Clothing Oddities and The Rehearsal

My husband's sister got married last weekend.  Berean was a flower girl and Lincoln was the Ring Bearer.

After a flurry of activities on Saturday, we finally made it to the rehearsal.  I had gotten Berean up from her nap, popped her dress over her head, told her to put her shoes on and we were out the door.  

At the rehearsal she removed one of her shoes, and I happened to see the bottom of her feet.

The picture does not do justice to the sheer magnitude of dirt on that little flower girl's foot.  Oh well.

That nice open space was a wonderful spot for the kids to blow off some steam.  Oh, about the clothing oddities- Roman gives us nothing but trouble when we want/need him to "dress up" for something.  At tee ball, the Tuesday after the wedding, I noticed that he had put on black dress pants with his jersey.  Apparently it is not a matter of discomfort, but of will.

I was trying to get a picture of all of the kids, but this time it was Berean that was non-compliant.  Look at the rest of them, sitting there all nice and cute!

The window well provided entertainment as well.

Berean goes wandering away, backpack in place.

A brother is close at hand to track her down.

Do you know how much it melts my heart to see him take her hand?  All the boys hold her hand a lot - that girl is well loved.

Stopping to smell the roses- or rather some other random yellow flower, whose name I can never remember.

A Big Day

Daddy and the girls

More pictures of the "Upholstered Marshmallows" and the "Obstinate Ringbearer" coming soon!

Fun Summer

Last week we took a day to head down to the "Big Zoo".  We have a membership there this year (thanks Gpa and Gma!).  In addition to the membership, I scored some free passes from the library so that the kids and I, my mom and my two sisters all could go relatively cheaply.

The boys really like interactive exhibits - you know, exhibits where there are rocks and statues to climb on.

Roman was being completely uncooperative with my attempts to take a nice picture of the 5 of them.

This may be because all he really wanted was a picture of himself with that particular penguin.  Too bad the penguin wasn't on board with it and kept hiding behind the seal in the window.

Roman took this picture.  Creepy.

In one section of the zoo they had a guide for the exhibits and on the guide were places to "stamp" different pictures of the animals.  There were stamping machines outside the animal cages, somewhat hidden so it was like a hunt to find them and get them all stamped in your guide.

Roman really got into the hunt.  At one point I heard him yelling, "Deacon, Deacon- the Bald Eagle!  I found it , I found it, come here quick!"  I thought for sure he was exclaiming over the real Bald Eagle that was actually down on the ground and right in front of the glass- but no, instead he was standing at the Bald Eagle stamp machine.  Don't think he ever even saw the real thing.

Everyn and Tia Erica on the monorail.  We took the monorail this time as a special treat.  The boys loved it.  They grinned from ear to ear, especially when they would remember that they were not walking.

Trying to get  a group picture, but some of the group was not on board with the plan

 Managed to snag another one.

Finally, the last boy got hauled in.  He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

I am not sure if Berean was scared or what, but when we were in the dark tunnel by the fish, she placed her hand on Everyn's head and left it there.

Of course, the wolf statue needed to be climbed.  Berean tries so hard.

All in all it was a good day.  The membership is so nice because we don't feel like we have to see everything when we are there- we can see different things on different visits.

I don't have pictures of the other things we did last week, but they were:

*bigger park that is further away from our house.  This day  also included a polar jump into a lake

*"Birthday Party" for me with some of my friends

*Little League/Tee ball games

*Batting Practice at the park

*Beach by our house

*Bike ride

*More Little League games

*Hosted big bday party/open house for my sister (for which I was not feeling well and basically missed.  Noah and family and friends stepped up and made it happen.  Thank you guys!)

*weekly school work

*lots of time playing with friends in the yard!

He's With the Police

Once again I haven't blogged for awhile...

My days are constant motion -  juggling between kids, house, yard, husband, papers, work, schedules, family, fun.  I thought things may be quieter after school let out, but that has not proved to be the case!

So, what's been going on?

Well,

-My sister came home from Thailand for the summer.
-The bank accepted our offer on the lot adjacent to our currently owned empty lot which is adjacent to the lot that our house is on.
-We are doing a little school everyday, but I really want this summer to be fun!  So we are having fun.
-I worked 5 shifts in a row over the weekend. That is a lot of shifts to be away from my bed.

Here is a mid year Christmas letter report:

Noah:
Noah is the coach-pitcher for Deacon's Little League Team.  I like to introduce my self as "the wife of the hottest pitcher in the Little League".  Ok, so I don't really do that but I kind of feel like I have two kids on the team.  Only one of them isn't a kid.  He is hot, though.  Noah has also been spearheading the lot buying process, made necklaces for Mother's Day and became a proud member of Costco.  Oh, and he has been buying me birthday presents- which, according to Deacon, cost "more than $90".

Julie:
Like I said, I worked 5 night shifts in a row which means that I watched a lot of infomercials for INSANITY.  I own the Insanity DVDs and I got re energized to start them again.  I have been discouraged about my exercise.  I was doing really well, lost all my weight and also lost some of my milk supply. So I quit working as hard, but I am kind of an all or nothing person and so I have been having a hard time finding that balance.

Deacon:
D is hilarious.  Seriously, that kid is quirky and funny.  He still has a lot of energy, but he is a big help to me.  My proudest moment as a parent this week?  D had bought a Bakugan with some of his allowance.  This was basically his first purchase since he saved and saved to buy his DS.  A few days after he bought it he was looking at it and he glanced up at me and said, "I kind of wish I hadn't bought this and had my $7 back".      I have high hopes that he will be a solid financial decision maker some day :)

We were talking about something the other day and he referred to a friend's uncle who "was with the police".    I love the phrasing, hence the title of the post.  Deacon is playing Little League this year and he is having a good time.

Roman:
R started Tee ball tonight.  He has a great many skills and is a really quick thinker.  I told him that he had to read his own books for the library reading program.  It is amazing how quickly he can read when he has a "mission" with a desirable goal.  Roman doesn't really like to walk, and you should have seen his face when I told him that maybe the monorail at the zoo was going to leave us at the end and we were going to have to walk back.  It was mean, prehaps, but he was so happy when I told him that I was kidding, it may have added to his appreciation of the rest of the ride.

Lincoln:
L is the quiet one.  He is speaking much better now, but of all his brothers he tends to hide his feeling and thoughts more.  He loves to learn and is so proud when he does new things.  He is one determined kid!  I never realized it before, but his degree of "stick-to-it-ive-ness" that he has may put him in the running as our most stubborn kid. We started him in swimming lessons and he has been working and and working at it and making great strides.

Berean
B loves pink.  A lot.  She really loves being outside.  And her Elmo pajamas.  She talks, she sings, she tries to run the family.  We will go on a walk and if she sees a car she says, "car coming!"  It is super cute.  She :"talks" to other little girls that we encounter, which the boys never did.  We were at the zoo today and she studies everything very carefully.

Everyn:
E is a chubby baby.  She finally started rolling over and sitting up a little but she is pretty happy to be held and put things in her mouth.  She is not super motivated.  Well, she is not super motivated looking until you put something near her and then suddenly she goes all ninja and the item magically is in her mouth.  It is a gift, I tell you.  She gets to start eating in 13 days, and I am pretty sure she is excited about that.

I have some pictures of "fun summer" to post...hopefully soon!

We All Have Them

Or maybe it is just me that has some odd little insecurities.

But I know it is not just me.  I work in a hospital.  I meet lots and lots of people on a weird level of stranger/caregiver.  We all have them: little things, little fears, little insecurities.

Do you know what one of mine is?  Being in a public place at closing time.  Maybe it comes from reading "Help! I am a Prisoner in the Library!" as a child, or maybe it is just some deep seeded fear of being alone.  If I am in a store and they come on over the loud speaker and announce that the store will be closing in 15 minutes, I actually start feeling panicky.  Now, I can talk myself down, but I guarantee that I am out of that door as soon as possible.  Of course I married someone who has no problem being the last one at the Y, at the store, at the movie theater.  A 2055 he is still meandering around a store, looking things over, while I am trying not to completely lose it.

Maybe this  is why I really like stores that stay open all night.