Old Timey Photo

Some of my favorite pictures of the kids are the Old Timey pictures we've had taken at Busch Gardens and Saint Augustine. I just had to get one done with all 6 grandkids- what a hassle! But its a treasure!

Shawn's first beach trip

Nuts

Saturday Chris found a baby squirrel that had fallen out of its nest and was being attacked by 3 crows. We had it until Monday afternoon when I was finally able to place it with a Wildlife Rehabilitator (Thanks Dr. Kolunie!) She is the head of the Biology Department at Barton, and was so excited to have a "baby" for the fall (it takes all kinds I guess! ;0) ) I have enough babies, although I must admit Chris and Katherine did a bang up job caring for it, but I think the feedings every 4 hours with a medicine dropper and changing the hot water bottle every couple of hours would have gotten very old!

Williamsburg with the nieces!

I just do not have the time to sit down and blog about the past week. We were sooooo busy! Busch Gardens 3 or 4 times, Water Country twice, a day at Virginia Beach. We had a lot of fun, everyone got along good- hope to do it again soon. We may go down to Florida in February. Trish said she's trying to talk John into going there on vacation. We'll see I guess... I took about 500 pictures, but here is just a sampling...

Where did Summer go???

The past few days have been wonderful weatherwise. Still in the 80's, but very low humidity and dropping down to very pleasant temperatures at night. I'm certain it won't last (it will probably be triple digits and 99% humidity next week when Trish and the girls are here). It certainly feels like fall is on its way. Which leaves me wondering "where did the summer go?" I guess summer school ate up the whole month of July, but what about June and August? I don't even have a tan! We'll have next week in Williamsburg, but then next Monday Chris starts school. Then Brianna starts Preschool Sept. 2. I FINALLY got her enrolled in A Child's Place at Farmington Heights Church. Filling out all of her paperwork tomorrow. I called the Preschool at the First Presbyterian Church today (where Chris went to Preschool) they only have an opening in the Tues/Thurs class. F.H's classes are Mon-Thurs which I really feel is preferable. 3 hours 4 days a week BriBri free time will be very helpful. Katherine will be able to do her school work, and so will I. My classes start in a week- UGH! I am so not ready for school to start back. I love summer- no schedules, no running back and forth, no clubs, no sports. I'm trying really hard to be optimistic/prepared/organized- I'm just not feeling it... I need to call tomorrow and find out when Girl Scouts and 4-H start back up...

Some cute pictures

I think that Shawn's bathtime is Brianna's favorite time of the day. It is her "job" to get him a towel, a washcloth, and his baby wash while I am getting his tub filled up. Then she runs and finds her "steppy stool" to help. Today she couldn't find her stool (I think its outside) so she slid a chair over. If only cleaning her room were as fun as bathtime...

Shawny of Arabia/Happy 1/4 Birthday!

This morning while I was cleaning up the kitchen Chris fed Shawn his breakfast. Carrots were on the menu, his first day with them and he seemed to enjoy them. Obviously Chris has not mastered the scoop, scrape and shovel method of baby feeding! Chris brought Shawn to me looking like this and proclaimed him "Shawny of Arabia" I thought it was rather cute and decided to post them. Please note the ever present string of drool. Today also happens to be Shawn's 3 month birthday. It's amazing to consider how much he has changed just in the past 3 months.

Brianna update...

Brianna is much much better today. Her fever is gone and she is pretty much back to her old self- perhaps a little low on energy, but since she has an overabundance of it anyway= I'm not complaining! She only threw up once yesterday and it was right after I gave her some Children's Tylenol (thinking that may have been the reason). Poor thing, she really doesn't like limits being put on her affection. She was devastated that she couldn't have any of my drink (I felt bad and just let her have it) and she hates not being able to kiss Shawn. Finally I relented and told her that she could kiss his feet or his legs. She smirked and said "Can I kiss his butt?" and laughed like it was the funniest thing on earth! She's in that wonderful stage where butts, poop, and other bodily functions are just hilarious. Joy Joy. She's also really into telling "jokes" that are not the least bit funny. Apparently she was practicing her material on Elton the other day, and he told her the joke about the bear and the bunny pooping in the woods, the bear asks the rabbit if he has trouble with poo sticking to his fur, the rabbit says no, and the bear picks up the rabbit and wipes his butt with him! Brianna decided to share this particular gem with me, she couldn't remember all of the details but of course remembered all of the important parts! (One liners are really more her style!) I would have expected it from Chris, but I would have thought that Elton would have known better!

Bald & Barfing...

This description (although not 100% accurate) is of Brianna. Friday night I decided to give her her first real haircut. She's had her bangs trimmed before, but never the back. It turned out pretty cute, although it didn't seem to bring back any of her curls. :0(

Saturday while Shawn and I were napping, and Elton was on BriBri duty, Brianna decided to follow in her sisters footsteps and cut her own hair... The bangs are pretty jacked up, but the back isn't too bad- she added some interesting layers. She would have to do this the week before my sister and nieces get here!

At least she was a little more restrained than Katie... Katie had hair almost down to her butt, I actually had to take her to a hairdresser to see what they could do to minimize the effects. She ended up wth an extremly short pageboy. and splotches where you could see scalp. She looked like she had mange! I cried. I will point out that I was at work and she was home with Daddy when it happened. I was talking to him on the phone and then he yells "OH MY GOD KATHERINE - WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR HAIR??? " Then he says "I gotta go" and hangs up on me!

Anyway, like I said Shawn and I were napping(he has been sleeping terribly the last couple of night, he drools and chews his fist constantly- I can't feel a tooth, but one just has to be on its way,,,) Elton must have thought it was cute b/c he took the picture, how perfectly it works into this blog... He never would have taken it if he knew it would be used against him! I woke up to find clumps of hair all over the floor. Oh well, at least I can put it into her baby book.

Brianna took about a 3 hour nap this afternoon, I figured it was just because we stayed over at Bobby and Tracy's so late last night and she played/swam so much. No such luck she woke up with a fever, and proceeded to throw up her Children's Tylenol. Poor baby, it must have been those germy little kids at Play Camp!

Katherine is home!

She got home Saturday afternoon, She had a fabulous time! Katherine & Graison are such kindred spirits, best friends since Kindergarten and have never had a disagreement! Friday they went to Club Libby Lou's and had makeovers. Apparently this is the ultimate in preteen girl entertainment. I had never heard of it before, but my g/f Buffy had and said her daughter would be sooooo jealous. They had their hair styled and their makeup done (I didn't get to see the make-up since it was done the day before, but if the hair and silver glitter heart stickers around her eyes are any indicator it must have been wild!) It was definatly the high light of her trip! I would hope so for $45, but she did get a bag and make-up too. She's a good girl- she deserved it. I need to call Sandy and see if she took any pictures. Katherine is trying to make her hair last until Jordanne and Devanne get here next week. Also pictured is the back of K's airbrushed T-shirt (Graison got a matching one)

Smiling Shawny!

This is the picture of Shawn I meant to post- isn't he just too precious???

Last Day of Play Camp

Brianna had a great last day of Play Camp- we hate to see it end! They rode the train, had an ice cream social, colored, made 2 "projects" and recieved their Graduation Certificates. I was talking to her "teachers" while I was picking her up and they thought she was 5 years old! They were sure surprised to find out that she's only 3! We're definatly signing up for Play Camp next year, it is a great program.

I still spend my nursing downtime watching Food Network, Paula is still #1, but I am really into Good Eats now- its so educational. I'm glad to try some new recipes- I am seriously tired of the same old stuff! Yesterday I made some Southwestern Eggrolls with an Avacado dipping sauce. I got the recipe off the internet, its a Chili's knock-off. They turned out really good. I love the combination of corn and blackbeans. I didn't have quite enough Jalopinos- they were definatly needed. Today I made chicken breasts ham, swiss, roasted red peppers and basil. Kind of a kicked up Chicken Cordon Bleu, and Paula's Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf. I try to make the best of my cooking time (when kids are cooperative) I swear I am the leftover queen! I'm still working on my "recipe book". I cashed in some of our Visa Rewards points for a Staples gift card- I'll use that to buy some printer ink, and page protectors.

Katherine is coming home sometime tomorrow- can't wait to see her! Chris is spending the night at Bobby and Tracy's- hope he's behaving himself!

On the way to Play Camp today

Finally some peace and quiet!

Well there is something to be said for Elton working nights. The kids actually go to sleep and I'm able to actually get something accomplished! Chris is spending the night away and both Brianna and Shawn were asleep by 8:30! 4 hours later, I have played on the computer, cleaned the whole house (well downstairs...) including supercleaning B's room- its all organized and dejunked- threw away 2 Wal-mart bags of broken toys, and crappy old McDonalds toys. (We'll see how long it lasts) showered, and painted my toenails! Yeah- a good night. It started off rocky- poor Shawn turned into monster baby at 4 (second night in a row) None of my other babies have suffered with colic like he does. It can be hours of incessant screaming. I overdosed him with Mylicon drops and gave him another bath. He LOVES his bath, and it seems to help with his tummy ache. Then he nursed and passed out. It's 12:30 now and I'm just killing time waiting for my toenails to dry- he'll probably wake up and want to nurse as soon as I go to sleep...

Brianna is sooooo loving Play Camp! I don't know which one of us will be sorrier to see it end. Today was Bike Day, Chris was our hero and carried her Dora bike down to the Rec with a detour by Nana and Grandpa's to put some air in her tires. She is really getting a kick out of packing her lunch everyday. She is so ready for preschool. Decided today that we need to work on coloring inside the lines. She prefers to "scribble scrabble". We'll just consider it Modern Art! Katherine used to critique her own artwork "No mommy- it's not pretty- its scribble scrabble!" and proceed to tear it up! She was so cute :0) She called tonight and it having a great time in Myrtle Beach- I sure miss my Katie-Bug!

Play Camp Rocks!

Brianna LOVES Play Camp, she was so excited to go again this morning- no hug, no kiss, barely a "oh yeah, bye mom." I must admit that was a slight blow to my ego, but I'm so glad that she is having fun and no seperation anxiety. She'll be crushed when Play Camp is over- but Pre School will be starting soon. A Child's Place has not called me back, I need to call them again tomorrow- I need to get her registered somewhere... Today they colored, blew bubbles, made a teddy bear picture frame (complete with picture) for the fridge, handprint art, and played with chalk outside under the shelter, she took me over there to specifically point out the hopscotch area- that is her current obsession- although she hasn't quite got the concept down yet- it's glorified two foot stomping! ;0)

Today is Elton's first night on his own shift- he called and said that the atmosphere is more laid back, they don't micromanage; but he has twice as many people as the weekend shift and an additional department.

Chris had an Orthodontist appt. this afternoon, said he's done well with his brushing, but needs to wear his retainer more (he spent the night away from home Sat. and Sun, it was unexpected and he didn't have his retainer) It is truly amazing how quickly his teeth will start to spread apart if he misses wearing his retainer for a couple days... I think they should just glue them together! ;0)

Shawn has been a beasty pretty much all day today- he's a really good baby, but he does have his occasional bad day- very colicy today- screamed if I layed him down, just wanted to be held, barely slept. It seems to have passed, he's finally sleeping now- either that or he's passed out from an overdose of Mylicon drops and Gripe Water!

I sure miss my Katie Bug, hope she's having a fabulous time at Myrtle Beach. She called Monday morning- right after I left to sign B. up for Play Camp, so she got to talk to Daddy. He said she's having fun (as if she couldn't with her best friend at M.B.!)

Tomorrow while B. is at Play Camp I'm going to take advantage of the situation and clean out her room- she has alltogether too much junk. She has 6 bins for her toys and will not hesitate to literally dump them onto the floor when she is looking for something. I have organized her toys a million times (of course that lasts about 5 minutes) I think it is time to downsize!

Brianna's New Adventure

Since Katherine is gone for the week and Brianna is depressed and "never has any fun", I decided to sign her up for Play Camp at the Rec. I decided to try and do this on Sat. so I had no idea if they had any openings until this morning at 9 when Play Camp started. Thankfully they had an opening. I hadn't told her about it, since I didn't want her to be disappointed. She did really well considering it was sprung on her at the last minute. She was a little unsure about staying and said that she wanted to go to the park (that's where I told her we were going- it was my backup plan). When I brought her her lunch she wanted to go home with me (she was having a ball playing on the gymnastic tumbling blocks with the other kids when I arrived.) I told her no, she should stay and have a picnic with her new friends, and showed her the lunch I had packed for her in Katherine's Bratz lunchbox. I think it was the cookies that swayed her! ;0) They took her picture and she made a frame for it. It has a magnet on the back and its on the fridge, she made a necklace with her name on it (well it says Breanna- oh well), she colored a picture of a busy bee, and made a hat. They went outside and blew bubbles (always a favorite activity), they had big bubbles and little bubbles- which I guess was really cool. She was ready to go back tonight, and was very cooperative taking a bath, brushing her teeth, helping me pack her lunch and going to bed early so she would be "ready for school"in the morning. I'm glad she had fun and did really well. This is the first time I've ever left her. If she stays at Dad and Janet's Chris and Katherine are with her. What a big girl- she's growing up so quickly!

Saturday Night

Well Katherine left Saturday morning to go to Myrtle Beach with Graison for a week (lucky dog!) We straigtened up a little, went to Wal-mart, came home and started cooking. Elton's shift changes next week and he doesn't have to work today so we went to Bobby & Tracy's last night and cooked out. I took Baked Macaroni and Cheese- this version was really good! I made a Banana Split Cake that I had seen on Paula's show. I did make some changes to it, but it turned out awesome- definatly not diet!! Everyone loved it! We're going back this afternoon so Bobby can put a new compressor on my van (yeah! It is way too hot to not have air conditioning! 104 Friday with humidity in the 90's UGH!) Elton's going to fill out all of Tracy's FAFSA paperwork for school, and her application for enrollment, Tracy, the kids and I are going to be in the pool LOL! There was plenty of food left over so we're going to have lunch- there better be some cake left, but since Chris spent the night over there I doubt it! We got home about 2 oclock this morning, Elton was in the mood to talk so we stayed up until 4:30- I didn't realize it was that late... I was up at 8 (thanks to Shawn and the fact that I just can't sleep in) He is still peacefully snoozing away- pig! We've got a memorial service to go to tonight @7- but thats another post entirely...

Banana Split Cake

Smash an entire box of Graham Crackers and mix with 2 sticks of melted butter. Press into the bottom of a greased 9x13 dish. Mix 2 pkgs cream cheese with 1 box of powdered sugar, spread over crust, then a layer of crushed canned pineapple (reserve the juice) Then a layer of bananas that have been dunked in the pineapple juice to prevent browning. I used 3 medium bananas thinly sliced. A layer of whipped cream (1 carton) then drizzle with chocolate syrup, chopped pecans and halved marshino cherries.

It was really really good and I will definatly be making it again. Paula's recipe didn't call for chocolate syrup, and who would eat a banana split without chocolate syrup??? Instead of the sweetened cream cheese layer Paula had a layer of powdered sugar, butter, and eggs. This dish isn't baked and the idea of eating raw eggs is revolting (not to mention dangerous) besides doesn't cream cheese make everything better??? I didn't have any marshino cherries- I figured they were purely astetic anyway,,, Next time I will add a layer of sliced strawberries.

Clearance Sales

Yesterday was an incredibly busy day! I was up until 3:30 burning Volleyball Referee videos, slept til 4, fixed E's breakfast gathered up all of his stuff- keys, cell phone, badge etc. Went back to bed at quarter til 5, slept until 8. Got up cleaned the house, took a shower, finished burning the rest of the videos. Lynn and Donna came by to pick up the videos, then Rebecca came by to thank me for testifying for her, and brought the girls a bunch of coupons and things that she had left over from the summer reading program. They were very excited! There were coupons for free pizzas, ice cream cones, bowling, self defense lessons at the karate school, train rides at the Rec, coloring sheets, and book marks. She's so sweet. Thankfully the house was clean and I looked presentable! LOL! The kids and I went to the mall, Lynn and Donna met us in JCPenney's parking lot and gave me the check for burning the vidoes. $100- that was nice!
Katherine and I can actually wear the same size shoes now- at least in flip flops. Got 4 really cute pair at Sears $3.50 pair, Bri got 2 pair of Bobby Jack flip flops for next year $2, and an adorable pair of black leather shoes with a silver heart that will go good with pants or skirts $8. Chris got a Dixie Outfitters shirt (Duck hunting- not on clearance- but Chris NEVER finds anything on clearance- I think he thinks it means nobody liked it!) I got 5 shirts and a pair of black capri's, I was in DESPERATE need of some new clothes. Katherine got a super cute purse- black with pink hearts. We had lunch at Andy's and then went home to nurse and change Shawn. Then we headed back out again- Goody's, Ross, and Food Lion. They were the only grocery store with really good specials this week- Pepsi's 4/$10, Cheeze-It's Buy 1 Get 1 free (E's addiction). Then Ice Cream at McDonald's. We had a really good day- the kids were great (surprisingly) even though we were gone practically all day, we got some super great bargains. We got home shortly before Elton, ate dinner, and went to bed at 9:30! That practically sleepless night and busy day caught up with me. It's so nice that we can just go to bed and leave the oldest 3 to fend for themselves!