Hungry Hungry Hippo

It's 100 degrees outside.... miserable to do anything. So what better to do than to

play a good ol' game of Hungry Hungry Hippo? I bought this for the kids last week and we finally pulled it out on Friday. According to Wes, he had to play it at least 50 times with Austin on Saturday. It's quite entertaining to watch them!

A Friday of good news

After a day of what seemed was filled with the sad news of 2 American icons passing, this Friday has gotten off to a great start. I checked my email and found an email from Heidi Parker with a link to her blog. I bookmarked it on my blog list so you can check it out to find out why the Parkers are SOO excited. Also check out the Siemsglusz's blogs.... such good news!!!! This is why I love blogging, it keeps me connected to friends and family.
Another reason I am excited is because I am off to a girls weekend this weekend. Three high school friends and I are headed to Boerne for a little small town shopping, pool lounging and lots of catching up. Can't wait! Of course I will miss my crew. Pray for Wes. He has to be at a baptism in Conroe at 8:30am on Sunday with all 3 kids.

hot, hot, hot

It's summer and man it's hot... hotter than "normal" I do believe. I can tell that the kids have a bit more energy when they get home in the afternoons because they are not getting as much outside time at school since it's too hot to take them out on the playground in the afternoons. We use to stay outside for a while once we got home, but now we usually go inside for a while and let the sun go down a bit so that things cool off. This week they are going to Bible school at St.Paul's in the morning and bringing home some pretty cool crafts in their backpacks. Their tubs of school work and art projects are already full and they are 2 & 1! Soon I will learn not to keep everything.
Avery has a new fascination with their backpacks. My daily routine is to bring in all the backpacks, put them on the kitchen counter and pulling out the daily notes and then right away prepare them for the next day. Now she insists on doing the same. She will take all 3 backpacks into her room and take everything out of them, including the ziplock bag with the extra change of clothes, then she puts everything back in... she may do that a time or two. Not sure why that fascinates her, but it keeps her busy!

Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there!! If A&A&C could type, they'd say that hands down, they have the best dad in the world. Austin would say he loves that his daddy lets him ride around on the tractor with him and takes him fishing. Avery would let you know that she loves her daddy because he treats her like a princess and Caleb, well Caleb would say he wants to be with his daddy 24/7..... that's how much he loves him. I love him because he's an amazing father and puts his family first.
We have 2 other wonderful dads in our lives, Popo and Grandpa Otto. We love them very much!

Treats...

So, Wes made a grocery run yesterday and picked up a few extras/treats. Here's the kids enjoying a mini ice cream sandwich. I think we will be doing these outside next time.

VBS finished up tonight and Austin & Avery did a fairly good job of singing at the closing program. Caleb fussed when it was their time to go up and sing, so he actually went up and sat on the steps with them. I think he is glad VBS is over with so he will have a little normalcy back in his afternoon routine.

A glimpse into the future

Since Wes and I both work fulltime, we have somewhat of a routine during the week which consists of picking the kids up around 5pm, coming home for snack, then playtime, supper, baths, reading/cartoons, and bedtime.... not always in that order. We have our good nights and our not so good nights, but most are spent at home. This week is a big change due to Vacation Bible School. This year our church wanted to try having it in the evenings from 5pm - 8:30pm. They serve a meal at 5pm and actual VBS starts at 6pm. So, that means I pick all 3 kids up at 5pm, drop Caleb off with either Kelcie or Wes, drive out to church where A&A and I have supper and then a full night of VBS. We arrive home around 9pm and because A&A don't usually eat much at the early meal becuase they are too busy watching everone else, they are starving so we try to throw something together for them to eat at 9:00pm and then still have to do the bath and bedtime routine. Last night it was about 10:30pm before they got to bed and they were up at 6:45am just to do it all over again today.
Wes in enjoying getting some of his outside projects done that he can't do with kids around - that includes the front entrance to our drive which is done minus plants. He did all the work himself... my do it yourselfer! Anyway, I was thinking last night on my drive home from VBS, that this is probably what we have to look forward to in the years to come. Between soccer, baseball, gymnastics, and whatever the kids decide to get involved in, I will be a taxi mom on the road. Can't wait?!?!

A water park made for us....

So, this water park wasn't specially made for us, but it was made for families like ours in mind. The Woodlands has a great little "water park" for small kids. The majority of the water doesn't get deeper than 2 feet. We went last year and A&A were still a bit unsteady on their feet in the water so this year they could do just about everything on their own. It was nice to be able to sit back and just watch them instead of worrying being at their sides every moment. Caleb loved the water and is way to brave for his own good!
We made a last minute decision to go up and see Uncle Steven and Aunt Candice who live in The Woodlands with the pool in mind. We lasted about 2 hours and the kids had a blast. They have a large blue slide (see below) that the kids went on over and over and over again. Much to my surprise it was Austin who first insisted on going down by himself. They allow more than one person to go down side by side and Avery and Austin tried, but they could never get it right. Austin would almost always start first before Avery pushed off to get down.
Thanks Aunt Candice & Uncle Steve for the fun afternoon. Chick-fil-A was great, too!

Avery & Aunt Candice playing with the noodle.

Spaghetti uh oh's

This is the result of leaving a 15 month old and a small bowl of spaghetti o's unattended.

Pics from the pool

We made our first trip to the "big" pool yesterday and as expected the kids had a blast. Since it's been a year, I was interested to see who would be the dare devil of the group as well as see if anyone was scared to be in such a big body of water. A&A both held back a bit at first but once they got comfortable, Avery was testing to see where all she could go and what all she could do. Austin stayed more in his comfort zone. Caleb had fun and thought he was a fish and lost his footing a few times finding his face in the water, but he was back up in no time and laughing withe the rest of us.

It's been a good week....

Today was day 4 at St. Paul's, day 3 for A&A to stay dry all day at school and day 2 for A&A to stay dry from morning to night. I finally feel like we are getting somewhere with potty training and hopefully on the downhill swing. We still have a ways before we start working on staying dry through the night, but this progress is GOOD in my books. Caleb is making the adjustment to a new daycare just fine. Today I even dropped off all 3 in the carline! This is monumental.... one stop drop off and I don't even have to get out. I can get use to this!

Kelcie's graduation....

When we were expecting Avery & Austin, we joked with Wes's cousin Kelcie that she was going to be our nanny, Nanny Kelcie. Well, we weren't able to convince her to quit school and come live with us and take care of the kids full time, but she has still been a HUGE help. A few weeks ago she text me and said I could drop the kids off after I picked them up from school and she'd watch them for a while... with the help of her mom and Rocky. I didn't have to think twice and I was able to get so much done at home and the kids had a blast! 2-3 hours without children are like precious treasures these days. Anyway, Kelcie graduated from high school last Saturday. Wes took A&A to watch her walk across the stage and then we went to a small get together for her on Sunday. Below are a few pics from the party....

The kids love riding these things...

Yum, pop ice!

Jamie Hafner and Avery having a little fun,

Kelcie & the girls...

Ahhhh... show me what color your tongue is.

Kelcie has helped out so much with Caleb!

Kelcie & Rocky... so cute...

New beginnings...

Today marked the day of a daycare change for Avery & Austin and the start of a school based daycare for Caleb. All 3 are now enrolled at St. Paul's and after just one day I know the kids are going to love it. Avery & Austin went into their new classroom a bit hesitant, but didn't object when I walked out. Caleb clung to me a bit tighter than usual when we walked into his new room, but when his teacher asked him if he wanted to go outside and held out her hands, he went right to her. I got a call at work around 10:30am and the caller ID said St. Paul's Day School. "Uh oh", I thought, but it wound up being Avery & Austin's teacher and she was calling to tell me that A&A were doing great and fitting in like they had been there for weeks already. I will take those phone calls any day!
When I picked them up from school A&A were very chatty. Avery said, "Miss Becky says we're Fricky Frogs." I just laughed... their class is the "Frisky Frogs." Caleb was a bit out of sorts once we got home... a big change for him today.

Caleb's 1st 2009 Summer Swim

Lather on the sunscreen and put on your bathing suits... it's summertime! We didn't make it a point to take the kids to the pool this weekend so we brought the pool to us. Caleb had a blast!