The kids go to the 'Kuk

I drove the kids to the 'Kuk to spend the week with Aunt Janany and Glenny.  I drove them down on Thursday and woke up early and took the train back to Chicago to pack and get on a plane. 

When we arrived the kids learned which rooms were theirs and their rooms were full of toys and presents. There were new balls, chalk, colors, bubbles, bath toys and other stuff.  There were also big trucks for the kids to play with and Big Willie was in heaven.  It didn't take long for them to adjust.  

We had the luxury of having Internet connections throughout Amsterdam and Germany and we were able to send and receive text messages to know how the kids were fairing. It was nice to know what they were up to instead of wondering and worrying for no reason.

They went to the pool a couple days.  One day they met Kathy and some of her grandchildren.  I think the ladies realized that they were completely outnumbered with seven kids screaming demands at two adults. They didn't go back so outnumbered.  Noah is holding Kit-Kat while she screams her brains out and Big Willie is staring at the ground b/c he was worried about his shoes. 

Jordan was around after work.  He played basketball with Big Willie.  It was a bit overwhelming to watch my baby happily play with the kid I once babysat at the same age.

 Played trains.

 Played in the pool in the backyard when the city pool sounded too overwhelming.

They went to feed the ducks and the geese started running and chasing the kids. They had to run to the car so they wouldn't get attacked.

 Nightly wrestling match.  Janan said that Kit-Kat wanted in on all the action.

I was told the kids ate like pigs.  Uhhhh. I can't get them to eat anything.  Miss M told me her favorite thing was meatballs and mashed potatoes.  And homemade ice cream.

They made it! I think everyone had fun.

We landed in Chicago around 1pm Saturday afternoon.  We made it home around 2:30pm after getting our luggage and getting through customs. We were supposed to take the train out at 6pm.  Andrew didn't think he could handle waiting the three hours to get on the train so we drove down.  We were able to get there before they went to bed which was fun. They were excited to see us but I think we were more excited to see them.  I didn't really start missing the kids until Wednesday night before bed. Once I started missing them then all I wanted was to be home.

Random

I bought milk at the grocery store and forgot them for a day or two. Andrew dumped them out but before dumping them a small amount of milk spilled in the trunk.  The car stunk so bad. I couldn't get the smell out. I scrubbed it with soap and water and Resolve. Nothing. I vacuumed it. Nothing. I threw a lot of baking soda on it. It helped until I vacuumed the baking soda up.  

I needed to get things done before leaving for our vacation. I put Kit-Kat in the trunk and got almost everything done before she tried to face plant out.  

 I put Miss M to work and she vacuumed for me.  She thought it was great.

 She keeps ending up in our bed.  She sleeps like a freaking maniac.

Cate and Will

His curls kill me. His hair is getting finally starting to noticeably grow and when his hair gets wet/sweaty it gets so curly.   

 I just want to eat him.

 Look at that face. His mouth is so big.

 She thinks she can do anything anyone else can do.

The play cafe is perfect for Big Willie and Kit-Kat b/c it's baby proofed, enclosed and air conditioned!

Shaving cream

I had bought some shaving cream to let the kids play with but had forgotten about it until last week.  After Miss M's gymnastics class we came home to have some fun and get messy.  

 The water table turned into our play area.

 The shaving cream didn't stay in the water table very long.  It ended up all over them.

I took the hose to them and cleaned them off. It was kind of satisfying to squirt them.

Rehm Park

I have a list of things to do with the kids this summer so we aren't just playing in the basement or destroying the house.  

These two are good ones.  They are good about holding hands and walking to our destination and not running in front of cars.  It makes me happy that they don't try to run in front of cars. I don't have that kind of energy. The energy I am conserving with these two will no doubt be expended with the last one.  She's gonna take me down.   

Swinging.

I wish my kids liked to swing.  It would be nice to have them in one place for more than one minute.

Rehm park has hand powered trains that aren't out very often.  We happened to be at the park when they opened the shed for the kids.  Jill and Jack met us at the park to play too.  The little ones weren't strong enough to crank the hand crank so we had to push them around the track.

The little guy loves to climb and wants to do it himself.  Works for me. I will just be sitting on the bench drinking my latte. Oh right b/c if I were to sit on a bench Kit-Kat would eat everything she could find.

Miss M's first official camp out!

I wanted Andrew to write the blog post about their camp out but it might never get posted if I waited for him!

The Arboretum hosted a camp out event for families.  They provided everything except the tent.  Naturally I had to buy a tent for the occasion. Thankfully, Costco was having a sale on six person tents for me to purchase.  The package said it was a sixty second set up. I asked Andrew to time the set up b/c based on our RAGBRAI adventures we never set up a tent nearly that fast. He said it took three minutes! I am not sure he ever thanked me for buying such an amazing tent. 

Andrew and Miss M were joined for the festivities by Kev and the boys.  Gabe and Miss M. He loves her so much.

They had a number of activities throughout the grounds for the kids to work on before bed. 

The Arboretum provided snacks.  They also had a campfire and gave everyone the fixings for s'mores. I didn't think Miss M would eat a s'more b/c she generally doesn't really enjoy sweets. She usually takes one bite and tells me something is so tasty and then never touches it again.  Andrew said she ate two of them.

I think everything went really well. I forgot to pack a pillow for Andrew but I think he just stole Miss M's after she went to sleep.  They have another camp out in July and Andrew said he would do it again so I take that as a win for everyone.

The trenches

I feel like I am so far in the trenches of babyhood that I can't see the light. I know it's around the corner. I know that each day should get easier but this little munchkin is wearing me out. I don't understand these people who say they have 'easy babies'. I want to punch those people. I don't understand babies who just sit calmly in a car seat, a stroller, on a lap, anywhere...ever.  Kit-Kat hates a car seat, a stroller, a lap or anything that keeps her contained and down.  

She screams all day. I think there's just so much screaming around here that she thinks it's how humans communicate.  It is how we communicate but only b/c I spend 90% of my day playing referee between kids.  Lately I am just so tired of the constant negotiations, yelling, no one listening.  Kids are insane. I frequently tell the kids they are insane or crazy.  This recently came back to bite me when Miss M told Nick and Callie that her mom was crazy. Well. I am totally crazy but I am not crazy enough to be worried about...yet.  

Kids getting messy due to feeding themselves was cute with child #1 but with child #3 it's just a pain. It means a bath instead of straight to bed.  

She is crazy.  

I also caught her climbing stairs the other day. I wanted to curl into the fetal position. I am not ready for the battle of the stairs with this muffin.  The stairs are essentially baby proofed but for baby proofing to really work I need everyone in the house to remember to shut doors and toilet lids and gates.  These people aren't reliable. I know how they operate.

It was essential I showered one day last week (the days all run together) and so I let her just cruise around. She almost immediately went to playing in the toilet water like it was her own personal water table. I couldn't do anything but watch and be happy she was quiet and I could watch her to ensure she didn't fall in. 

I think #3 is going to kill me. I am terrified for what's to come with her.  She eats rocks and mulch and buttons and stale goldfish and everything else she can find.  I am afraid her adventures and stories are only just beginning.

Getting outside

We've had what feels likes so.much.rain lately. After the fight over turning the television off each afternoon we end up outside.  Miss M loves riding her bike and after running into the neighbors behind us we learned that the neighborhood kids like to go to Circle Park and Monkey Island. These places are not really real places. 

Circle Park is this cul-de-sac  block away from our house.  The kids like to ride their bikes/scooters in the street.  We usually ride around a couple times and then head on over to Monkey Island. 

Monkey Island is across the street from Circle Park and is essentially a long median in the road with lots of trees on it. The kids like to climb the trees, swing on the trees, collect branches, dig in the dirt and just run around like monkeys. I don't know if I am sad or impressed for these city kids with resorting to a median in the road as a playground!

 Digging and just getting dirty.

 Climbing trees.

Scooters! He's gotten pretty good and fast. He doesn't fall nearly as often. He's figuring out how to steer without running into the grass and then picking his scooter up and moving it back.

I love when he wears a helmet. It just makes me laugh and smile and want to eat his cheeks.

After a stroll around the block...which inevitably ends with me pushing Kit-Kat in her car and carrying Big Will (who is huge) and his scooter. It's a nightmare but it's better than watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates and being inside.

Miss M has been all about playing softball lately.  She's good too. At least in my unprofessional opinion I think she's good. She's good compared to all the things she's not really that great at i.e. ice skating, dancing, gymnastics, soccer...

She's got a good stance.  She's working on holding the bat correctly.

 She prefers when you pitch the ball to her rather than hitting off the tee.

She generally makes contact with the ball.  She could probably use a better pitcher than me.  One of our babysitters plays softball at the high school so maybe she can play with Miss M this summer. She starts t-ball sometime this summer so we'll see how she likes it when it's structured.

A day for Big Willie

Miss M was in camp for two weeks and that left the little two and I for three hours Monday through Thursday.  I was getting a babysitter during that time to get a few things done but one day I decided to make sure I was around to take Big Willie out.  He doesn't get to go out often.  It usually ends up that he gets to go to the park with Miss M or he has to stay home b/c I don't want to take Kit-Kat anywhere.  There was a park I had wanted to go to and so we packed up and the three of us went on an adventure.  He likes the parks and he's getting more comfortable climbing on things that he probably shouldn't be on.  

 A roller slide. It isn't super fast which is nice that it doesn't throw him off at the end.

This was the big slide that he found after he climbed a tall ladder that he probably shouldn't have been on. He went up and down so many times.

 Look at that curl on the top of his head. It's there more often than it's not.

We picked Miss M up from school and did a reading lesson. I have a book that I got for Christmas to teach a child to read in 100 easy lessons. Whoever these people are two think this is easy are crazy.  Miss M and I fight about it every single day. We are on lesson 8 so we aren't even very far into the book. I make her do a lesson (which takes around 10 minutes or less) before she goes downstairs and rots her brain out with hours of Netflix. I will continue to fight with her b/c a few minutes without Netflix is good for her.  Netflix is a nightmare with a child. I should have never told her which buttons to push on the remote.  The summer has just started. I want to throw the tv out the window or at least unplug it and see how long we can survive. I don't use survive loosely. It could get ugly.

 He's a good egg. Most days. Not particularly today but most days.

We made pizzas. I let the kids have their own dough and I let them roll it out, apply sauce, cheese, and toppings. They had fun and they actually turned out a lot better than I was expecting. They were a little scary looking before they went into the oven. 

This is Big Will's pizza with his tomatoes and salami toppings. I didn't really have much to chose from as I predicted they would only want cheese. 

Miss M's pizza. She created a smily face with tomatoes for eyes and a carrot for his mouth. I don't remember if she put a nose on it. She could have used more cheese but I think the cheese was used as hair.