Highs & Lows

I think I forgot to do this last week. Whoops. It just goes to show how busy we have been these past few weeks.
We are getting ready to head out for another mini vacation so as I am sure you can imagine it is a lot of packing packing and more packing. I tell people that if I could just put my house on wheels life would be great!

Highs:
Having Cameron here this week has been a high. She is so delightful to be around and the kids really enjoy her. She is going back home tomorrow and we will be so sad to see her go.

I have really been enjoying the kids lately. I miss them tons when I am at work and I can't wait to get home and spend some time with them. They are such neat little people now.

Singing with the kids. They always ask for me to sing to them now and I love to sing so it is fun. They sing along with me and we all seem to enjoy it.

Swimming the other day was just a blast. My friend Kristin called me last night and told me that she really enjoyed herself. It was just one of those days where the kids were being good and we were just so relaxed. This was a high.

Seeing GG Del on Sunday and Monday and getting to spend some extra time with my mom was a high too. These times seem to be few and far between these days.

Lows:
I did not get much sleep last night. It was just one of those nights so I am really tired today. I have a ton to do tonight so it is hard.

Our little kitty Dexter is having some problems with his ears. I feel so bad for him. He has a double ear infection, yeast infection, and he is on three different medications for it. Poor kitty.

Hearing of a death of an 8 year old girl. This always hits home with me these days as I cannot even imagine what that would be like. Say a few prayers for her family.

That's all folks. I am not sure what my internet connection will be like for a few days so I this blog is quiet that is because I am off enjoying my family and relaxing.

Happy Friday!

Fun at the Pool

Today we all headed over to our friends Sue & Denny's house to swim in their pool. They were not at home but my BF Kristin was and she hung out with us all day long. It was a beautiful day here so it was an awesome time at the pool. My skin is a little red tonight as the sun screen must not have held up for me. Oh well a little color won't kill me.
Cameron really had fun swimming with the kids and hanging out at the pool. I think she swam all day. Once the kids went down for a nap I jumped in the pool and swam like a fish. I have not done that in years and it was so much fun to be a "kid" again. At one point I had even forgot that the kids were in the house taking a nap. It was a great day!

We have HELP!!!

I have been absent from the blog world for a few days as my mom and I took the kids up north for a little visit. We went to a wedding while Grandma and Grandpa E has the kids overnight and then we went to GG Del's house for a few days. Once again when we got to GG Del's it was so amazing to watch the kids take off running for their GG Del. Aimee shouted "hey guys it's GG Del" and they all sprinted to her. My mom and I just watched in amazement.
While we were visiting GG Del, my cousins little girl (okay not so little as she is 11) asked if she could come home with us for a few days and help with the kids. I was thrilled as it is so nice to have an extra set of hands around to help with the kids. They love C too so it is really sweet to watch them follow her around. Jon and I are thrilled to have her here helping us out. It is a big win win for everyone.

Perfect End to the Day!

Tonight I got home just in time to put the kids to bed. After we got all the teeth brushed, I took time to lay with each of them on their beds. We started to sing songs. Their current favorite is Jesus Loves Me.
You can imagine my surprise when they each wanted to take their turn singing the song to me. KJ went first and it was so sweet to listen to his little voice sing about Jesus and How he loves him.
It was also sweet to watch how they each took a turn singing the song and they would actually listen to each other sing too.
Mommy sang a few of her favorite songs to them too. It was such a fun snuggle time. I really enjoyed ending my day like this. What a blessing.

Preschool Pictures

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day Daddy Jon! We are so blessed to have you in our lives. Thank you for working so hard for all of us. You are so generous, dedicated, handsome, fun loving, hard working and helpful. You are an incredible father, husband, son, and friend. We could not ask for more.
We love you!

Highs and Lows

So I have been pondering an idea that I thought would be fun to try. I am going to blog weekly highs and lows (mostly Highs). When I was in high school, I belonged to a youth group we used to share weekly highs and lows.

Here is goes:

Weekly High
Jon, the kids, and myself all went over to some "new" friends of ours for dinner the other night. They live on a lake so we got to spend time hanging out of the beach and playing in the sand and water. Then they took us on a boat ride. It was quite the site with 7 kids and 4 adults on one boat. We all had a great time and the kids LOVED it.

Another high this week is that Aimee is starting to "try" and poop on the potty. There is light at the end of the tunnel! Once she catches on to this then we will be 100% trained in this house during the day!


Weekly Low
I have developed a rash all over my legs. I am not sure if it is from sunscreen, chlorine, sun or what but it looks bad and feels bad! I hope this clears up quick!

Dragons

This morning I decided to get their pool out and blow it up since it was going to be so warm and sunny today. The kids were very excited about their pool and they could not wait to go swimming in it. The pool is very cool as it is shaped like a dragon and has a slide into the pool and a slide out of the pool.
We never did make it into that little pool today because we got a better offer. Our friend Sue called and invited us to go swimming in her big pool so we headed over there.
Jon came and joined us for dinner over at Sue's and then took the kids home because I had to go get my hair cut. He told me on the way home that they kept talking about the dragons and pointing them out. Jon started to play along with them and then Ella pipes up from the backseat....
"Daddy, we are just pretending there are no dragons over there!"
So tonight when I got home Jon was telling me this story and then he asks why they are all of a sudden so into dragons. I then told him to look in the backyard as we have a great big dragon sitting there ready to be swam in!

Our new Playset!

I thought I would blog about the new addition to our yard. We bought the kids a new play set for their 3rd birthday. It was not actually new as it was a used one that we bought from my boss but it is new to us.
My boss and his wife approached me last fall about their Rainbow Play set to see if we wanted to buy it from them. We knew nothing about play sets so we set out to do some research on them. We headed over to the Rainbow Play Systems warehouse in our area with the kids and Grandma and Grandpa in tow. They have 14 to 15 play sets all ready to go that he kids could climb on and have fun.
It was amazing and so much fun. However, the price of a new set was not so amazing it was horrifying. They are very expensive. The salesman that we were working on showed us the pros and cons of buying new verse old. We we would have loved to purchase the brand new play set but with Jon's job transitions we decided it was probably better to buy the used set.


We LOVE it and we are happy with our decision and it was 1/4 the price. The kids love it too and they do not know the difference. Kendrick is now always on the look out for play sets now and he will shout out "they have a play set like we do"
Their new favorite thing to do on the play set is to climb up the slide and pile on top of each other and slide down. They do this for 45 minutes sometimes. It is fun to watch.

As Jon says, all we need now is three automatic swingers and life will be good. The kids would swing for hours on end if we would let them.


I am sure we will get many years of use out of this awesome play system.

Love is in the air!

Here is a conversation I overheard this morning:

Aimee: "Lela, Lela Look at me, LELA I WANT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING!"

Ella: "What Aimee?"

Aimee: "I Love You Ella"

Ella: "Thank you Aimee, that was very nice. I love you too!"

Later as we were driving to our playgroup I turned the music down and I told the kids that I loved them so much. They all responded we love you too mommy and daddy too and Grandma and Grandpa and the other grandma and Grandpa and uncle Tony, and Cousin Emmy and Cousin Erik and Lori and Chris, and GG Del too!

They are so huggable and lovey these days. KJ came up to Aimee when she was upset about something and put his arm around her and told her that it was okay and that he loved her.

I just wanted to get these posted before I forgot about them today. These kids are AWESOME!!!

Pretend Play

I just read in a newsletter for parents that when children reach the age of 3 years they begin to use "pretend" play. I have been witness to this for some time now as the kids will always pretend to be going to the mall, school, the park, shopping, or anywhere else they can think of.

They also love to make meals at their little kitchen and they are at the point now where they will ask me what I want to eat and then when I tell them they will say "oh we are out of that" or "we don't have that". It is fun to watch their little minds work and come up with new and different adventures all the time.

Last night, I heard Aimee go into the bathroom (the one that Grandma & Grandpa use when they are visiting) and she was telling Grandma to hurry up because she wanted to go play. I heard her say "Grandma Carol you gotta get out here right now!" I just laughed. The next thing I know we could have lots of pretend friends around here. I will have three real kids and three pretend!

The other night I was cleaning out my closet of some clothes to give to charity and the kids were playing in our shower. They play let's take a shower a lot and I am fine with it as long as the shower is dry. This little game of let's take a shower had gone on for about 5 minutes when I walked into the bathroom to find that they had turned their pretend play into real play. KJ was covered Head to foot with his daddy's Head and Shoulders. This mommy was not very happy to say the least. I happened to have the camera near by so I took a quick picture of the event so we can remember it in years to come. I stripped him down and he took a real shower that night!
KJ is upset because he got in trouble with mommy! He is so sensitive. The girls had some in their hair too but not nearly as much as KJ.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is Daddy's Birthday! Last night we celebrated with a big Birthday dinner, Grasshopper Pie (Daddy's Request), and presents! We all had a great time and the best part about it was at the end of the night there was a great big Rainbow in the sky!

Happy Birthday Daddy! Thanks for being a great dad to us. We really appreciate how hard you work to support all of us. You are the best dad in the world!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

So today is the big day! We have had the party we have celebrated already so you can understand why the kids were confused when they woke up this morning and I hugged them and said "Happy Birthday"!

I work on Fridays so I am not able to spend all day with my kids. However, we bought 30 cupcakes to take to school with the kids today so they can celebrate with their teachers and friends. They were excited about that.

Tonight we are taking them out to dinner and possibly out for Ice Cream if there is time. They should enjoy all of that. KJ keeps asking everyone including the girl that cut his hair, his teachers, and the neighbors if they want to come to dinner with us. It is pretty cute.

These past three years have been incredible and I so look forward to the future and all it holds. Happy Birthday to my lovable, amazing, smart, witty, and fun loving kids, Aimee, Ella, and Kendrick. I Love You!

KJ How Old Are You?



KJ in his Birthday Crown!



Aimee in her Birthday Crown!


Ella in her Birthday Crown!


The Wiggles Cake!

Awaiting the Ice Cream and Cake!