quote and I love it so I'm going to share it here...
"You are enough. No need to compete with, or feel threatened by another. You are destined for something that only you were made for. Carry on."--Gianna Jessen

This morning so far...

I have been trying to remember to blog every day and if I don't do it in the morning I usually forget. Kiara has been sick and hasn't been here so it's been a good today to have her here. She's been standing in front of me kissing my knee as I type this.
Alex P and Josh have been busily building with the train tracks this morning. They made a track that runs from wall to wall in the playroom. I love to see them create.
Tyler is so busy this morning. He has been playing with the Buzz we got in Disneyland, the dinosaurs and running Thomas along the track the boys built.
Bella is her normal self. Alternating between checking up on what Josh is doing and chattering to me. She helped me with the dishes earlier. She really likes to clean and says "Clean up floor Megan"
We rushed a little this morning to get Alex to school on time but things should be better for the rest of the day. I'm looking forward to the kids making some self portraits for art time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEREMY!

Yesterday we started our day by making some birthday cards for Bella's Daddy. We colored cakes and balloons and presents. I was really proud of Josh who despite what I thought has actually been listening to me. I said to him, "Let's write your name, J..." Then my wonderful son said "O" Yay!! He has been listening and I have a restored confidence that he will not be 35 before he has any interest in learning to write his name.
We talked all about birthdays yesterday. Bella kept telling me "Mommy make cake for Daddy at home" We talked about the special cakes we get. I was watching my friend's son yesterday for part of the day and he talked about the special Toy Story cake his Mom is making him next week for his 4th birthday.
I took out our play kitchen and we made some pretend cakes and "ate" them. Ava liked this. She didn't understand the fake bites at first but once she saw what everyone else was doing she happily joined in.
Later in the day when Tyler and Alex P came Josh was so glad to see them! He'd been trying very hard to get Ava to play with him but once she went down for a nap he was so lonely. I played kitty, trains and Buzz but I'm no 4 year old boy.
When we got the Mister Alex home from school the kids ate lunch and played outside. They found an earwig in the sandbox and all ran screaming from it. It was pretty hysterical. Even when the earwig was gone they wouldn't go back there. The two Alexs made some "soup" to feed to the chickens. They used a bottle from the sandbox to hold various leaves and grasses from the back yard. They "cooked" it on our firepit, added some morning glory and ivy and dumped it in the coop. The chickens love fresh greens. It would be hard to find some more grateful recipients.

A bunch of lunch

The kiddos are busy eating their stick lunch. We're having carrot sticks, sandwiches cut into thin sticks, cheese sticks and for dessert we'll have some orange sticks. I like themes.
Ava has been really cute today. We got back from the cruise and she decided she wanted to learn to walk. For almost a weeks she pushed our walker in circles around the kitchen and living room. Then, this weekend she decided she didn't need it anymore. She's been walking everywhere since Saturday afternoon. SO CUTE! SO SAD! This is my last baby and I don't want her to grow up so fast :( Makes me very sad to see her getting to big. I miss her. She's turning into a toddler.
We were lucky yo miss the rain today when we went to go and get Alex from school so I think I'll keep the kids inside instead of our usual outside time after lunch. I got a list of fun activities to do from Alex's school so I think we'll start doing that. One activity is to add texture to playdough. They suggest sand (from the sandbox perhaps) and pebbles (I have about a million of those in my garden). I'm going to ask the kids what else they want to try in there. Maybe some elbow noodles or glitter? String? We'll see what they seem interested in.

The Cave--eo

This morning we got out some little parachuting toys I'd bought the boys a few weeks ago. They are Goofy and Donald Duck. The boys took turns throwing them from the top of Alex's bed.
We also put some blankets under Alex's mattress so they would fall down over Joshs bed (does that make sense? It's a bunk bed). The we pretended it was a cave. They climbed in and out and laughed. It was pretty cute.
Right Ava and Kiara are playing with the play kitchen and the boys are chasing each other and running around the kitchen and living room.
Later today we're going to do a pasta sensory table with a bunch of noodles Avaleigh dumped on the floor last night.
It is very nice not to have to drive my kiddo to school today!

Play Day

Today was a really fun day. Matt and I took care of all of our chores last night so there wasn't any house work for me in the morning. I used the extra time to play legos with Ava and Kiara before nap time. They really enjoy them. Ava likes to clean up so her favorite part is taking the blocks one at a time and putting them away. I really, really hope she keeps the loving to clean up habit. When I'm old maybe she'll come clean for me.
Once the babies were asleep we played the boys' favorite game, tickle race. They had a blast running from me. I chased them and thew them into the air and on the couches. They love it!
We went to go get Alex early so we would have time to play on the playground. The playground is pretty old school. Rocks, a giant metal swing set and one of those dome climbers. They mostly play with the climber. They squeeze in and out of it calling it their club house.
On the walk back to the parking lot after dropping of my Mister Alex Alex P. asked me if we could sing a song since my Alex is always singing when we leave the classroom. The song we came up with is this... "Oh here we go together, together, together, oh here we go together to our big ugly awesome van. There's Ava and Joshie and Alex P and Tyler and Kiara and Bella. Oh here we go together to our big ugly awesome van."
Kiara has a knack for music all ready. It really amazes me how much she sings and how well she can catch a tune since she is so young. This morning she was singing me "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam" At our house we give each other a high five every time we sing the word 'Sunbeam' in that song and Kiara was waving her arms like crazy as she sang. So cute!
When we got home from school we played with the kitchen set taking turns making each other peanut butter sandwiches out of the felt food I made for Josh's last birthday. They were silly adding pineapple, lettuce, etc to the sandwiches.
We ate eggs, carrot sticks, and toast for lunch today. I used cookie cutters on the toast so the girls ate butterflies and the boys ate dinosaurs. They always like it when I do that and they just gobbled it up so fast we had tons of time for outside today. Our chicks are completely grown up and we're getting our first eggs from them now. The kids all talked about how the chickens weren't babies anymore and how they were grown up chickens, "not kid chickens anymore" Josh kept saying.
We played ball outside today and the kids played in the sand box. I pushed them on the swing set for awhile until Ava crawled over to my legs and demanded to be picked up. Kiara was cute watching the chickens and ducks while I fed them.
Oh-- we found a dead bird of some sort that had fallen out of our neighbors apple tree. Just FYI in case your darling child has a sudden curiosity about death.

Honey, I'm home!!

We're back! Today we didn't do much of anything. We played, talked and ATE! The kids all missed each other and spent most of the day catching up on games of Spiderman and Buzz. We played a fun chasing game this morning where in I ran an oatmeal covered Ava around chasing the boys threatening to have Ava give them a hug. They giggled and ran away from her.
We talked about the beach for awhile. Josh told everyone about the big boat. I explained the glass bottom boat we went on in Cabo. Alex P. told me about Grandma's house and Bella told me about the circus and the horses there.
We ate and ate today :D They polished off all the snacks we had left from the trip. Kiara loved the Mexican candy and got mad at me when I wouldn't let her have anymore.
Our trip was SO much fun. I love the beaches there. Swimming in the ocean was amazing. We defiantly want to spend more time down there. Cabo has whale watching from December- March so maybe we'll head back down there in a few years. My favorite place was Puerto Vallarta. We snorkeled, ate at a beach front cafe with only sand for floor and bought jewelry from locals walking up and down the beach. WONDERFUL! The ocean was perfect temperature and our kids just sat and played in the sand while we soaked up the sun.

TGIF

Jammie Friday Yippie! Today was jam jam day. The kids love to watch movies in our jammies. Last night we bought The Chipmunks The Squeal and they watched it today. Alex P decided he was Alvin. He made My Alex be Theodore and Joshie be "the fat one with the green sweater" aka Simon. They took turns counting each other in and dancing and singing. Ava and I were the girl chipmunks. We danced and sang with our silly high pitched voices. We played chipmunks for almost two hours. They were having so much fun.
The kids were getting a little crazy so we made an art project today. We usually don't make one on Fridays but we needed a distraction today. I took styrofoam cups and colored two black dots on the bottom then the kids colored them pink. I took string and tied on their... Piggy Masks. They squealed and oinked. I told them about how pigs run away when the farmer tries to catch them and they took turns chasing each other with a net. They were really cute. The cutest thing I've seen snorting.
They loved lunch today. I made some home made chili with grated cheese on top. Every single one of them asked for seconds. Yea! I love it when they're good eaters!
I'm off to go read some stories and settle them down for a nap.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Our art project today was making some little star necklaces to sing Twinkle Twinkle with. The kids were cute spinning, holding their stars and singing. We sang Twinkle Twinkle in lots of silly voices like Opera, country twang, and like a snake adding a long sssssss to every other word. The kids laughed when we were cars and vroomed to the tune.
Emmett was all smiles during lunch today. He was so cute with bananas all over his little chin.
Kiara tripped and bonked her head today looked at me with big sad eyes and a pouted lips and whispered "ouchie" Heartbreakingly Cute!!
Chase brought his sword today and as soon as my boys saw it they had to go and grab theirs too. I normally don't let them have their swords out while daycare kids are here since that just seems like I'm asking for trouble. The sword fight that followed was pretty funny. They were trying really hard not to hurt each other-- Result: minimal feelings hurt. Thank goodness!
Ty guy and Alex Parkin have been gone for a few days on vacation. Seems quiet here without all the shouts of "BUZZ LIGHTYEAR! TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!"
We're headed outside before they lay down for nap. Hopefully I can get some more of our camping stuff put away during nap time today. Wouldn't it be nice if my house was livable again?

Ink a dink

Ink a dink
A bottle of ink
The cork fell out
And you stink

Did you ever play this game when you were a kid?
We've been playing it today. We sit in a circle and put our feet in. Then I touch one foot per word of the rhyme. The foot that is touched on the word 'stink' is out. It goes around and around until there is only one foot left-- THE WINNER! I can remember playing this a lot with the kids at the day care I was in as a kid.
Today we're going to watch a movie for Fun Friday. I'm also going to ask the kids if they want to play doggies or kittens. If they do I thought it would be fun to run some crape paper down from the table to make a cage.

The Cookie Secret

I'm going to blab my mouth and tell you all the secret-- we each had a cookie BEFORE we ate our lunch. I know. The kids were in shock. Dessert first?!? We made home made yummy cookies this morning and the kiddos had been eying them since the second they left the oven. I could see them salivating anytime they glanced towards the goodies.
So there the kids were, all of them sitting at the table, hands nice and clean and chit chatting to each other about the snakes (spaghetti) we were about to eat. I leaned in close and whispered "Can you guys keep a secret?" Their eyes got big and they nodded. "There is a rule that says grown ups can't give you little kids treats until they've eaten all of their lunch but for today only I thought we could sneak a cookie before we eat." Alex P was seriously grinning from ear to ear. My Alex was nodding and Joshie, Ty Guy and Kiara were just staring at me like 'did she say cookie? I heard the word cookie.' I made a big show of looking around and had the kids look around to make sure no other grown ups were watching. I made them promise to keep it a secret then I let them pick one off of the (now cooled down) pan. They were so cute! The rest of the time during lunch they talked about their secret.

A Tough Day

Today was one tough day! How did we get such a yucky day? Yesterday morning my Joshie fell outside and cracked his head open. (Matt came running inside carrying Josh-- BLOOD ALL OVER!!) We took him to the clinic where he ended up getting 3 staples in the back of his head. So trying to keep Josh down and the two Alexs from jumping or running by my Joshie has been quite the task. The two Alexs are boys who are four, rambunctious, and physical which is fine except for this week when Josh has a head wound. Add to that one baby with a ouchie diaper rash and another baby who is making a career out of being attached to Mommy (that would be baby Ava) and the rain so we all had to stay inside and that is one rough day! When Matt and I decided to let the kids come today I didn't think about it being so rough because I didn't realize how much one person touches the back of their head. Josh couldn't sit on the couch to watch Baby Signing Time, he couldn't eat at the table because is head kept brushing up against his chair, he couldn't play Batman dress ups since the clothes rubbed on the back of his head when he put the costume on and off. He couldn't sit at the table for our art project. Man! I'm going to think tonight and come up with some non-head-touching activities for the rest of the week.
We ended up sitting in a circle on the floor for our art project which was a pizza shaped puzzle. We colored sauce, crust, cheese and our favorite toppings and chopped it into bits for pizza. We traded puzzles and sang a song about pizza.
We started a new Baby Signing Time DVD today. I was hoping it would keep the older boys calmer since they've never seen it. It included the signs for emotions so watch out for happy (hand moves up from chest towards face) and sad (two pointer fingers trace the path of a tear on cheeks) . It also has the signs for hot (one hand in a claw shape moves from the mouth towards the shoulder) and cold (arms near body with hands in fists, shaking). From our sign language book we're learning the signs for game, share, help and music.
We didn't do much today because it seemed someone or another was sad most of the day and I just spent a lot of time reassuring my kiddos they were okay. I know tomorrow will be better!
On a positive note: Tyler sang the tune of ABC's with us when we sang it in preschool and Kiara was walking around singing the Baby Signing Time Theme (Baby, Baby, Baby Signing Time). CUTE!!

Marshmallow Test

The boys are doing Spiderman and Cars puzzles at the table. Kiara is playing with Ava's new laptop. Miss Ava is still napping. The house is surprisingly quiet for the middle of the day.
We started our day with oatmeal and fresh blueberries. After breakfast the boys jumped off the chair in the bedroom saying (you'll never believe this) "I'M BUZZ LIGHTYEAR! TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!" They chased each other around the living room as Woody, Slinky Dog, New Buzz and Old Buzz.
Kiara and I sat together and sang B-I-N-G-O this morning and played peek-a-boo. She's so cute!
While the girls and Tyler slept the older boys did what scientists have called "The Marshmallow Test" A four year old child is given a marshmallow (I didn't have any marshmallows so we used whopper candies) and you tell the child "You can have this one now or you can wait for me to come back and if the marshmallow (whopper) is still here I'll give you two" Then the adult leaves for a few minutes leaving the child and candy alone with no other stimulus. I read books to the other kids in a different room while the one boy sat alone with his candy. Scientists followed the four year olds for almost thirty years after the test was completed. They found the four year olds who were able to wait for the adult to return and not eat their candy turned out to have more education, higher paying jobs and rate their overall happiness higher than the four year olds who gave into temptation and ate their marshmallows without waiting for the grown up to return. They speculate the ability to hold off desires for a short while in exchange for a greater pay off is evident from as early as age two. Our results? We should have some happy grown ups! None of the boys finished their candies while I was reading :)
For our art project today we are going to make frog puppets.

Holy Ham Fried Rice, Batman!

Highlight of the day-- ham fried rice. Oh yeah! I made an entire pot today foolishly thinking I could freeze some for Matt to take to work for lunches. By the time the kids were done I had two servings left for my Chouie. The kids ate and ate and ATE! It was pretty good, if I dare say so myself.
Today we drew a map for our art project. We used the big newspaper roll so the map was about four feet by three feet. We drew roads to get to each daycare kids house and my house. We drew Magna, Kearns, West Jordan and a bit of the east side since we just had to have Wheeler Farm and the zoo on there. We included Grandma's house and two McDonald's. We had a pizza place next to the bank since my Alex said, "Mama, on Saturdays when Daddy works you go to the bank and pizza" That is true, child. Shh! Daddy doesn't know we eat pizza every time he works extra. The kids colored the map and drove cars on it. They had fun with it. Other land marks included Wal-mart, the mountains and the Great Salt Lake with sail boats on it.
Today we played outside in the backyard. The kids really love to be out there. Kiara likes the sandbox and plunks down right in the middle of it usually. Avaleigh likes to crawl up and down our hill. Tyler and Alex usually play together in the cube-thing. It is a square, it has a slide and the kids can climb it and use it as a playhouse. It also has a big ledge where the kids like to sit in the shade. Chase played ball with my Alex today. We got some of the mitts that the ball sticks to and they had fun together. Emmett played in the exersaucer.
We blew bubbles today. We played Jr. Bingo where shapes of varying colors are called out instead of numbers. We jumped off the couches and pretended to be Buzz Lightyear. Chase made me laugh when he yelled, "I AM BUZZ LIGHTYEAR! THE GREATEST, BEST SUPER HERO IN THE WOR---LD!!!" We had a "Tickle Race" where the kids ran past me trying to see if they were fast enough not to get tickled. We played a little game while we were cleaning up the playroom. I put my head in the corner, closed my eyes, counted to ten and when I turned around I had to guess what they had picked up while I wasn't looking. They were great cleaners today so I think we'll be playing that everyday!

I'M BACK!!

Princess party is over and I am back to my normal life. My kitchen is free of princess cups, napkins, and plates. Princess puzzles and decorations have been put away and I feel like I can function again. Hooray!
Let's recap the past oh, I dunno... month? We've been to the park quite a few times. We painted, drew pictures with crayons, went on a walk and played on our swing set. We have been LOVING the movie Toy Story and the boys have been playing Buzz Lightyear most often. The girls have been loving some new dolls Ava got for her birthday.
We've been working on learning our body parts and signing new signs. We've been learning the song "As I Have Loved You" with it's signs.
We have learned a few new silly songs and we've been singing them.
Today we have been playing Army Guys and chasing each other. The girls have been playing with a few necklaces Ava got. They've been cute wearing them around and smiling at themselves in the mirror when I hold them up. Later today we're going to get together all of our Toy Story toys and we're going to draw a mural to play with them on.

Sock it to me!

Today for our art project we colored a four feet tall bulls eye. We taped it to the wall in my living room. We got 100 points for the inner circle, 50 for the middle and 25 for the outer ring. What were we throwing at it? Socks. I pulled the boys underwear /sock drawer out and we threw our arms out. Alex P was great at it and hit the red most of the time. Tyler threw a few times but then settled on retrieving the rocks for us. Kiara held onto a pair of socks I handed her but never threw them. She waved them around a few times. My Alex got silly and started to throw the other things in the drawer, ties, underwear and swimsuits. The boys (of course) thought it was funny when we threw the underwear up in the air and laughed because "it's raining undies!" We had a snowball fight with the socks too. They liked this a lot.
We went to the park today. The kids buried their feet in the wood chips. We had a little incident where it looked like we lost Josh's sandles but thanks heavens we dug enough that we found them again! Phew! We've all ready had to replace one pair this summer.
Alex P. is especially good at making friends at the park and he enjoyed a game of tag with some kids a little older than him. Tyler gave me a heart attack when he started counting while standing at the fire man's pole and I was half way across the playground, but he stopped when I yelled "HANG ON, TY GUY!" The boys brought a ball launcher with them to the playground so I threw it a dozen times for Kiara and she would get it and bring it back to me. A friend of mine just happened to be at the park today so they got to play with her little boy, Cameron today.
And that in a nut-shell is what your kiddos did while you were at work. And ya know, breakfast, nap, lunch and nap ;)

Tickle Race

I don't think I have laughed so much in months as I laughed today. We played a super fun game. It was called 'Tickle Race' The kids ran by me as fast as they could and I tried to tickle them. It was a riot! I had them jump past me, dance past me, and crawl on their tummies past me, all while trying not to be tickled.
Earlier in the day we danced the hokey poky. The kids liked putting their backsides in, especially Alex P and my Alex. I held Ava and moved her parts for her and she was hysterical.
All though most of the day was pleasant, poor Mr. Emmett is teething and was sad. He doesn't return Ava's affection which makes Ava sad whenever she crawls over to him and I have to move him or he starts to cry from her constant hugs and kisses. Poor Ava and her unrequited love.
Bella came to visit today and was loving Josh's kitchen set. She made chicken nuggets for me about a dozen times. Yum!

The boys have been really into tumbling and summersaults lately and we had a little competition today to see who could jump the furthest and do a summersault at the end. Ava and Kiara were interested in this and watched. Ava got into position a couple times and I helped her by flipped her over. I tried to do the same with Kiara but she didn't like it. It was the landing on her bum she didn't like. After the girls went to bed the boys played Buzz Lightyear and jumped around. We watched Baby Signing Time and signed for awhile to each other. After lunch we made some pudding and sang some nursery rhymes. The boys each picked a story and we read until they fell asleep.

Just another Wednesday

Today we pulled all the couch cushions off of the couch and jumped on them on the floor. The joys of jumping over "lava" cannot be described ;)
We went to the park today for about half an hour. The kids begged to go but I was nervous about Ava and Emmett getting rained on so we compromised with a short visit. The kids really enjoyed the playground today. The heat has made the plastic hot on the play ground but the cooler weather today allowed the kids to be able to play without worrying.
Alex P. was very proud of himself. His sisters taught him how to slide down the fire mans pole on the playground and he showed me six, yes-- count them, six-- times how awesome he is. Way to be kid! Chase and my Alex played on the long slide most of the time today. Josh played with the wood chips. Tyler played by himself on the bridge and on the slides. A few times he found a ledge and started 'counting' "EAH! EAH! EAH!" Whoa buddy! Let me put down Ava first, then you can jump.
Ava was a little less possessive of Emmett today. I wonder if she is getting over her great puppy love. It worked out well since Emmett wanted to be held most of the day and normally when that happens Ava wants to be held too, on the same side as Emmett. Today, however, Ava was okay playing with the floor with her brothers. Good.
The boys made watches today. They were pretty cute with them. Chase kept asking me what time it was and I kept telling him "you tell me, kid. You're the one with the watch" He thought that was really funny. Joshie was cute. He kept telling me it was 18, 19, 20 o'clock. Apparently Joshie functions on military time.

Ice Cream and Red Rover

Today was so hot, it seemed like a great day to make some ice cream. We started with 3 bags, some heavy whipping cream, pure cane sugar, and vanilla. We added Oreo bits and extra vanilla to turn one into cookies and cream. We added Reese's chocolate, peanut butter, chocolate syrup and Reese's baking chips to another for some pure deliciousness. The third one we made into rocky road. We added marshmallows, chocolate syrup, almonds and a ribbon of fudge. We added plenty of ice cream salt and ice. We sat down in a circle and took turns shaking until we had ice cream. I have never done this before and I was really happy with the results. The ice cream was seriously great, seriously the best I've ever had, I'm seriously considering never buying store bought ice cream again and just making my own from now on. I'm completely serious. The kids all liked it too. My Alex liked the cookies and cream the best. Joshie liked the Reese's the very best. Alex P. liked the cookies and cream. Bella (who is visiting today) liked "all of ice cream" My fav was the rocky road. I LOVE ICE CREAM!

We went to the park again today. Again? I know. We go everyday it seems like. But hey, they're all happy to go and it keeps my kitchen clean since we're eating there. I love anything that means I have less dishes and sweeping to do. Today we played Red Rover with some other kids we met. Tyler didn't get what he was supposed to be doing so he just mostly followed Alex P. around. Other than that they seemed like they had fun. Of course Bella and Joshie were holding hands the whole time. Cute! We also ran up and down the hill at the park. The kiddos rolled down it. Looked really fun! I wish I could have joined but SOMEONE has to play in the grass with Ava and tickle her little toes.

Frisbee Golf :)

We organized our food storage this weekend and I saved some big ol' boxes to play with today. Kiara climbed on hers and pushed it around. The boys used theirs as a fort, a cage for a puppy (Josh was that puppy), to run around, to crash into and to jump out from behind and scare each other. I taught the kids to do a martial arts kick and tip over the boxes. We had a pretty rocking time.
We took a break from the boxes for baby signing time. Josh had a neat experience on Saturday. We had gone over to Southtowne Mall for the evening. Josh, Ava and I were sitting on a bench waiting for Matt and Alex when we saw a deaf person signing to his friends. We were able to catch the sign for 'shoes' It was pretty neat to have a small window into his world.
After morning nap time we colored some styrofoam plates to use as frisbees. We used our big ol' boxes outside as targets for frolf (frisbee+ golf= frolf). We played a couple rounds. Josh was our over all winner. His best for the three targets was eleven throws. Way to be kid! Tyler was pretty cute doing this. He just threw his little heart out for about 20-25 throws then he marched over and gently set his frisbee in the box. Cute-ness!
We went to the park today since they love it. We've made some friends there last week and the two Alexs were really excited our friends were there today.
IT WAS A GREAT DAY!

Movie Day

We went and saw this today. The movie was entertaining. The popcorn, on the other hand, was a HUGE hit! Over all the kids were pretty awesomely behaved. Kiara was the star. She was so still and quiet the whole time.
Bella and Sharice joined us at the theater. We had a great time.

Play in the summer rain
When we got home it was raining so we got to play for awhile in the rain. We spun with arms open and danced in the rain. We practiced somersaults. I tried to teach the kids how to slide like a baseball player but they just didn't get it. We played Follow the Leader and tried to catch the rain on our tongues. We headed inside once the thunder and lightening started. I told Alex it sounded like Heavenly Father was bowling, he thought that was funny.

Have you seen my camera?

Me neither. I had it last night. I took pictures of Matt playing Connect 4 with the boys and then it disappeared. Don't worry, I'll find it. I loose stuff ALL the time. It's annoying.

Anyways... today we played a big game of running around and jumping on the boys little couch. Tyler was cute counting "EAH! EAH! EAH!"
Once the little girls went to bed for nap time we popped pop corn. The boys and I watched an ocean scene be painted by old Bob Ross. He is the painter guy who always makes "happy trees" You know him? I was telling them about how my grandma (who was an amazing painter of nature and flowers), would watch him when I stayed at her house as a little girl.

We went to the park again for lunch today. It's great. The kids are having the best time there! Today we ran up and down the length of the grass. We played ring a round the rosy around the trees. We spent fifteen minutes taking turns at the water fountain. On the way home we sang the ever silly 'On Top Of Spaghetti' the kids giggled and screamed, "again! again!" Thanks everybody for letting me be a part of your awesome kids lives. They are great!!

Water Balloons

Play with water balloons

While the boys cleaned up the playroom I took the girls and we filled up the balloons. I made some sandwiches for lunch and we enjoyed them outside with carrots and go gurts.
We ran in the sprinklers until everyone was done then we had a little water fight.

Last Friday

Last Friday was just my kids and I so there isn't much to report. Anyone want to hear that I went to the bank during day care hours, no-- I didn't think so.

Isn't Joshie's donut mustache cute? I LOVE HIM!

Looking Good Mr. Emmett!

Mr. Emmett at the park. Hanging out while the bigger kids ran up and down the hill. Sun glasses courtesy of my Alex.

Park and Playing

First order of business-- I was thinking about how long Kiara has been coming here and it's been a year! Kiara started coming on July 7th of last year. Happy belated anniversary to Kiara and me. We've been together a year and some change.

This morning started out with some games. I taught my Alex how to play Dutch Blitz. It is my new favorite game. Matt and I have been playing it with anyone who will join us.

One of the other games we played was restaurant. Look at that team work!

Josh was our chef today. The rest of us got to sit back and be served.


Also, Alex and Josh's Grandpa came over this morning and left us his dog. He's out of town until next week and it was too long to leave Dixie home alone.


The kids had a lot of fun with her. I was really proud of them. No one yanked on her or chased her (phew). She was having a ball with the kids. I told Chase she was so excited and licking because she never gets to be around kids, just one grumpy old grandpa ;) and this was so much more fun! The kids wanted to take Dixie outside and once we did Dixie became a complete nut. She ran all over the place from one kid to the next to the next. Licks for everybody! I told the kids she was trying to play tag and the kids got a kick out of running from her.


For lunch we went back to the park today. the kids are having a super fun time there. The park has a dinosaur slide and the can't get enough of it. The other kids in the picture are Ebon and Aliah, my friend Liz's kids.

Kiara played witht he grass today. She was rolling it between her fingers. She stayed glued right to my side today.

Chef Alex

My Alex helped make us pancakes this morning. Good job buddy! They were great!

Lunch at the park

Play at the park
Today we went down to the park by the Olympic Oval. The kids LOVED it. It was a really great get-away. We ate lunch there and the kids got to play for an hour afterwords. I met some other moms while we were there, it was a nice experience all the way around. My Alex played on the slide and climbed all over the play ground. Josh was more reluctant to play (it was right before nap and he gets clingy when he is tired) so he just played in our stroller/wagon. Kiara was LOVING the little hill we ate on. She would run down it and crawl back up, have a bite then run back down. She was giggling-- so cute! Ava of course, just sat on my lap. She crawled about a foot away and decided that was too far and came back. Alex P. and Tyler are on vacation for the week so that was all of us there today.

The boys and I played restaurant during morning nap.
We found pictures of food and I cut them out. The boys glues them on to paper to make menus.

Alex wanted to be our waiter so Josh and I ordered food and were served. Lots of fun! Alex even wrote down our orders on a little notebook.

Hiding from the crawling spiders

Hiding from the "spiders" aka the babies.

Little Friends

I love it when the girls play together. It's so cute!

Chalk Art Show

Have a chalk art show
We had ourselves an art show today. I drew the frames and the kids created their masterpieces. My Alex colored in the entire frame orange. Alex P. made a spider. Chase "made blue" Josh drew a fire truck. Tyler, Ava and Kirara's were more interpretive art. Enjoy the show!

Red Breakfast

We had a red breakfast today. We enjoyed cranberry juice, cherries, strawberries, blush peaches and added red sprinkles to our oatmeal.

Josh's preschool book was about music today. Among the pictures were violins and cellos. Josh didn't know what these were so I had the kids close their eyes and I played some of each instrument for them off of good ol' youtube. We then talked about how the music made us feel.

Bella, bouncy balls, banana bread for breakfast

Today we made banana bread from scratch. It was delish! We substituted half the flour for oatmeal-- tasty! Bella and Sharice came over for lunch today. It was so nice to see her! The kiddos had lots of fun catching up.

We made bouncy balls out of water balloons. I've been itching to try this and I'm glad the kids would finally let me do an art project with them today. Here the kids all are with their balloon balls. They're being piggies with their noses pushed up.

Sharice brought strawberry short cake with her. YUM! The kids loved it!

Since it is party Friday we got to watch a movie today. We watched about half an hour of Finding Nemo.

A picture of Emmett without Ava?!?! She was eating lunch otherwise she totally would have been in his lap ;)