Ohio Family Trip pt 1

The kids and I loaded up the minivan on Friday of Memorial Day weekend to head to see (most) of the Borders family. Andrew flew in from NC that morning and we met him there.  Cathy had a whole weekend planned with food, games, activities and more food to celebrate Nathan's heart surgery in January. 

Nathan and Cathy had made a Jenga set which is where we got the idea (reason) to make ours. I am forever indebted :)

There is a park within walking distance from their house. It had a zip line type activity and Miss M loved riding back and forth on it.  She's pretty strong.

Pistol Annie wouldn't be left behind.

Cathy has a real snow cone machine with all the syrups. It was a hit.  The kids went bonkers getting to pick their flavors and pour on as much sugary goodness as they wanted. The adults were pretty excited for a cool treat too as it was pretty hot.

Serious about snow cones.

The baby pool was a hit with kids of all ages.  I think they threw a bunch of marbles in the pool and were fishing around for them.  They splashed around together for quite awhile while sharing the small space without arguing.  Impressive.

Craft time in the mud room.  The kids all got along so well. It was impressive. We didn't see much of them b/c they entertained themselves with all sorts of activities.

Cathy had games planned for the adults too. She always has games planned for the adults.  She usually excuses herself from the games and then laughs at everyone else.  This year she participated even though she knew what the games were. Nathan and I were on her team and we won the game of using our soapy toes to get the marbles out of the pool.  I dominated that game.  Andrew always tells me my toes look like tater tots and those tater tots came in handy. Who's laughing now :)

Auds and Drew having a rest in the shade.

There was a heart piñata to go with the theme of celebrating Nathan's heart surgery.  Thankfully it was a piñata where you pull strings to find the string that opens the trap door instead of entrusting kids of all sizes with a bat.

6 of 10 cousins! This pictures is my favorite from the weekend.

The boys went out for a fun night on the town and the ladies ended up hanging out in the backyard.  I don't know how it happened but we busted out the blood pressure cuff and went around the circle. Grandma had the lowest blood pressure...I take offense at this :)

Just hanging out.

Fire pit! S'mores time!

Everyday stuff

Andrew often comments on how great the arrangement of bunking Miss M and Big Will together has been since Tiffany moved in.  He can't go to sleep without her and now he wants to sleep with her in her bed.  He's the biggest lover in the family for sure. 

You'd have to be a lover to sleep with Miss M b/c she sleeps like a crazy person.  I walked in one night to find Big Will being continually beat in the face by her food.  I finally picked him up and put him in his own bed. No one should have to endure that sort of abuse.  

She can't sleep up and down on the pillow. She rotates around the entire bed.  Every night.  

The Village closes down a few streets once a week during the summertime and there is food and music.  The kids found the balloon artist and got balloons made. Will's balloon lasted almost five minutes before he hit it on the ground and it popped.  It was complete devastation.  I don't think we can go back b/c I can't handle balloon animals popping leaving the kids in hysterics.

Our new favorite thing to do is go to Menard's. It's not really very close. It's actually further away than Target and I refuse to go to Target b/c it's too far away but sometimes you need to make yard Jenga and Menard's calls your name.  The kids were in shock that you can buy a toilet at a store and spent a significant amount to time running in and out of the showers. It was excellent entertainment.  We went back today, to buy mulch, and ended up spending 30 minutes in the showers, and not buying mulch.  I spent $10 on Off mosquito stuff and tent stakes.  Pretty cheap date.

Andrew and Big Will sanding my Jenga blocks.  

We were able to play an intense game that night as some friends popped over to hang out.  

She's a unique little lady.  We are struggling to get the potty training thing down. We take one step forward and two steps back. Or else it feels like it. She's stubborn (politely stated independent) and does things on her time.  She won't be pushed (or bribed) into anything. It can be exhausting. I am exhausted right now thinking about it. I can't pull myself off the bed.  She also has been creating knots in her hair again. I don't understand why but they keep getting bigger. She's going to have bald patches soon. It's a good thing she has light colored hair as I am hoping this makes it less obvious.  If you look inside the lid of her blue cup you can see the knots we just finished cutting out.  She likes to save them after I cut them out.  

 Miss M playing dress up from the baby house the day we sanded and made Jenga.

 She quickly changed her role. This is very common for Miss M.  She can easily change her clothes 12 times in a day.  Her room is proof of it. She throws her clothes out of her drawers and onto the floor as she shuffles to find what she's looking for. It also exhausts me and makes me want to scream. Before summer is over we might go back to the basic wardrobe principle again where she gets five shirts/shorts/underwear so there's less mess to be made each day.

 In a moment of weakness at Costco one day I bought a 10 foot by 6 foot inflatable pool. It's probably going to the be best and worst part of my summer but it won't ruin (much) of Andrew's grass.  I put a tarp down under it so it wouldn't get poked with mulch/rocks and staked that to the ground.

 Joe and Cater having an evening swim.  Thankfully they are both clothed. It isn't uncommon to find one of them without clothes.

 And then I bought a tarp to put over it to try and preserve the water a little from bugs/leaves/general grossness.  So far it's working pretty well. It's just a matter of staking it on and cleaning the pool out every day.

 Sometimes I find Willie crashed out on the floor.  And I leave him there.  This is what a new 10 foot inflatable pool will do to a kid.  I just wish it had the same effect on Cater.

 She just keeps going and going. It's almost like she's unstoppable.  She's got some fashion sense :)

To encourage the kids to use their imagination (and not harass me all the time) we got boxes and went on a hunt for treasure.  We found a lot of rocks (or broken concrete). We are going to paint them later this summer or as soon as they ask for the next project.  

 

I am really looking forward to summer and the fun we are going to have each day.  On a macro level, summer will hopefully be memorable times for the kids but on a micro level there could be a lot of yelling due to pestering and fighting.  I hope macro ends up winning in everyone's memory.  

Three Piggy Opera

The Kindergarten end of the year program was called the Three Piggy Opera. Miss M had been signing the songs for few months around the house. I think Will and Cate picked up on the tunes and enjoyed singing along.  It was adorable and 30-40 minutes.  It was perfect.  Miss M had so much fun and was so happy when it was all over to have shown us what she had been working on for so long.  

Cate and Hazel will not be left out of the girls picture!

There are four kids going into 1st grade on our street.  These four kids all happen to be in the same kindergarten class.  I hope the odds are in our favor to get at least one of the neighbors in our 1st grade class. Miss M will really miss Evelyn in her class if she isn't there next year.  We don't find out room assignments until the week before school starts which is a bummer.

Willie's last day of Circle Room Preschool

Big Willie finished another year of preschool.  He was excited. He liked school but he loves being home.  He's so happy now when he asks if he has to go to school and I say no.  It could have something to do with his accessibility to the iPad and less to do with wanting to be with me.  

I couldn't find his book bag anywhere. And I didn't really care. Nor did I have time to look for it before school.

He's grown up so much. He's gotten taller.  His face has sharpened and become less baby like as has the rest of him. He's still the same lovable little fella with a little bit of emotional instability attached to each of his days.

He's really excited to move to the Diamond Room at the preschool with Jayne and Aileen.  I'm excited too b/c they are just as wonderful as his Circle Room teachers, whom Cate will have as teachers next year!

Keeping busy

We don't have very many dull days around here and with summer on the horizon we won't see a dull moment until the Tuesday after Labor Day when all three kids will be in school for at least 2.5 hours a day.  

The preschool has dine-around fundraisers where establishments donate a percentage of sales to the school.  We try to go to as many as we can to avoid cooking dinner.  It's always fun to see friends while we are out for dinner. Even if it is our neighbors! Please note I was the only adult responsible for all six of these crazy bananas.  

And then we found two more friends. It was madness but the best kind of madness.

The girls soaking their feet in a secret mixture of vinegar/water/Listerine.

The kids have rediscovered their Halloween costumes.  They've been getting a lot of wear. Miss M's princess outfit was purchased two years ago and still fits. She's such a tiny nut.  Cater is starting to migrate into the kangaroo suit that Miss M wore for three years.  Since Big Will is bigger than Miss M I don't ever see him wearing the kanga outfit.

But the penguin outfit is very popular with all of them.  This penguin costume is a size 18 months and needs to find a new home! Isn't he the cutest penguin around?!?

The girls got to go with Kayleen to see Gillian all dressed up for Prom. They got to see all the real life princesses dressed up in their fancy dresses and hair.  They loved it.

Willie playing Sunday morning soccer.

Cater and I picked up Chick-Fil-A before picking Willie up from school.  We decided to go to the park, since it was a beautiful day with no other obligations, and have a picnic.  The park is new to us as they opened it recently after an entire summer redesign last year. We went to check it out and see if it was going to be added to the list of our favorite parks.

Anything you can do...I can do better...is basically Cate's motto in life.

When she crashes...she crashes hard.  A sleeping baby is the most peaceful thing to watch...especially when they aren't sleeping in my bed.