Day 184

Day 183

Day 182

We had hoped to go camping this weekend but it rained again on Friday. However, we did take the time today to go up to one of the lakes and do some fishing this morning. It was a nice day and we all had fun. (no frustrations with the kids like last time - yay!) We sadly didn't catch any fish, but that's ok.
To finish up our faux camping experience, for dinner we lit a fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.

Day 181

Date Night!
We took the kids to the pool this morning. Then they got to spend some time with Gma and Gpa while Sam and I had a date. We went to see the new Transformers movie, had some dinner, and wound up the night with grocery shopping. Yes I said groceries. Is it bad that we consider running errands sans kiddos a suitable date activity?

Day 180

Day 179

Day 178

(no she's not still attached to a binki - they were pretending to be babies)

Day 177

My good friend Dari (and her husband KC too) was blessed with a precious baby girl to add to the 2 wild boys already in her collection and I am so happy for her. We got to go meet little 4 day old Emma today. Kaitlyn was SO excited. She had picked a flower 'specially for the baby and made me tie a bow around it and couldn't wait to present it to Emma. And of course she loved holding her and I think Emma liked it too. Baby Emma had been fussy in my arms but when I handed her to Kate she was quiet and started to fall asleep. We spent almost 2 hours there so I could get my fill of babies and girl talk and the kids had a great time playing together.

Day 176

Kaitlyn has a fascination with creepy crawlies like caterpillars and worms. Today she found a caterpillar at Grandma's house and insisted on keeping it. It has very fun to observe her playing with it. She named it Zoe. Sam overheard one of her conversations with it (remind me to ask him again to get the wording correct) and came inside laughing. I guess she was saying things like "So, what do you like to do? You like to crawl around?" Then she challenged Zoe to a game of cards.

Day 175

Happy Father's Day! Sam's a great dad - we all know that right? :) Ok so I won't expand on it but move directly to a description of the days events.

Kaitlyns plan for the day started with breakfast in bed for her Daddy. She and Ty were both up pretty early so they helped me make waffles then Katy took them in to him on the tray while Ty carried the syrup. That was followed by the opening of presents. I had taken some photos of the kids and framed them (see me scrapbooking blog for details). And the kids had also painted some pictures for Sam.
Next on Katy's list was washing the truck but it was raining (yet again) so we skipped that part. We also had to scrap the plan to go fishing. So we ended up just having some play time where Sam had the honor (haha) of giving the kids piggyback and leg rides - at the same time of course!
Lunch was a trip to Sam's mom's house for tacos and nachos with the gang.
Sam had caught a couple of trout on a quick fishing stop after work Friday. So he smoked those for dinner. I had intended to invite my parents over to join us, but I didn't plan ahead so they had already gone to the movie and grabbed dinner over there. So my dad only got a phone call from me (I feel like a bad daughter) instead of something more elaborate.
Dessert was the chocolate fountain - another of Kaitlyn's plans. She specifically wanted to try dipping Goldfish crackers in the fountain. So we tried those along with gummi bears, pretzels, and vanilla wafers - mmmm.

Day 174

Today was my monthly Sat with The Girls. Alisha hosted a Memories day - we watched movies from high school (mostly Tapestry (for those of you that are uninformed, that's the name of our high school choir)) and relived old memories. It was a lot of fun.
While I was gone, the kids and Sam had to entertain themselves. And since it was raining, they resorted to building a playhouse inside with blankets. (Are you sick of hearing about the rain? we're getting sick of living with it)

Day 173

This is what I get when I try to take a shower. Tyler had coins strewn all up and down the hallway. And that wasn't the only mess he made. Ty is a 2 year old and thus into trouble a lot but today, in particular, was pretty bad. He spilled an entire sippy cup of milk all over the kitchen floor. Then after I mopped it up and put away the mop, he got the mop back out and sprayed the solution all over the place (it's a Swiffer mop so the bottle of stuff is attached and you just push the button to squirt it). Then he was out in the mud while I was mowing the lawn. That's not a bad thing right? Well he decided that he wanted to wash off his feet so he and the mud made their way inside to the kitchen sink. I found him sitting on the counter with his feet in the sink and about an inch of water in the sink (how he opened the front door I don't know). And all of this was well before noon! After naps he again made me mop the floor and clean the fridge when he tried to get some juice. Ugh - I'm exhausted.

Day 172

Day 171

Yes, he's pouting. (reason being: I was making him get dressed - he loves his pjs) It's pretty cute.

Day 170

Yup, still raining.

Day 169

Day 168

Day 167

Dirty face and skinned knees: all boy.

Day 166

I love Tyler's little hands.

Day 165

Kaitlyn had her first experience with the theater today. We took her to Beauty and the Beast and she loved it.
Ty spent the night with Grandma so Kaitlyn got Sam and I all to herself. I thought she would get a kick out of that but she must have missed her brother because she kept saying how much Tyler would like it.
We left home early enough to eat dinner, including a yummy dessert of Asphault Pie at Wingers. We had been wondering about the weather and sure enough it rained on us in the middle of the show (it was at an outdoor theater). They had to stop the show for a bit so the mics didn't get too wet. But it wasn't a big deal, other than it made everything really cold for the rest of the night. Kaitlyn didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. She was fascinated by the set and how they moved it around and pretty much tried to talk through most of it, asking a million questions. The play itself was very well done. I was suprised at how closely it followed the movie - leaving nothing out but adding a few more songs (that in my opinion it was fine without). They even did the big production number with the dancing dishes.
Kaitlyn talked her dad into getting her popcorn at intermission. And when it was over she was asking when we could go to another one before we even hit the parking lot.
(the photo was obviously taken the next day since I left the camera at home in deference to the rain)

Day 164

I have two little stories from today.
This morning we were playing outside with some of our neighbor friends. The rain has still been off and on so we had mud puddles. Ty ended up taking off his shoes and playing in them. I guess when he eventually realized that he was getting mud on his clothes he went inside to change. He came back outside with his pants off and asking me to take of his shirt. So I undid his buttons and sent him back inside to grab a new set of clothes. Instead he came wandering back outside, naked, with his diaper and shirt clutched in his hand. I just had to laugh. I got him dressed again before thinking to grab the camera so the next time I saw him naked I snapped this shot.
The other noteworthy thing from today isn't funny. Kaitlyn complained of headache this morning - her 3rd bad one in the last 2 months (the other 2 were bad enough to make her throw up). After the last one Sam and I were discussing the possibility of it being a migraine so when it happened today I decided I'd better call the Dr. We ended up going in for an appointment this afternoon and the Dr. agrees with our speculation that it's migraines. She hadn't seen anyone that young that had them, but did a little research and sure enough 2% of children between the ages of 5 and 7 have them. Our poor girl! I hate the thought of her having to deal with migraines the rest of her life. But at least we know it isn't a bigger problem and know what we need to do next time she has one (Tylenol and sleep!). At this point they don't seem to last longer than 2-3 hours and she is her normal self as soon as they are over, so that's good.

Day 163

Another one from Katy's camera

Day 162

Sam has been telling Kaitlyn about Mr. Gunnysack. I guess this is a technique his mom employed when he was young to get her kids to clean up their toys. And our slightly nicer version of the sack that takes away any toys left out (ours will also bring rewards and is very sneaky - only appearing when Katy is sleeping or gone so it has more of a Tooth Fairy mystique) prompted Kaitlyn to want to update and use her sticker chart. So on her own she went around taking photos of things that represent her chores. When I downloaded her camera I found it interesting what she had been taking photos of - not just today but in the couple months worth of photos that were on her camera. A lot seem to be of things she values, like her Hello Kitty bank (that she painted herself). I think she shows great potential as a photographer, don't you? (even with the low quality photos taken by her kiddie camera)

Day 161

Rain. Errands. That was our Sunday. But during a break in the clouds we were able to get the kids outside to try out the soccer ball we picked up while we were out. Kaitlyn loves it and is pretty good at kicking it. But she refused to play by the rules when Sam was trying to teach her the game. Typical of Miss Kate - always wants to do things her way.

Ty had fun too, but his attention span was much shorter than Kate's. His favorite thing was bouncing the ball off his dad's head :)
*I'm putting more photos on my personal blog because I was having fun with my camera and took a ton

Day 160

It's Air Force Week (no, I'm not entirely sure what that means, but the base was one of only 3 cities in the country to host it this week) so we took the kids and my mom down to the base for the open house/air show. They had planes of one kind or another up in the air performing all day long. That was really cool. They also had a lot of planes sitting out for people to walk through. For some reason Kaitlyn thought it was scary to go inside any so we only walked through this C5. It was HUGE. We saw the smaller planes, and the parachutists, and a glider, a mock dog fight...then probably left before the really really cool stuff. Because we were tired of being out in the sun and fighting the crowds, and we were all hungry. But it was a great experience.

Day 159

Day 158

The kids spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's. Mom said Ty slept great - even slept in until 7:30. But he didn't make it through to naptime before falling asleep on the couch.

Day 157

"Blankie. Hat mama! Milk."
That's my boy and when he wants to cuddle up and be comfortable, that's what he usually wants to have. His blanket (not a specific one, he rotates between whatever is available and looks apealing) wrapped around him and over his head (his "hat") and something to drink. That kid drinks a lot. And often spills it on the couch even with the lid on. But he sure is cute, isn't he?

Day 156

This has been the weather lately (view from my front lawn - I thought the low clouds were cool) - we get afternoon thunderstorms that stick around all night. Then they clear off at some point during the morning only to return again that afternoon. It's been going on like this for at least a week, which is fine. Except Kaitlyn is scared of thunder (or at least claims she is and likes to scream or cuddle).

Day 155